New Reality
by noa748
Summary: The scary thing is, when you've been stuck in a video game for long enough, it's Earth that starts looking like a dream. But I know it's not. I have to get back home...no matter how impossible it may seem. Self-insert.
1. Amnesia

******A/N: So, after several years I finally picked up my copy of ToS to play it again. I guess inspiration struck? Heh. Anyway, this was originally something I wrote on my own, without the intention of showing it to anyone. Yes, it's a self-insert, and that's part of the reason why I'm not sure what to think of it. I decided to post it when I realized I really was working hard on a story for once, and I really am curious to know if it's actually good.**

**There really are a lot more self-inserts on Symphonia than I thought. O.o Some of them are as horrible as they look, but I actually found a few really good ones. I tried my best to make this one decent. Well, enjoy! :D**

**10/17/12 EDIT: Cleaned up this chapter a bit so it's not so cringe-worthy. It was getting embarrassing! Haha anyway I'll work on fixing up the other early chapters when I get time. If you're a first-time reader, rest assured that it DOES get better if you have the patience to get past this story's rocky start. XD I started this when I was sixteen...I'm almost twenty now. There's a pretty noticeable quality difference. XD**

* * *

Darkness was all encompassing. I had never known a darkness so deep, so unforgiving as this. I could see nothing. I could feel nothing. There was little I could do besides exist, and hope to escape from this black eternity. I was an isolated consciousness, barely aware of my own thoughts. Gradually, I lost awareness of everything...

_**TALES OF SYMPHONIA: NEW REALITY**_

Wetness. A drop of rain.

"Is she all right, Professor? That scrape on her forehead..." A male voice came from my right. It was one I certainly didn't recognize.

"She's fine. It seems she's only unconscious. We should get her out of the rain before she gets sick." Now a female voice spoke, presumably the Professor.

My back ached. The voices were also coming from above me, which meant I was probably lying on the ground. How had I ended up there? I wanted a warm bed, someplace to get a restful sleep, not the hellish one I had been trapped within earlier. I tried to open my eyes, and found I had the strength to do so. The light hurt, though, and I forced them shut again.

"I think she's waking up!" Another voice came, that of a young girl, one my age…that was a strange thought. How old was I again? Now I opened my eyes fully, allowing my sensitive pupils to adjust accordingly. Gentle hands helped me sit up, and dizziness caused me to rest my head between my knees. Finally I looked up, faintly curious as to who had helped me.

Five people stood before me. They were all wearing clothes that I immediately considered strange; though when I tried to remember what _normal _was supposed to look like, I found that I couldn't.

There was the woman kneeling next to me, the Professor—she had short silver hair and wore an orange tunic, and she had some kind of staff in her grip. There was some concern in her gaze, but at the same time she seemed wary.

The others…there was a brunet boy in red, a blonde haired, blue-eyed girl, and a young silver haired boy that looked like he could be related to the Professor. Finally there was the man at the back of the group, standing a little further away from the rest. He had spiky auburn hair and a piercing gaze; he watched me quietly, one hand resting on the hilt of the sword at his hip.

"Are you okay?" The boy in red asked me, breaking me out of my thoughts. I realized that his voice was the first I'd heard upon waking up.

"Give her a moment to think," the solemn man finally spoke, "it's only natural for her to be disoriented."

I blinked, unable to find my voice at first, unsure if I even had one. After a few seconds I was able to force my mouth to form words. "I…I'm fine. Just a little sore, I guess." I was wet, too, but surely they already knew that.

"What were you doing laying unconscious in the middle of the woods like that?" The silver haired boy (the Professor's brother?) spoke up.

"I..." I was unable to think of an answer.

"What's your name?" The blonde asked. Her face was open and friendly; I naturally wanted to confide in her, to ask her for help. Unfortunately, I couldn't answer this question either.

"I don't know..."

"Amnesia. It must be from the head injury," the Professor said, frowning. "I'll do what I can, but first we'll have to get you inside and out of the rain."

Nodding vaguely, I went along with them. The group seemed to know what they were doing, and I highly doubted I could accomplish anything on my own in this state. My head began to throb, and I tried desperately not to think. Amnesia...of course that would be it. I didn't want to think about the implications of that right now. All I wanted to do was…was…

I realized faintly that I had fallen over after only a few steps. Giving up, I let myself slip into unconsciousness.

* * *

I was warm and comfortable. Was my hell finally over?

I was able to open my eyes easily this time; the light in the room was gentle, pulsing softly. The fireplace in the corner of the room was the source of it. I was in a cozy bed, wrapped in blankets. My mind had been cold, numb; I felt it begin to thaw in this homely room.

Then, of course, the events that had transpired started coming back to me. Waking up in the forest with a group of strangers. The words that had been exchanged…_Amnesia._

I gritted my teeth, trying hard to think. My name…my name was Brittany. That was right. I knew that much; it was the first thing that came to mind, and it just seemed right.

But my name wasn't the only thing I had forgotten…I couldn't even remember my surname, or where I lived, or if I had any family. Did I even have _friends? _Who was I?!

A sudden feeling of panic hit me. Where was this place? What was I supposed to do? There was no one here to give me the answers that I needed, and I didn't even know where to start. Was I really…all alone here? This wasn't right. I wanted…I wanted…

A faint image caught in my mind, and I shook my head as it faded. I wanted someone to comfort me, but I couldn't remember who I would have turned to. The panic faded as a horrible sense of loneliness set in.

"Oh, you're finally awake. How are you doing?" The brunette boy from earlier had entered the room. His voice was welcoming, friendly. I couldn't answer him. I stared at the blanket on my lap, feeling empty. He sat down in the chair next to my bed, a puzzled expression now on his face. "...Hello?"

I spoke suddenly, without realizing it. "My name's Brittany." My eyes remained glued to my lap.

"Brittany?" He said my name, and at that instant I knew it was indeed mine. "So you remember!"

I shook my head, and finally looked up at him. "Nope. Just my name. That's all I know."

His grin fell. "Ah...still, it's better than nothing."

"Yeah..." I did have to agree with this. My name was the one scrap of identity I had left.

He smiled again, seemingly wanting to brighten the mood. "Glad to meet you, Brittany." He seized my hand, shaking it. "My name's Lloyd."

I was startled into a laugh at his cheerful gesture and attitude. "Lloyd, then. Thanks."

"You're awake!" The blonde girl entered the room now, a delighted expression on her face.

Lloyd's smile grew. "Colette! This is Brittany. She finally remembered her name!"

"That's great!" She exclaimed, genuinely happy. "I'm Colette," she said to me.

"Nice to meet you." I found myself grinning. Their names seemed oddly familiar, but I was sure that I didn't know them. At least they seemed nice enough.

The other three of the group came in, roused by the sudden conversation. Lloyd began introducing me to them, and vice versa.

"Brittany, this is Genis, Professor Sage, and Kratos." Genis was the young boy who bore resemblances to Professor Sage, and Kratos was the solemn one.

"Thank you all for helping me earlier," I said.

"Were you able to remember anything aside from your name?" The man called Kratos asked me, and I shook my head.

"My name is all I have. I don't even know who I am or how I ended up where you found me."

"You have a mild concussion," the Professor explained, "it most likely caused the amnesia."

I felt my forehead, and my hand encountered a lump and scabbed skin. It didn't even hurt. How had it happened, though?

"Is there any way you can help her, Raine?" Genis asked, but the woman only shook her head.

"Unfortunately, amnesia isn't something that can be cured through the healing arts. There have been some theories, but any spells are only in the experimental stage. We may do more harm than good in an attempt to restore her memory."

"The mind is a fragile thing," Kratos said, elaborating further, "amnesia is not truly a loss of the memory. A head injury only temporarily impairs the mind's ability to remember past events. If we try to speed up her recovery, we may only worsen her condition."

Genis and Lloyd looked as glum as I felt. Colette, however, remained optimistic. "Why do you all look so sad, then? You heard what Kratos said. Amnesia isn't permanent. Your memories are still there, Brittany, and they'll come back to you soon."

I nodded. "…Yeah, I guess you're right."

I needed to remain positive. But still…I found myself agreeing just because I was completely lost and I didn't know what the right answers were anymore.

* * *

We spoke for a short while longer, but it was evident that the group had other business to attend to. They explained that I was at a House of Salvation near a town called Palmacosta. A House of Salvation, apparently, was a type of rest stop for travelers. It also served as a small church for those on pilgrimages. They seemed surprised upon finding out that I had no idea where Palmacosta was, or even Sylvarant, for that matter.

"Sylvarant is the world," Lloyd said, an incredulous expression on his face, "how could you not know where it is? We're in Sylvarant right now!"

"Lloyd, there's no sense in getting worked up about it." Raine admonished him.

Still, the fact that I couldn't even remember the name of the world we lived in was more than a little disturbing. What could have caused me to forget so much?

"We've talked for long enough." Kratos frowned, "We should be going. Have you forgotten about Chocolat?"

"That's right, we have to go put the squeeze on Dorr," Lloyd's eyes narrowed, "before Chocolat is..."

"Is someone in danger?" I asked, concerned.

Lloyd nodded. "Yeah. We have to go save her from the Desians. You should stay here in the meantime; it's too dangerous."

"Okay," I replied reluctantly. I didn't want to be left behind, but I also didn't want to get in the way.

And so, they left. I didn't know if or when they would come back. The caretakers of the House offered me that room to stay in for a while; they were very kind. Upon hearing that I'd lost my memory, they'd decided to teach me of this strange world called Sylvarant. First, being priests, they taught me of the Church of Martel.

Martel was a goddess who slept at the center of the world. Because she slept, the land and people suffered and Desians had free reign.

"How do you wake her up?" I asked, confused. What I was hearing seemed familiar, but wrong at the same time.

The priest laughed. "That, my dear, is the job of the Chosen of Regeneration."

"The Chosen of Regeneration...is that a person? Who is it?"

"Why, you've met her." He answered me with a twinkle in his eyes, "Lady Colette is the soon-to-be savior of the world."

I looked up at him, fascinated. "Colette?! But...what does the Chosen do? What's her job?"

"She travels the world and faces many trials," he said, "releasing magical seals until she reaches the Tower of Salvation." He then pointed the tower out to me, an impossibly tall structure that stood out against the blue sky. "Then she will enter the tower and offer her prayers of Regeneration. The Chosen will become an angel, and the goddess will awaken. The world will then be saved."

"Wow," I said in near-disbelief. Magic? Angels? Goddesses? The people in this place seemed to take these things as a matter of course, but for some reason my mind revolted against the ideas like they were ridiculous. I knew what I was supposed to say here, though, so I spoke. "That's…that's really amazing."

The priest seemed pleased with my reaction, and so he began to tell me more stories of the world. Despite how confusing it all was, I listened intently, hoping to uncover some of my memories in the process. Still, my past remained hidden from me.

* * *

That night as I lay in bed, I realized that it really didn't matter. I needed to stop dwelling on it so much because I had very little control over all of this.

The present and the future—that was what I should focus on. I knew what the problem was, and now I had to decide what I was going to do about it. I wasn't going to remember everything if I spent all my time despairing over the fact that I couldn't remember.

…All right. I would wait here for the others to come back. They were the only people I had at this point. Colette was the Chosen, right? She was supposed to become some savior of the world. If that was true, and if she was really as kindhearted as she seemed…then maybe she and her group would help me. I would do what it took to get my memories back.

With a game plan in mind, sleep took me much more peacefully this time.


	2. Onward to Asgard

**A/N: Thank you to Tyler, musicfreak16 and Eevetta for reviewing. :D I'm so happy my story isn't total crap! Haha, anyway, I was encouraged enough that I decided to post chapter 2.**

**mf16: yes, rest assured there won't be a Kratos/Brit pairing. That'd be kinda creepy, since she's Lloyd's age, and Kratos is Lloyd's dad...XD**

**Things are still going bit slow, but the story will pick up soon. She won't go too long without her memory, don't worry. ;D**

**10/17/12 EDIT: Fixed up this chapter! Conversations should be more realistic and in-character now. I'm working to revamp the hell out of Kratos because he's not enough of a douchebag early on! Hurrhurr. The next two chapters are gonna be a bitch, but I WILL PREVAIL!**

* * *

After four long days, Colette and the others returned. I was inwardly relieved; I knew they probably had more important things to be doing, and I had worried that they might decide not to come back after all. I greeted them all with a smile, but Lloyd seemed oddly downhearted.

As the other four went about the process of preparing some dinner, I approached him.

"…Lloyd?" I hesitated, trying to overcome a sudden feeling of shyness. "What's wrong? Were you able to rescue that Chocolat person?"

He shook his head slowly. "No…Chocolat was taken to another human ranch. She didn't want to be rescued…"

"…Human ranch?" I faltered, confused. Was that something to do with the Desians? Ranches were for raising livestock, weren't they? That didn't mean…it couldn't possibly mean what I thought it meant, could it?

Lloyd gave me a look of surprise, and then averted his gaze. "So you don't remember what those are either. Or the Desians."

I gave him an expectant look, hoping he would explain. If it was that important, then I needed to know. In reply he turned to Raine, who was arranging some supplies on a nearby table.

"Hey, Professor, we're just going on a quick walk."

"All right. Don't wander too far; dinner will be finished soon," she said.

Lloyd nodded and motioned for me to walk with him. I quickly caught up, unnerved by the way Kratos was watching us as we left. Was it really that serious, what Lloyd was about to tell me? I didn't like the way this was adding up.

Wanting to break the silence, I attempted to give him a place to start. "So, um…I tried asking about the Desians around here, but the priests wouldn't say much. Are they really that terrible?"

Lloyd's eyes narrowed and his lips turned down in a grim frown. "Yeah."

"Who are they?"

"Half-elves," he replied, shoving his hands in his pockets as we walked. "They have bases all over Sylvarant and all they ever do is terrorize innocent people."

"What about human ranches?" I pressed.

"It's exactly what it sounds like. They're monsters—they imprison people and treat them like cattle. They think they're better than us, like they can do whatever they want and just get away with it!" He gritted his teeth, his eyes flashing. "It's…it's what happened to my mom. My mother is dead because of the Desians. I was only three…she died saving me."

"I'm sorry," I said quietly. The pain in his eyes was clear as day. I wasn't sure if I had a mother, but I wouldn't wish that fate on anyone.

He shook his head, suddenly looking tired. "You don't need to apologize."

"So…why didn't Chocolat want to be rescued?" I changed the subject, knowing his late mother was probably an uncomfortable thing for him to talk about.

This road was no better; I saw Lloyd's shoulders slump. "Back in Iselia, my hometown, there was a human ranch. I tried to save Marble, Chocolat's grandmother…but because I got caught, the Desians turned her into a monster. I…I had to kill her. That's why Chocolat hates me."

Monsters and human ranches…this whole thing sounded crazy, like when I had learned about the Journey of Regeneration. But the serious look on Lloyd's face said it all—he was telling the truth. Why would he lie about something like this? Still, though…knowing how dangerous this place really was…was kind of scary.

"That's not really fair," I said quietly.

His brow furrowed. "Why not? I killed Marble with my own two hands."

"Do you think she would've preferred to live on as a monster?"

"It's still my fault that she was turned into one in the first place," Lloyd sighed. "I tried to stop her from being whipped…she might've been okay if they hadn't seen me. But I rushed into the situation like an idiot…she died because of it."

I just shook my head. Why was it Lloyd's fault for standing up like that? I knew I would've been too scared to do anything, and I would've let it happen. How did cowardice make _me _the better person? That was stupid!

"It's wrong to stand by and do nothing, though," I said, frowning. "I…I guess you could have done it differently, but…how can Chocolat say she would've done any different if she had seen her grandmother getting whipped?" I bit my lip. "And besides that…what if you had stood by and they had ended up killing her then?"

"Brittany…"

"Nothing's going to change if everyone tries to lie low so the Desians don't come after them," I said quietly. "I think…I think it was brave of you to do that, even if it turned out badly. You shouldn't hate yourself for wanting to help people."

"…Thanks." He smiled sadly. "But…that doesn't change the fact that Marble died. Either way…I've learned that I have to live with that guilt. I have to bear the burden of all the lives that were lost because of me."

I looked up at the stars, trying to imagine what he must be feeling. The thought of that kind of guilt…I couldn't fathom it.

"…Then make up for the time they lost," I said. "Help Colette regenerate the world and make it a peaceful place for people like Chocolat to live."

"Yeah. I won't give up on her yet."

We were quiet for a moment, both of us staring up at the night sky. Crickets chirped around us as a soft breeze rustled the grass at our feet.

"Did you remember anything while we were gone?" he asked suddenly.

"No," I replied. "But I did try to learn a little more about Sylvarant from the priests here. I thought some of the information might ring a bell."

"Right," he said, his eyes lighting up. "Yeah, you just mentioned the world regeneration. So how'd all that go, then?"

I shook my head. "Nothing really helped. I was a little surprised to find out about Colette, though."

He grinned. "Pretty cool, right? She's got wings and everything." Then he faltered, seeming to remember something. "Oh, right, Remiel! Maybe we can get him to restore your memory! He's an angel, after all."

"An angel?" My eyes widened. The thought of actually _meeting _one…maybe if I saw one in the flesh, I might be able to believe all of the fantastical stories I was being told.

"Remiel serves the purpose of granting the Chosen her angelic powers. He isn't there to take requests, Lloyd." Kratos interrupted us, walking up.

Lloyd frowned, obviously frustrated with the new arrival's words. "But it's just one little thing! Angels are supposed to be good and all-powerful, right? Why can't he help just this once?"

"If her memory does not come back to her soon, the fastest way to restore it would be to have Colette regenerate the world. Then you can ask her to do it herself." Kratos said.

"Yeah...I guess." Lloyd's cheer dissipated. "What're you doing out here anyway, Kratos?"

"Dinner was ready ten minutes ago." The man gave Lloyd a mildly annoyed look.

"Oh, uh…right." Lloyd suddenly looked sheepish.

The three of us walked back together in relative silence. Kratos didn't seem to be in a mood that encouraged conversation.

* * *

The next morning, we sat around in a rough circle and discussed our plans. Lloyd, Colette and Genis were all for me coming along. I really wanted to go with them, but I remained quiet; the decision wasn't up to me, and I didn't want them to feel like I was imposing.

They were going to cross a mountain pass and head for a town called Asgard, ever closer to the Tower of Salvation.

"Come on, Professor," Lloyd said. "Let's at least take her to Asgard! It's not like she'll be in a lot of danger. We aren't near any Desian ranches right now."

"Maybe we can get her to see a doctor in Asgard," Colette said.

"Exactly!" Lloyd said. "Besides, we can't just leave her here in the middle of nowhere when she has amnesia!"

"…I agree with Lloyd and Colette," Genis said. "Judging from where we found her, she might be from either Asgard or Palmacosta. We might even be able to find someone who knows her."

Finally, the Professor sighed. "You have a point. All right, I'm not opposed to taking Brittany along for now."

"No further than Asgard," Kratos said firmly. The authority in his tone earned him a glare from Genis' sister.

"Kratos…" Lloyd scowled.

"Remember that I was initially opposed to taking you along as well," Kratos said, his eyes hard. "This is not a journey for children or civilians to undertake. We would only be endangering her by bringing her with us."

Lloyd's eyes narrowed at the word _children_, and I saw his fists clench. It took him a moment to regain his composure, but when he did he turned his head away with a huff and focused on nothing in particular. Kratos leaned back, having won the battle of wills.

Despite that little episode, I found myself sighing with relief. I was going to a real town…that was still a step forward.

The next six days were spent solely walking, just to reach the mountain pass that led to Asgard. I deduced that whatever life I had led before this amnesia, it had not been an overly athletic one. I was exhausted. In order to distract myself from my sore muscles, I attempted to learn a little more about everyone I was traveling with.

Lloyd, I found, was the easiest for me to talk to. Though he had a bit of a temper when Kratos was concerned, around me he was friendly and easygoing. Ever since our little talk at the House of Salvation, chatting with him had been natural.

Genis was younger than me, but mature for his age and very bright. He was Raine's younger brother, and they were both elves. He was nice enough, though admittedly a little bit harder to talk to.

I did get him to tell me about Exspheres, though—they were the strange gems that everyone in the group wore. The Desians, apparently, were the ones who created and used them. The one Genis used had belonged to Marble; Lloyd told me about how an Exsphere could turn an person into a monster if it didn't have a Key Crest to balance out its effect on the body. With a Key Crest, an Exsphere enhanced a person's strength a great deal. That explained the unnatural stamina everyone in the group seemed to have.

Genis, Lloyd, Colette and I all got along well. I spent several afternoons trying to learn how to use Genis's weapon, an odd thing called a kendama. I couldn't quite get the hang of it, but Colette and Lloyd had about as much luck. Genis seemed to find this greatly entertaining, until someone lost control of the weapon and it knocked Raine in the back of the head. She held on to it for us for a while after that.

On the sixth day we camped out at the foot of the mountain pass, sitting around a roaring campfire. I spoke quietly to Colette, who couldn't seem to sleep. Her strength amazed me; even as she told me of the harsh trials she and the others had undergone, she kept a cheerful smile on her face. Eventually I grew concerned. Was that smile real, or was she just putting on a brave face for the others' benefit?

"Doesn't it scare you at all? Becoming an angel, I mean."

Colette's positive attitude wasn't fazed. "Well, I guess it does a little," she admitted, "but then I think about how I'm giving hope to all the suffering people of Sylvarant, and I feel better."

Was she for real? That was incredible. Maybe selflessness was an inherent quality that Chosens possessed. I admired her for it; I wasn't sure what I would've done if I had been her position. I guess only people with such pure thoughts and intentions were capable of becoming a being as holy as an angel.

* * *

We continued on to the other side of the pass, and I took it upon myself to speak to the Professor this time. She was pleasant enough, mature and grown up. Raine was also rather blunt, saying the harsh truth rather than sugarcoating it. I knew it was only for the benefit of the other person. It was actually sort of refreshing.

Finally, I found that Kratos was the only one I hadn't tried speaking with. I told myself I would talk to him as soon as the opportunity presented itself, because I found myself unable to simply walk up to him and start a conversation. He was a mercenary hired for Colette's protection; this meant he was the strongest out of all of us, as well as the most intimidating.

"If you try too hard, you aren't going to remember anything. There's no use in brooding." Ah, it seemed Kratos had solved my problem for me. His words startled me into a laugh, and he raised an eyebrow in inquiry. "Did I say something funny?"

I shook my head, calming down. "No, it's not that. Your assumption just wasn't anywhere close to what I was really thinking."

"What was it, then?"

I decided to tell him the truth, feeling braver now that we were actually speaking. "I was thinking about how you were the only one I haven't really talked to yet."

He cocked an eyebrow. "How convenient."

We slowed down for a moment, seeing that the others were lagging behind; Colette had tripped again. I frowned slightly, contemplating her as we resumed. "Where is the next seal that you're all headed to, anyway?"

"We aren't entirely certain just yet," he replied. "It may very well be in Asgard."

"And after that?" My brow furrowed. I really had no idea what this whole Journey of Regeneration really entailed.

Kratos was unreadable. "After that will be two more seals, and the world regeneration. The details…are they truly any of your concern? You should focus more on what you are going to do when we reach Asgard."

…Yeah, Kratos was definitely the hardest to talk to. He immediately made it obvious that my curiosity was unwelcome.

"You really don't trust me, do you?" I asked before I could stop myself.

"No. But it is my job not to trust you," he replied. "The safety of the Chosen is my top priority. It isn't personal."

Not personal…even so, his words stung a little. I didn't know why I cared what he thought; it was probably because these were the only people I had right now, and I wanted them to like me. Unfortunately, I doubted someone like Kratos would ever see me as anything more than a nuisance.

A bit of annoyance seeped through. I suddenly understood why Lloyd was so temperamental around this guy. I hadn't done anything wrong, so couldn't he at least refrain from giving me those cold looks?

"Yeah, well…who are you to talk about trust, anyway? I thought mercenaries sold talent, not their loyalty."

Kratos' expression didn't change. "Hmph…a valid point."

That was it? He wasn't even going to get defensive or anything? What the in the world did he mean by—

"Hey, you guys, wait up!" Lloyd interrupted our conversation, running over to us. He bent over, panting. "Man, you walk way too fast! Everyone's falling behind!"

I cocked my head to the side, confused. I couldn't recall walking any faster than I did normally; I would've noticed the difference if Kratos had picked up the pace.

Raine caught up as well, smacking Lloyd on the back of the head. "I apologize for slowing you down. We were doing fine until Lloyd started goofing off." She was holding Genis's kendama again.

"I just wanted to see if I could do it this time!" He whined, rubbing his head. I had to suppress a laugh, glad to leave the solemn mood behind.

"Everyone, look!" Colette pointed ahead of us, an expression of delight on her face. We looked ahead as well; a town that could be none other than Asgard was visible, off in the distance. It was settled between two cliffs, looking almost picturesque. Lloyd suddenly forgot his pain, looking up eagerly.

"It's Asgard! C'mon, let's go! I wonder what it's like? I can't wait!" Now he ran on ahead, gesturing for us to follow.

"I hope you can maintain that enthusiasm..." Kratos was watching Lloyd with a mildly exasperated expression.

"Is he always like that?" I asked, raising my eyebrows. Lloyd was already standing off in the distance, waiting for us impatiently.

"More often than not," the mercenary replied.

"Knowing Lloyd, he'll be bored with the town before we even get a chance to look around." Genis remarked, rolling his eyes.

Everyone moved to follow Lloyd; I fell back and let Kratos take the lead, thinking to myself as we walked. Asgard, huh…hopefully I would find the answers I needed there.

* * *

**A/N: I bet the kendama incident brought a certain Z-skit to mind! XD**

**Okay, this chapter wasn't exactly long either, but I figured I'd better pace myself if I post this often.**

**When Brit regains her memory, she'll have more of a personality...the way I look at it is, your memories greatly influence the way you act, so right now she isn't sure how she would normally act. The writing should take on more of a personality too, eventually.**

**Reviews would be much appreciated! :3**


	3. Sacrifices and Half Elves

**A/N: Here's chapter 3! Thanks for all the awesome reviews. :3**

**So, she's inching closer and closer to her memory...you'll notice a little more personality here. I think. XD**

**10/19/12 EDIT: Revamped parts of this chapter, awwyeah. Particularly certain parts with Genis and Kratos. If you're a first time-reader, congrats! You get higher-quality writing. At this moment in time, I haven't fixed chapter 4 yet; if you notice any discrepancies between this chapter and the next, I'm sorry. You'll see a note like this in the next chapter's AN when I do go through and edit.**

* * *

The town turned out to be as interesting as it looked, but Lloyd didn't disappoint. As we checked in to the Cool Breeze, he sighed.

"The town's neat, but these ruins are kinda boring."

Raine smacked him for the second time today. "Lloyd! How dare you say such a thing! During the final era of the ancient Balacruf Dynasty, this ruin was..." She began to lecture, and my short attention span prevailed.

I frowned. "She's got a scary look on her face..." I murmured to Genis.

"Don't mind her," he mumbled back, looking embarrassed, "she'll be done in a minute..."

"Genis! Brittany! Are you two listening? This is important information!" Raine brought us back to attention; she continued to talk even as we all set our stuff down in our rooms. Thankfully, as we left the inn, she finally stopped.

"Oh man, glad that's over..." Lloyd said quietly to me, relieved. Raine heard him, and hit him once again.

"Oww!"

"I get the feeling that bruise is going to be there a while." I grinned, indicating the back of his head.

* * *

After a short while, we ascended a large staircase that led to the famous Asgard Ruin. Everyone had speculated about this being a possible seal, though I had overheard Kratos mention a place called the Balacruf Mausoleum earlier. Judging from the stories Colette had told me, I had a feeling Kratos' guess was going to be correct. All of the seals the group had visited so far had involved trekking through large buildings that were full of traps and monsters, and I couldn't imagine anything like that being so close to a town.

The Asgard Ruin turned out to be a huge stone dais, and Raine went into ruin-mode again. She was so consumed by her lecture that a few of us began to have side conversations after a few minutes. Colette was the only one who was really listening intently.

Kratos was waiting rather patiently, arms crossed. Somehow I ended up standing next to him. Though I was a little bothered by his cold demeanor, I stubbornly decided that I was going to talk to him anyway.

"She really is passionate about ruins, isn't she?" I said to him, keeping my voice down.

"Hmm. One can only wonder what that kind of fanaticism stems from," he murmured back, watching her.

I frowned at that, following his gaze. What it stemmed from? Was he implying that some kind of life event had made her crazy about ruins? Huh…that was an interesting thought. I had no idea what would cause something like that, though.

Then my gaze went past Raine, and I spotted a figure in red wandering further and further away. Lloyd's short attention span was worse than mine. Really, wandering off? He was going to get caught for sure.

I sighed in mock exasperation before I could stop myself. "Someone needs to keep that kid on a leash." Upon receiving no further input from Kratos, I moved to follow the teenager. Maybe Lloyd's company would at least be more entertaining.

I walked up to him, watching as he poked around; he jumped when he noticed I was there.

"Don't _do_ that!" he whispered, "I thought you were the Professor."

I laughed quietly. "You wouldn't have anything to worry about if you weren't goofing off."

He rolled his eyes. "Oh yeah, and you looked like you were really interested too."

I rolled my eyes in reply. "What're you doing, anyway? You think you're going to find a hidden passage or something?"

Lloyd shrugged, continuing his examination. "I dunno. I just figured, most old ruins have cool secrets, right? There has to be something more to this big...rock thing."

"Dais?" I snorted.

"Yeah, that." He shrugged.

"You know, the Professor would probably flip if she heard what you just said. You've got the spirit of an archaeologist, Lloyd!"

"Gimme a break..."

I paused, frowning. We had walked along the side of the dais in our investigation, and now we were nearing the side opposite Raine and the others.

Lloyd stopped, too. "What is it?"

"Listen."

"...Voices? Let's go check it out."

We walked around to the back, stopping at the corner. There were two boys about Lloyd's age standing there, arguing quietly. A strange mechanism stood between them.

"All right. My Breaker should be enough to bust this apart." The red haired one said.

His companion hesitated. "Wait, Harley, you can't destroy the dais! It's a very important ruin and research artifact..."

"Who cares?! If things continue at this rate, Aisha will be killed!"

Lloyd chose this moment to make an entrance. "What's going on here?" He walked further into view, and I followed. The two boys jumped, startled.

"N-nothing!" the shrewder of the two exclaimed nervously. "I mean, it's not like we were trying to blow up the dais or anything!"

I resisted the sudden urge to press a hand to my face. Wow, buddy, that was smooth.

"What's going on over here?" Professor Sage towered above us, looking down from on top of the stone platform.

"These guys say they were trying to blow up the dais." Lloyd replied shamelessly.

"What?!" Enraged, Raine jumped down from the platform. "And you call yourselves human beings?" She kicked each of them in turn.

"H-hey!" The red haired one, Harley, blinked incredulously at her. Then he frowned. "...I'm a half-elf."

"What does that have to do with anything?!" Raine growled. "I'll have you know, this ruin—" she pointed to the ruin, flicking the switch to the bomb, "—has history that dates back to even before the fall of the Balacruf Dynasty…"

The four of us all jumped back, shocked, as the bomb's mechanism began to tick. This was bad.

"Professor..." Lloyd said, wide eyed. His expression had no effect on her, and she scolded him for interrupting before continuing on her rant.

"Professor Sage, you set off the bomb." I said, trying to pitch my voice over hers. She paused mid-sentence this time, frowning. Raine looked down at the bomb, and gasped. She turned to Harley.

"Disarm it, quickly!"

"Are you crazy? The unstoppable Breaker can't be disarmed!" He replied, and was kicked once more.

Lloyd sighed. "Guess I'll have to do it." He walked up to the bomb, and began tinkering with it. Within a suspenseful minute or two, he managed to stop the ticking. I raised my eyebrows; this was a new side of Lloyd I hadn't seen before. What he'd just done hadn't been guesswork. He obviously knew how to take things like that apart.

"Wow, Lloyd! You're really good!" I remarked, surprised at his work. He rubbed the back of his neck.

"Aw, it was really nothing."

Harley looked a bit upset. "I can't believe he stopped the Breaker..."

"Don't make things that you can't control!" Raine scolded, looking as if she wanted to kick him again.

Suddenly there were other voices, coming from the opposite side of the dais. "What are you doing here? Trespassing is forbidden in this area!"

Lloyd frowned, alarmed. "This looks bad. Let's get out of here!"

We followed his lead, leaving the dais before the newcomers discovered us with the disarmed bomb.

* * *

Everyone gathered in front of the Cool Breeze, and Lloyd and I told the others of how we'd discovered the bomb.

"I can't believe they were actually trying to blow up the dais...I wonder why?" Lloyd said, a thoughtful look on his face.

"That's right!" Professor Sage's eyes narrowed. "We have to go stop them from doing something so irresponsible again!"

"The Professor's right." Colette said, "I mean, we should at least ask them why they were doing something like that."

Lloyd nodded. "Yeah, let's go find them."

We all split up, searching Asgard on our own. Raine was determined at first, but the other ruins in the city quickly distracted her. Kratos, Colette and Genis all checked through different inns. Lloyd went into the weapon shop, and I went to the food store next to it. I asked the people in the shop, but none seemed to know who I was talking about. I was about to leave, when at the last minute I remembered the name of the red haired man who had created the bomb.

"Excuse me, do you know where Harley lives?" I asked the shopkeeper. His eyebrows flew up, and I wondered if I'd said something offensive.

"That boy? He's a half-elf."

I frowned. "So?"

Now his eyes narrowed suspiciously. "So I don't know where he lives, miss. Try asking his fool of a friend, Linar. He lives in the residential area on the eastern edge of town."

"...Okay, I'll do that. Thanks," I replied stiffly, turning to leave. What was his problem? Harley was a half-elf, but he didn't seem much different from a regular human. And who was that guy to judge me just because I didn't share his contempt?

That was when it hit me—Desians. That was right…Desians were half-elves. If I replaced the words 'half-elf' with 'Desian,' then our short exchange made more sense. But obviously not all half-elves were Desians, right?

Well, whatever. It didn't matter. I had gotten some useful information out of him anyway; I suspected Linar was the other boy we had seen.

Lloyd was waiting for me outside. "Any luck?"

I nodded. "We should check the east side of town. Apparently some guy named Linar lives there, who is a friend of Harley."

"You think it's that other guy?"

"Yeah. Either way, we can probably find some sort of a clue there."

Lloyd nodded. "Okay, let's tell the others."

We began to walk towards the Cool Breeze, where everyone was supposed to meet after their search. Kratos had been searching the inn, and we could see him waiting at its doors from where we stood.

"Hey, Lloyd..." I spoke as we walked, "Where'd you learn how to disarm bombs? I didn't know you could do that."

He shrugged. "I was raised by a dwarf. Dad makes a lot of stuff, so he also knows how to take it apart. I guess I sorta picked it up from him." I laughed at this, and he frowned. "What? What's so funny?"

"I just realized why the Professor gets so angry with you. If you'd just pay attention, your grades would be a lot better. You're a lot smarter than people give you credit for, Lloyd."

"I-I am?" He blinked.

"Yup. I mean, anyone who can disarm a bomb has to be pretty damn smart." I grinned.

He grinned too. "Aw, I'm blushing."

"Are you done?" Kratos interjected; we'd arrived at the inn. He didn't wait for us to answer, being able to tell by the look on our faces. "...Good. We'll wait for the others, then."

Genis, Colette and Raine arrived after a few minutes. Neither they nor Kratos had learned anything, so I told them of what I'd found out. After a short discussion, we agreed to go to the residential area in the eastern part of the village.

Our search didn't take long. At the second house we went to, the man called Linar answered the door; he was indeed one of the people who had been up at the dais earlier. Harley was there, as well. His presence proved to be to our misfortune; as soon as he saw us, he quickly told us to leave.

"You should've just let us blow up the dais! Because of you, Aisha may be killed!" Aisha appeared to be the woman amongst them; from what I gathered, she was Linar's sister.

"Killed? What are you talking about?" Lloyd said, surprised.

Linar looked down unhappily. "...I began research on the Asgard Ruin not too long ago..."

Harley glared at his friend. "And because of it, he accidentally awakened the Summon Spirit sleeping within the dais, and it started demanding sacrifices."

Aisha shook her head. "Harley, that doesn't excuse your behavior. The people of this city are the ones that would suffer if that ruin was destroyed."

"And your suffering doesn't matter?" Harley growled. Then he turned to us. "Thanks to you, Aisha's going to be sacrificed to the Summon Spirit tonight. Get out of here!" After that, he pretty much slammed the door in our faces.

"Human sacrifices…?" I stared at the ground, trying to get my head around the idea. There was so much danger here…

"We have to do something!" Colette said, urgency in her voice.

"Let's go talk to the mayor. Maybe we can learn some more about this." Raine suggested, and we agreed.

* * *

The mayor of Asgard frowned, remembering us from earlier. He was standing on the stairs leading up to the ruin; they were probably making preparations for the ritual. "The ruins are off limits, I told you."

"I'm a scholar. Please, could you allow me to study the dais? I promise not to disturb anything," Raine said calmly.

"There's an idiot like you in this city already," the mayor replied with a glare. "Thanks to him, the city's tourism industry is on the verge of collapse. I refuse."

"We've heard about the sacrifices," Colette piped up. "Please, isn't there anything we can do?"

His eyes softened a bit and he shook his head. "You must understand; we can't allow anyone to disturb the dais any further and risk bringing down the wrath of the Summon Spirit of Wind. The only one who may step up upon this stage is the Summon Spirit dancer."

"Then I shall become the dancer," Raine said. "Then it would be fine for me to go up onto the stage, yes?"

"Professor!" Lloyd protested, taking a step forward.

She glanced over at him. "According to the Book of Regeneration, this should be the next seal. It's possible that the sacrifice that the Summon Spirit seeks is the Chosen of Mana. We won't be able to tell unless we see it firsthand."

The teen's face fell, and he nodded reluctantly. The Professor turned back to the mayor.

"Please," she said.

He sighed. "…Do as you wish. I won't be held responsible if it costs you your life."

* * *

"I...I don't think it's right for me to let you take my place, but...thank you." Aisha bowed her head, undoubtedly feeling guilty.

Harley had let us in again upon hearing the news; Raine needed the traditional outfit in order to perform the ritual. Once she had changed and Aisha had shown her the basics of the dance, we all headed up to the stone dais. I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach; despite the Professor's reassurances, I couldn't help but worry. What if this Summon Spirit was too powerful for her to handle?

The sun was setting as we all crowded before the large stone platform. Harley, Linar and Aisha were there along with the mayor; the rest of the people were townsfolk I didn't recognize. Did everyone normally show up to watch the spectacle, or was this only because an outsider was performing the ritual? The feeling of anxiety coming from the crowd was so thick it was almost tangible.

Raine climbed on to the dais and raised her staff; the sun shone down on her, briefly casting a silhouette over her form. She looked strikingly beautiful in the sacrificial clothes; I had a hard time believing that it was still the Professor up there. Then, with a grace I hadn't known she possessed, she began to do the ritual dance.

Her staff struck certain points on the dais with perfect accuracy, and I saw that these points lit up with mana the second they were struck. Eventually she created a circle around herself. My body tensed with anticipation; the circle lit up, and she knelt to the ground, staff held out before her. Everyone watched expectantly for the Summon Spirit to appear.

What appeared was a monster. Everyone else looked on, tense, but I balked. Was this what a Summon Spirit was supposed to look like? It stared at the Professor hungrily as I shrunk back.

"I have come for the girl," it growled.

"N-No!" Colette cried out. "Professor, that's not a Summon Spirit! It's an evil creature!"

Everyone's reaction was immediate. Raine quickly stood, backing off and holding her staff out defensively. Lloyd, Genis, Colette and Kratos all drew their weapons and leapt on to the platform without a single hesitation. A collective gasp came from the townsfolk as the scene on the dais quickly descended into chaos.

I found myself backing away along with everyone else. Over the sounds of battle people were nervously murmuring to each other, praying that Colette was right and that we weren't all about to suffer the Spirit's wrath.

All I could do was watch in awe as they fought. How could they be so _brave?_ Lunging head-on into battle like that—weren't they afraid of dying? That thing looked dangerous. We had been approached by monsters on the way to this town, but those were small fry compared to this. At several points I saw Lloyd duck under a swipe of the thing's claws and my heart caught in my throat.

I could never have strength like that. That kind of confidence…how did they pull it off?

A negative part of my mind told me I was weak, and I believed it. I could feel it…I had never been strong. I couldn't compare to them. Even with my memory, I…

The monster's cry broke me out of my thoughts. Kratos had finished it off, swiftly thrusting a sword through its middle. He pulled the blade out, sheathing it.

The others put their weapons away as well, as Raine bent over to pick up something that the monster had dropped. The look of instant fascination on her face told me that it must've had something to do with the ruin.

The townsfolk breathed a collective sigh of relief. I heard someone sobbing somewhere; I couldn't imagine what they must've gone through before all this. I saw Harley hugging Aisha, who was looking pretty teary-eyed herself.

"Raine, that was amazing!" Linar exclaimed enthusiastically as she climbed off the dais. He spent the next few minutes fumbling over his words in an attempt to thank the group.

They quickly got into a deep discussion, however, when she showed him what she had picked up. It appeared to be a stone tablet of some sort.

Their discussion proved to be so lengthy that we waited the rest of the night for them; Raine spent the night at Linar's. The words on the tablet were written in the ancient Balacruf language, they said, and they needed time to decipher it. One one side of the tablet was writing, and on the other was a map of where the Balacruf Empire once existed. Everyone else was now convinced Kratos had been right; the seal was indeed within the Balacruf Mausoleum.

* * *

As the sun set, Genis and I went to the food shop nearby to buy some supplies. He was quite a formidable cook; as we walked, I asked him about what he was planning to make.

Raine was nothing like her brother when it came to cooking. Even when she followed Genis's instructions, her food never came out right. If it wasn't burnt to a crisp, she would ruin it by attempting to give it her own personal flair. She tried to explain herself to Lloyd and I once. In her view, if cakes were normally sweet, a spicy cake would be a breakthrough.

Needless to say, I now understood why her cooking was dangerous.

We entered the store, Genis instantly picking out some foods with an experienced eye. I simply watched, trying to guess what he was making based on his selections. The shopkeeper glared at me when Genis went to purchase the items; I considered glaring right back, but looked away when I realized that he could probably refuse service to us if I did so. I followed the elf out, glad to leave the rude man behind us.

"Geez, what was up with that guy?" Genis frowned, looking at me. "He was glaring at you the entire time."

I frowned, trying to calm the irritation that had flared up at the sight of the man. "He's the one I talked to earlier when we were looking for Linar and the others. He wasn't happy when I asked about Harley."

Genis looked puzzled for a second, but then he seemed to get it. "Oh. Because Harley's a half-elf."

"I don't get it," I said with a frustrated sigh. "Half-elf, human, elf…what difference does it make?"

The elf gave me an incredulous look. "What do you mean, what difference does it make? Is your amnesia really _that _bad?" When I cringed, he looked away. "Sorry. That was kind of mean…"

"It's okay," I replied. "I mean, it _is _that bad."

The boy looked uncomfortable. "It's just…everyone hates half-elves around here. That's how it's always been, and probably how it always will be."

"Why? Because of the Desians?"

"I think so," he said, shifting his bag of groceries from one arm to the other. "I don't really know how it started. But that's the reason nowadays."

My brow furrowed. Part of me still felt indignant over the whole thing; didn't anyone realize how wrong that was? People had to, right? Back home, it wasn't…

…Back home? What about back home? No…I couldn't finish the thought anymore; it was gone.

"Still," I said, "Harley doesn't look like a Desian to me. He actually seems like he's not so bad; he was just scared for Aisha. I just don't get why we should assume things about him based on what other people did."

"Would you still think that if a Desian had killed your family members?" Genis murmured darkly.

That was an unpleasant thought. "I…I guess I can't say. For all I know, maybe they did. But I still can't agree with the way that shopkeeper acted."

Genis was silent at that. After a pause, I realized something and glanced over at him. "Hey, do _you _hate half-elves?"

"No…not really," he replied, avoiding my gaze. "But I'm an elf. Desians don't even come after my kind. Do you really think that about half-elves?"

"Well—yeah," I said, nonplussed. Was my way of thinking really so strange? And Genis seemed to have a point, but he also had a lot of human friends. He didn't feel defensive over them? Somehow his excuse seemed flimsy. Why was he so reluctant to agree with me?

He gave me a doubtful look. Then he forced his gaze back to the path in front of us, finally offering a grudging smile. "You're not so bad for a human. Just don't go changing your mind when you get your memories back, okay?"

"I won't," I said, smiling back.

Though inside, I had to wonder…

* * *

That night, I found myself unable to sleep. It wasn't the first time this had happened. Too many thoughts plagued my mind, and I could never think of a sufficient way to distract myself. It was annoying; something told me that I'd once had a method, but I could no longer remember it. After what seemed like hours of simply laying there, I finally gave up.

Sitting up, I decided to get some fresh air. The rooms on the higher floors of the inn had small balconies; I went out on to mine, leaning on the rail. I sighed; the stars were bright over Asgard, and yet...they felt cold and unfamiliar. Somehow I recognized this world of Sylvarant, but I felt I didn't belong here.

Where was my home, then? Did I even _have_ one? I was no closer to recovering my memory than I had been over a week ago. Every time I thought I was about to remember something, my head began to hurt and the memory danced out of my mind's reach.

I kept telling myself that I wouldn't progress if I tried too hard, but that didn't change how lost I felt. Not only that, I was slowing this group down...as much as I liked them, I only got in the way. I had realized that as I watched them fight earlier. Finally, I was starting to understand what Kratos had meant and why he had only been willing to let me come this far.

There was a knock at my door, causing me to turn around. It opened slightly, and Lloyd poked his head in. "...Mind if I come in?"

"No, not at all." I replied, startled at this unexpected visit.

He walked in, closing the door quietly behind him. "Sorry if I interrupted something. I was just outside and I saw you up on the balcony."

I blinked. "What were you doing outside?"

"Colette's...not sleeping again. I get worried when she does that."

"Yeah, me too," I agreed.

"Speaking of which, what're you doing up?"

"My room started feeling a little stuffy, so I came out here." I replied, deciding it would be better not to use Colette's usual excuse.

He looked away, out onto the town. "You looked...sad, when I saw you up here. It was the same after we defeated that monster earlier, too."

"...Did I?" I looked at him. So he'd noticed? I hadn't realized my expressions were so plain on my face.

"What's up?" Lloyd frowned at me; was he worried about me, too?

I sighed. "It's just...I haven't remembered anything, that's all."

"But it's only been a little over a week! You have all the time in the world to regain your memories. Remember what Kratos said? We can even get Colette to help you once she becomes an angel."

"Y-Yeah..."

"But that's not the only thing bothering you," he said.

His words surpised me again; Lloyd was more perceptive than he let on. I looked away, pausing for a moment, mulling over what I should say. I decided to confide in him. "You're all going to be leaving soon."

Lloyd's face fell. "…Right. That…"

I shook my head, sighing. "I…I understand why, though. I'm just a burden on you and the others. It's just…well, it's scary, that's all. I'm sort of…alone. Even if you'll come back and help me after the world regeneration, that's so far away…"

He scowled. "Dammit…you're not a burden, okay? And I don't want to leave you behind, either. We can't just expect you to function here when you can't even remember the name of the world we're in! There's gotta be something we can do…"

I sighed in frustration. "I don't have any money and I don't know how anything around here works. I guess I'm going to be dependent on someone no matter what…I don't even know how to fight."

His eyes suddenly lit up. "…I can teach you."

"Huh?" I looked over at him, confused.

"That's it!" He grinned, getting excited. "I'm pretty good with swords. I'll just teach you, and then you can help us out! Then you could come with us without worrying about being in danger."

"U-Um…" I blinked, taken aback. Was he really that willing to help me? Not that I didn't want to learn, but I would've expected some kind of resistance—

"This isn't a game, Lloyd." Oh. There it was. Kratos was walking out to join us on the balcony, looking displeased.

"Kratos? What're you doing up here?" Lloyd frowned.

"In case you've forgotten, my room is a floor below."

"O-Oh. Heh, sorry." He rubbed the back of his neck, and Kratos raised an eyebrow at his antics.

The mercenary then turned to me. "Learning to wield a sword isn't something you do overnight. It isn't easy."

"I—I know that," I replied, frowning. He didn't have to treat me like a child.

"Is that so? Then you should also know that even if you begin to learn, you will still be of little help. An inexperienced fighter will get in the way just as much as one who doesn't fight at all." Kratos continued, arms crossed.

"Kratos!" Lloyd glared.

"It's fine, Lloyd," I replied, sighing. Then I attempted to gather my resolve, working up the courage to meet the mercenary's gaze. "But you won't deny the fact that Sylvarant is dangerous, right?"

His eyes were hard. "That is precisely why you should remain here. The immediate threat is gone; you'll be safer here than you ever would be following us."

"There's no doctor here!" Lloyd burst out angrily. "Kratos, you know the doctor skipped town as soon as the sacrifices started! There's no one here that would know how to help her with her amnesia!"

Kratos looked over at him, eyes narrowed. After a few long moments he heaved a grudging sigh. "…And what would you suggest, then?"

"Let's take her with us," Lloyd insisted. "At least to Luin. She doesn't have to come to the seals with us! If we do anything really dangerous, we can just leave her at the nearest town. Besides, I bet Luin will at least have a doctor."

He seemed to actually mull this over; still, though, he didn't look too happy about the whole thing. "…We'll discuss it in the morning."

Apparently that was as good as a yes, from the way Lloyd's eyes lit up. I tried not to get my hopes up too much. His idea sounded great, but Kratos was clearly opposed to me coming along. What could I do to get him to take me more seriously? I wasn't completely helpless, right?

"Kratos." I spoke up just as he was turning to leave.

He paused, turning to look at me. It was hard not to shrink back from sheer intimidation.

"I don't want to hold you back," I said. "And I want to be able to take care of myself when we do end up having to part ways. Please, teach me how to use a sword."

Lloyd immediately jumped in on this. "Come on, Kratos. We already train every morning anyway, right? Why can't she join in?"

The mercenary glared at him. "Don't think that having an extra person would make your training any easier."

"I don't think that!" Lloyd backpedaled, but then halted suddenly. "Wait—so you'll do it? You'll do it, right?!"

Kratos turned to stare at me, his eyes analyzing. "...Fine. If you truly wish to learn, Lloyd and I will teach you. Keep in mind that I am a strict teacher and I do not take kindly to people wasting my time. Don't make me regret this."

"Y-Yes, sir," I replied timidly. When I was pinned under that gaze, the prospect of training with this man seemed utterly terrifying. But if it meant I had a higher likelihood of staying with the group…I had to try. At least Lloyd would be there.

Finally, he turned away. "We'll meet every morning at five a.m. sharp. Don't be late."

"W-Wait a minute!" Lloyd protested, looking panicked. "That's way earlier than before! What gives?!"

"If I must spend equal time with each of you, it's only natural that the time required for the training session will double," Kratos replied in a matter-of-fact tone. "You brought this upon yourself, Lloyd. Goodnight."

The teenager swore, watching helplessly as Kratos closed the door behind him and was gone.

"Oh, man..." Lloyd sighed, rubbing his forehead. "I hate it when he does that."

"Sorry," I said. It kind of was my fault.

He rolled his eyes. "Don't apologize, dummy…I still want you to come train."

"I can't believe he really agreed," I said, leaning my elbows on the railing and looking out over the city. "I mean…I was really thinking he'd outright refuse for a minute there."

"Just show him how much you want to learn," Lloyd advised. "He'll have to keep teaching you then, right?" He grinned. "This is great! It'll be fun having another person around to spar with."

"You think so…?" I frowned, a little doubtful. I just hoped I could be of some use. Even though I wanted to learn, it was hard to picture myself being able to do anything with a sword. Unless in my past life I had used one…somehow I doubted it.

"Oh, speaking of which…" Lloyd's grin turned sheepish. "We should probably go to bed now if we have to get up at five."

I gave him a dismayed look. "You're right."

He sighed. "I don't know how I'm gonna get out of bed…well, good night, then. See you in the morning."

"Night, Lloyd."


	4. Memories of Earth

**A/N: It's the chapter you've all been waiting for! ...I think. XD Anyway, I think you can guess what'll happen. If not, just look at the chapter title for a hint. This one's extra long just because I wanted to get to that one part.**

**I keep forgetting to put in a disclaimer, so here it is. :D**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but myself.**

**Enjoy!**

**2/26/13 EDIT: FINALLY finished fixing this one up! The revised chapter is now almost 2k words LONGER than the original, whoa. In essence the events are still the same, but I changed some scenes and dialogue quite a bit. Yay, better writing! I haven't started working on chapter 5 yet, so again, I apologize for any discrepancies between this chapter and the next. I have a feeling next chapter is going to be one hell of a project. o_o**

* * *

_Somebody was laughing._

_I could hear it; it was clear and beautiful, like the ringing of a bell, and somehow it was familiar as well. I had heard that laugh before—it sounded similar to my own._

_I was in a room. My surroundings were hazy, the bright lights blurring with the faces of the people I was with. _

_There were…two couches. The floor beneath my feet was polished wood. To my right was a fireplace, warmth emanating from the coals within. Directly in front of me, there was a tall pine tree decorated with ornaments of all shapes and sizes. There were many wrapped boxes beneath the tree; a similar box was resting on my lap, some of the paper torn off._

_The laughter was coming from a woman sitting next to me. She was close to my height, with shoulder-length brown hair and…and…_

_…No matter how much I strained, I just couldn't make out her face. Trying to do so made my head hurt._

_This…this was…_

_Someone was saying something to me, but the words were too muffled to make out. I looked up at the source of the masculine voice and saw a man standing near the tree, but his face was hidden as well. I felt…affection?_

_There was another man sitting next to a woman on the opposite sofa. I couldn't make out anything from them, but they seemed familiar too. I knew them and I loved them._

_…Family…_

_No…no! I wanted to know who they were! Why couldn't I see them? I opened my mouth to speak, but no matter how hard I tried, nothing would come out. Why? Why?!_

_I continued to try, redoubling my efforts, but there was nothing I could do but watch the scene playing out before me. The figures spoke, they moved and they laughed, but I couldn't hear the conversation…I couldn't take part._

_I wanted…I wanted to…_

_'...up.'_

...What?

"Brit, wake up."

The voice jolted me out of the dream. My eyes opened of their own accord, and I was met with the sight of Lloyd leaning over me.

"Oh..." I almost wanted to cry.

"Huh? What's wrong?" Now his sleepy face was puzzled.

I rubbed my eyes, trying to force my thoughts away from the dream. It hurt, but there was nothing I could do about it now. "Bad dream…don't worry about it. Is it time to get up already?"

Lloyd nodded, glum. "Yeah. We'd better get going or Kratos will get all scary."

I examined him for a moment; suddenly I found my lips quirking up of their own accord. His hair was sticking up all over the place, practically defying gravity, and the look on his face just made it even funnier.

"Lloyd, you look terrible," I said, laughing despite myself.

"Gee, thanks." He rolled his eyes, running a hand through his messy hair. Then he straightened, making his way over to the door. "Well, I'm gonna go grab my swords. Meet me at the front doors when you're ready, 'kay?"

"Okay. I won't take long," I replied. The last thing I wanted was to keep Kratos waiting after the exchange we'd had last night.

Lloyd left the room and I rolled out of bed, getting ready to face the day. It was going to be a long one, I could tell already.

* * *

The sky was starting to lighten in hue by the time I met Lloyd by the doors to the inn. It was just a little chilly outside. There were a few birds chirping somewhere, but other than that the entire town was still and silent.

"Ugh…" Lloyd opened his mouth for a wide yawn. "Can't believe he's making us do this…it's still dark out!"

"It's starting to look a little lighter, kind of…" I noted, knowing it was a poor consolation. "I guess I'll just go to bed earlier from now on."

I was exhausted too, but I was trying my hardest to hide it. To be honest, I was still really sore from the traveling we had done to get to this town. The thought of having to train with Kratos right now was bad enough, never mind having to walk for hours on end afterwards. I couldn't let anyone know that the traveling alone was hard for me, though…I needed to convince them I could keep up.

"Well, anyway…" Lloyd rubbed the back of his neck. "When he woke me up earlier, Kratos said he'd be waiting near the entrance to town. Ready to go?"

"Yeah," I replied.

We started walking. There were one or two early birds out and about, but other than that all of the buildings we passed had the curtains drawn and the doors closed tight. If I remembered correctly, the entrance to town was about a mile down the road. Kratos probably wanted an open area to train in, one that was away from buildings and any potential civilian traffic.

"So…" Lloyd shoved his hands in his pockets, offering me a sidelong glance. "What was your dream about?"

I shifted uncomfortably. "I think I almost remembered something."

His eyes brightened. "Really?"

"Mmhmm," I said, feeling myself relax a little. I hated my current situation, but talking to Lloyd about it couldn't hurt. "I was in a room with a bunch of people…I think they were my family. But I couldn't see their faces."

"Oh…" He frowned, looking thoughtful. "So that's why…but that's not so bad, right? Maybe it means you're getting closer to remembering."

My brow furrowed. "Actually…you're right, I think. There were two older people, a man and a woman…I think they were my parents. And then there was another man and woman there too, but they sounded like they were more Raine or Kratos' age."

"So you did remember something!" Lloyd exclaimed, grinning. "Maybe those were your older siblings."

"Huh…" I mulled this over. "I have an older brother and sister…?" Somehow, it sounded true. The thought of it comforted me immensely—one less mystery about myself.

"That's great," the teen said. "I wonder what they're like? I've always thought it'd be cool to have an older brother."

His words cheered me a little, and I laughed. "I hope I remember soon so I can introduce you to them." Then I faltered. "Oh! That reminds me, there's something else. Lloyd, what's 'Christmas'?"

"Krissmas?" He tested the word out, confused. "Uh…I dunno. Where did you hear that?"

I shrugged. "The word has been in my head since this morning. I think it has something to do with the dream."

"Hmm…" He tilted his head. "Maybe we can ask Kratos or the Professor."

I nodded, feeling encouraged. Parents, siblings and 'Christmas'…it was small, but I at least had something to hold on to. It was better than being completely blank like before. Maybe if I at least found my family, the rest of my memories would come naturally.

We continued onward in a companionable silence, drawing closer and closer to our meeting place. It was when I saw the town gates and the distant purple form of Kratos that the apprehension started setting in.

My upper legs and my calves still hurt every time I moved to take a step. What was Kratos' training going to be like? Was it going to be painfully obvious how lacking I was in stamina?

It was obvious enough that my fighting skills were going to be terrible. No matter what happened next, I had a feeling there would be nothing I could possibly do to impress Kratos. I would have to accept his criticism without getting discouraged, even if he was harsh. I couldn't feel sorry for myself; I had to keep giving it my all no matter what.

…Could I do that?

"Hmph. So you're actually on time." The mercenary watched us approach, arms crossed.

"That's right. Now let's get this over with so I can go back to sleep," Lloyd said, his hair finally straightened out.

Kratos raised an eyebrow. "By the time we're done, Lloyd, the others will be up."

"Aww…"

Though I had to fight a smile at this, Kratos was stone faced. He just sighed, tossing me a wooden blade and his own shield. Thankfully the shield was also made of wood, and it was relatively light. The sword was actually a little heavier.

Lloyd was given his own set of wooden swords as well. The teen lifted them, grinning a bit.

"These are just like the ones I used to use! Where'd you get these, anyway?"

"Borrowed from the local militia," Kratos replied, crossing his arms. "Control your strength. These aren't expensive, but if you break them, we'll be paying for them regardless."

"All right…"

"Don't you need a shield, Kratos?" I asked, a little confused. "Why'd you give me yours?"

"You will not land a hit," the mercenary replied. "I have no need for it."

Next to me, Lloyd made a face but said nothing. I understood exactly how he felt.

The three of us stood facing each other, and I tensed when Kratos finally lifted his own wooden blade. His eyes focused on me; I had to fight to keep my body from freezing up with intimidation. This was not going to be fun.

"First," he said, "show me your stance."

"My stance?" I balked a little, but then forced myself to take a deep breath. Okay…start acting a little tougher or he'll never take you seriously, Brittany.

Steeling my resolve, I straightened and held my sword in a tight grip, preparing myself.

He shot forward like lightning, his blade moving in a blur. I attempted to react, but I was too slow. His sword hit mine and it was wrenched out of my grip, sent flying through the air. I wobbled and stumbled backwards, managing to catch myself just in time.

"You're gripping your sword too close to the pommel," Kratos noted. "Retrieve it."

I obeyed, hesitantly walking over to pick up the fallen practice weapon. I faced him once more, adjusting my hold so that my grip was further up the handle. Um…that was what he meant, right? The pommel was the bottom of the hilt...ugh, I didn't know swords very well.

"Spread your feet shoulder width apart," he ordered. "I could have easily knocked you over before. Balance is crucial—if you fall, you die."

I did so, breathing slowly in an attempt to calm my rapidly beating heart. Kratos was really intimidating, and I felt extremely nervous just being in this situation.

"Hold your sword waist high—relax your stance. Excess tension inhibits speed."

"R-Right," I replied, attempting to follow his instructions. It felt like every move I made was under scrutiny, and I was painfully inadequate. I half expected him to tell me I was blinking wrong.

He watched me for a second, and then nodded. "…Hm. Acceptable. Now, Lloyd. Adopt a defensive pose."

Lloyd straightened a little, surprised at suddenly being addressed. "Huh? Oh, okay." He slid into a posture similar to mine; I noticed how natural it seemed to him, and felt just a bit envious. He lifted his dual blades and positioned them in a loose X formation.

Kratos examined Lloyd's pose for a minute, and then looked over at me. "All right. Brittany, fight Lloyd to the best of your ability. I will watch and correct your mistakes."

I blinked, looking between the two of them. "Fight Lloyd? Uh…"

W-What was I supposed to do? First Kratos asks me to show him a battle stance without teaching me what it's supposed to look like, and now he wanted me to fight Lloyd before he even taught me _how _to fight? I didn't even know what to do! Even if I was lacking my memory, something told me that I had never run at someone with the intent of harming them before. I wanted to learn to fight, but only so that I wouldn't be left behind; honestly, the thought of even attacking monsters made me cringe.

"All right, I'm ready. Do your best!" Lloyd said, smiling encouragingly.

It was his smile that gave me the courage to act. Something about that expression told me that I had nothing to be afraid of, not when I was sparring with him. It was Lloyd—maybe Kratos scared me, but I didn't have to be nervous with Lloyd.

I tried to relax, remembering what Kratos had said about being too tense. It looked like Lloyd was going to let me attack first. Was that a potential advantage? Maybe there was a chance I could keep him on the defensive.

I gripped the wooden sword tightly, raising my shield and trying to recall all of the times I had seen Kratos and Lloyd fight. The monsters on the way here, and that monster they had defeated up on the dais…that was what it looked like to fight with a sword.

With those images in mind, I lunged. Lloyd quickly lifted his left blade and held it at an angle so that my sword glanced harmlessly off of it, then used his right blade to swing. His parry had caught me off guard and the momentum was carrying me forward; raising my shield to block was all I could do. The impact of Lloyd's own attack was enough to knock me off balance, and I wobbled for a moment before falling awkwardly to the ground.

"You all right?" Lloyd grinned, holding a hand out to help me up. "Heh, you looked like Colette for a minute there."

"Hah, whoops…" I offered a sheepish grin, inwardly feeling embarrassed and very conscious of Kratos' stare. Another slip. Not that I'd expected to win a match against Lloyd, but honestly, couldn't I have lasted longer than two seconds?

Kratos sighed. "…We will have to take some time to help you grasp the basics. Once your stance is perfected, we will move on to footwork. After that I will teach you sixteen of the simplest attacks and parries—you will commit these to memory and practice them at the beginning of each session. Only then will we begin to spar in earnest."

I felt myself shrink a little under the weight of those words. He didn't intend to cover all that stuff _today, _did he? Hold on, footwork? Sixteen attacks and parries? That was a lot…

The mercenary crossed his arms, locking gazes with me. "Learning to wield a sword effectively is an extremely difficult task—not to be taken lightly. In addition to that, you have the build of a civilian. Until you build some muscle, these training sessions are going to wear on your body as well as your mind. I am a harsh teacher and I will not coddle you. Even knowing this, do you still intend to continue?"

He was testing me, wasn't he? Part of me was insisting that I wasn't cut out to be a fighter, that I would never last, and that Kratos knew this. But then, at the same time…

If I didn't learn and figure out a way to stay with this group, I was going to get left behind. What if my family was out there, but halfway across the world? I couldn't travel by myself. If I was left in a village, I might be stuck there for a long time.

And somehow…the thought of being separated from these people terrified me. It wasn't just that they were the only familiar faces around, my only friends here. It was…just something about them. Something was telling me I was supposed to stay with them.

Kratos was watching me, waiting for a response. I had to speak.

I gulped, my mouth suddenly feeling dry. "…I do. I'll work hard, I'll do what it takes. I have to learn so…so that I won't have to always rely on other people." Especially if I was alone…

"Right," Lloyd said, standing a little straighter. He moved to stand beside me, turning to face Kratos. "Dwarven Vow number four! Don't depend on others; walk on your own two feet!"

The mercenary breathed another sigh. "…Self-sufficiency is an entirely different matter, but I suppose learning to fight would be a step in the right direction. Hmph…if you're that determined, then so be it. Ready your blade—the real lesson begins now."

And that was it; I was in. I lifted my practice sword, bracing myself for whatever was to come.

* * *

Kratos hadn't been kidding. The lesson lasted from five to eight, and it was three hours of pure pain. He shifted effortlessly between training me and sparring with Lloyd, not even breaking a sweat. Both Lloyd and I were run ragged in the process.

It was hard. I wasn't prepared for it, and it was hard. My muscles were already sore from traveling and I didn't have very much stamina; I found myself running out of breath embarrassingly quickly, and Kratos was ruthless. He just pushed and pushed and _pushed, _and I could hardly meet his gaze because he was always giving me that _don't say I didn't warn you_ look.

By the end of the training session, I wanted to flop over and pass out somewhere. But we didn't—we went straight to our rooms to clean up, and then immediately went down to meet the others for a quick breakfast. I was so exhausted that even the effort of chewing food felt like too much.

"…I see." That was Professor Sage, mulling over Lloyd's proposal that I be allowed to travel with them to Luin. We were all sitting around a large table in the lobby area of the inn.

"I think it's a great idea!" Colette exclaimed, smiling excitedly. "Can she, Professor? It'll be so much fun!"

The woman put a hand to her chin, looking thoughtful. "The next seal is likely to be dangerous. And there is that assassin to consider—"

"What about that House of Salvation we passed on the main road?" Genis piped up. "It's on the way to the Mausoleum. We could leave Brittany there and come back afterwards."

"Yeah!" Lloyd nodded emphatically. "That's perfect! And that way that assassin girl will never know she's with us! There's nothing to worry about."

Kratos just frowned, giving Lloyd a look. "If she has been following us, it's entirely possible that she already knows."

Raine was wearing a similar frown. "If that woman sees us together, she may attempt to take Brittany hostage and exchange her life for Colette's…"

"I don't think she would do that!" Colette exclaimed, horrified. "She seemed nicer than that!"

Genis pressed a palm to his face. "Colette, she tried to _kill _you."

"…Assassin…?" I murmured, completely lost. Why would someone be trying to kill the potential savior of the world? That was…really scary. I had been worried about defending myself from monsters, but _people_? That was entirely different…

"Hm…" Finally Kratos leaned back in his chair, looking resigned. "A hostage situation is unlikely. The assassin must know that the worth of the Chosen's life overrides everything else—she would accomplish nothing."

"Kratos!" Lloyd glared, clenching his fists.

I stared blankly at him for a moment before the meaning of Kratos' words set in—he was saying that I would never be taken hostage because Colette was the Chosen and they'd never trade her for me, even if it meant me getting killed.

…That was harsh. Kratos was a charming man, I was learning that very quickly.

"…Even I believe that could have been worded a bit more tactfully," I heard the Professor mutter under her breath. Kratos was sitting all the way at the opposite end of the table, but I saw him lock gazes with her the instant the words left her mouth.

"It's the simple truth," the mercenary continued, crossing his arms. "Fortunately, this means that leaving her at the House of Salvation should not pose a problem."

"Whatever the reasoning, I'm okay with that plan," I said, feeling the need to put in my two cents.

Lloyd relaxed a bit at this. "…Yeah. So she's coming, right?"

"Well…I suppose it won't hurt," Raine said with a sigh.

"The more the merrier!" Genis piped up.

"Great!" Colette clapped her hands together happily.

"Okay. Welcome aboard, Brittany," Lloyd said, clapping me good-naturedly on the back with a bright grin.

"…Hmph." Kratos stood up, his chair scraping back as he left the table. "Don't get too comfortable. We have a long journey ahead of us." With that, he exited the room.

…_Very _charming man.

* * *

We set out not long after breakfast, and I took comfort in the fact that I had accomplished my sole objective—leaving Asgard with the group. I at least knew I was going to make it to this House of Salvation with them, and hopefully to that Luin place. After that…I didn't know. But I would have to think of something.

Several days passed, and Kratos pushed me to my limits. Each training session started bright and early and it was at least three hours long; those three hours felt like an eternity. We covered a range of topics over that span of time, working on my stance and the placement of my feet when I was moving in battle. I was in the process of practicing those attacks and parries I was supposed to memorize. No matter how many times I tried to copy Kratos' movements, I was always unsatisfactory in some way.

…It felt like I wasn't improving at all, and it was extremely frustrating. Every day I went out there with Lloyd and essentially got beat up, and even though I put forth every last ounce of effort I possibly could, I still wasn't good enough. Nothing was changing; it was the same thing every day. There were times when I very much wanted to cry.

Needless to say, I held it all in. But after a week of this, I just wasn't sure how much more I could bear. It was awful—I couldn't do anything right during the training sessions, and on top of that I could barely keep up with everyone when we traveled. I was so tired by the time training was over that I found myself lagging behind. Colette usually stuck around to walk with me, but I knew she was just trying to make me feel better—she wasn't nearly as tired as I was.

I knew I was fighting a losing battle by trying to compare to these people. I just wasn't cut out for this—I wasn't physically built for it, I wasn't experienced, I didn't know anything…I didn't even have my memory. I was useless, really.

…But I had to keep trying. That terror of being separated from them remained…

* * *

"You're off balance," Kratos said, facing me on another cool morning of training.

"Huh? No she's not!" Lloyd objected, frowning.

Was I? I tried to check the positions of my feet without taking my eyes off my opponent. I felt balanced, so I decided to trust Lloyd. I readied my sword and shield in a defensive stance.

The auburn haired man sighed, and ran forward at his usual alarming speed. Sword drawn, he attacked me from an angle that totally shattered my defenses. My eyes widened, and I wobbled dangerously. Kratos took this opportunity to shove me with one shoulder, knocking me onto my back. He pointed the wooden sword at my throat.

"D-dammit, Lloyd...I'm never listening to you again." I grumbled, trying to inch my throat away from the harmless looking blade.

Said teenager rubbed the back of his neck. "Ah. Whoops. But I thought...huh."

The mercenary raised an eyebrow at me. "Your judgment certainly hasn't improved."

"Urgh..." I mentally slapped myself. Why had I trusted Lloyd over the fighting expert, anyway? That really was a stupid move. It didn't help that Kratos was rubbing it in, though...

The sword was finally moved from my neck, and I stumbled to my feet. Kratos proceeded to lecture me on my stance again, even though he said the same words to me just about every day. I wondered when he'd finally give up and say that some people just couldn't be taught.

After a little while longer, I was allowed to rest. I watched Lloyd and Kratos train, still feeling pretty pathetic, still reminding myself that Kratos didn't think too highly of Lloyd's skills either. And Lloyd was still so much stronger and braver than me...

The two men trained with real swords, not wooden ones. It looked much more dangerous, and it actually made me feel a little squeamish. How the hell would I handle a real battle if I couldn't even handle this? They used techniques I couldn't even dream of performing, with cool names like 'Demon Fang' and 'Sword Rain'.

It couldn't really be helped, though...Lloyd and Kratos had Exspheres enhancing their abilities. That was why they could train with real swords, because they were stronger than me. As an added bonus, if they were injured badly, the Exspheres increased the effectiveness of healing spells. They could afford to get injured. I, on the other hand, would probably die. I found myself wishing that I could get ahold of one of those stones. Maybe then, I could keep up with them.

I just...wanted to fit in with the group. I didn't want to be left behind, but I didn't want to get in the way...if I didn't get stronger soon, it was going to be a lose-lose situation for me.

* * *

At long last, we arrived at the House of Salvation. I recognized the familiar structure easily from afar; it looked very similar to the one I had stayed at before. The familiarity was comforting.

Since it was only noon when we arrived, the others elected to take a short break for lunch before setting out for the seal. Everyone split up, going about their own business; Lloyd and Colette were playing with some dogs that lived with the priests, Genis was putting together lunch, and Raine was organizing the group's supplies.

I didn't know where Kratos was, but I'd had enough of him during training a few hours ago. I was more than content to wander off alone, finding a grassy knoll to lie down on and watch clouds drift by overhead. A pleasant, earthy scent was carried to me on the breeze, and I let out a long sigh.

It was relaxing out here…my limbs were still on fire, but the pain was so much more bearable when I could just let go and lay here like this.

Though I was a little glum that I would have no company for the next couple days as the others went to the seal, for the most part I took it as a blessing. I really _needed _a break. The thought of sleeping in and relaxing was extremely appealing.

Of course, Kratos had ruined it by giving me a heavy manual on fighting and telling me to memorize the contents of the first five chapters and practice the techniques described therein. Well…I'd work on that tomorrow. I had the feeling that even if I memorized the whole _book, _the mercenary would still find a way to be dissatisfied. Part of me wanted to just give up and start mentally preparing myself for that lecture now.

I sighed, stretching my arms before cushioning the back of my head with my hands. I was worrying too much…more excuse to take the rest of the day off. Maybe I'd concentrate better on the studies without any of the others around—I wouldn't feel so self-conscious and inadequate.

My thoughts were cut off when I suddenly caught a strange scent on the breeze. My brow furrowed; what was that? It was oddly familiar, but I couldn't remember where I knew it from.

_Metal. Machinery. Chemical. Industrial._

The words entered my head and I paused, thinking. That was almost…

I closed my eyes. Machines…computers…factories…technology…yeah, that was it. The smell reminded me of—

The metallic ring of clashing swords met my ears and my concentration was broken. Something in my mind slipped, and I couldn't understand what I had been thinking before. What was a computer?

Never mind that—those were the sounds of a conflict I was hearing. I was instantly on the alert, jumping to my feet and growing tense. The sounds were coming in the direction of the main building; were the others in trouble?

That was right…there were people out there that wanted to kill Colette. What if it was that assassin? Oh, no…

I hesitated, looking towards the House of Salvation and then looking behind me, where there was forest and fields and the path going back towards Asgard. I didn't have a weapon, and the thought of going towards any sort of fight made my knees shake. Should I run? Could I make it back to Asgard?

No, I couldn't. I was defenseless and I had no supplies. Now I was caught in the middle of two bad situations; I couldn't run, but if I went towards danger, I was just as likely to die…

...But I knew what the _right _thing to do was. It was terrifying, but I couldn't just abandon everyone that had helped me. I had to at least see what was going on.

Finally arriving to a decision, I quickly began to make my way back to the House. I listened carefully and tried to discern where the sounds of the fight were coming from, using the building to shield me from view. The element of surprise was an edge I couldn't afford to lose.

I hid around the side of the building, slowly edging around until I could see what was going on. After a moment I slowly bent down to pick up a fist-sized rock, keeping it in a tight grip as I observed the scene.

The fighting was over. Lloyd, Kratos and everyone else was surrounded and outnumbered by a group of strange men; they all wore metal helmets that hid their eyes from view.

The main thing I noticed, though, was that each of these men was armed. Many of them used swords or halberds, but I shuddered when I saw a few that actually had whips on their belts. Who were these people?

Ah. The snarl on Lloyd's face was more than enough explanation…they were Desians.

"We've found you, wanted criminal #0074!" The man that appeared to be their leader strode forth, smirking. "Lord Kvar will most definitely be pleased..."

"Bastards!" Lloyd growled. "Let Colette go!"

My eyes widened; they held Colette separate from the group, spears and swords pointed to her throat. One weapon was actually jabbed in a little—only a little, but blood dribbled down her neck. This was a very delicate situation.

"If you want the girl to live, you will come with us," the commander said.

"Lloyd, don't do it!" Colette urged, but he only looked down.

"I...all right. Just let her go already!"

The Desians around Colette backed off, grabbing Lloyd instead. Now he was separated from the group as well, and there were too many enemies for just Kratos, Raine and Genis to fight off. This was bad, very bad. But...what could I do? I didn't even have a weapon, let alone the skills to wield it!

The commander laughed cruelly, approaching Colette. "You stupid inferior being. You actually believed me? I have no need for this piece of garbage." He raised his sword, ready to slash her throat open. Colette's eyes widened in fright; her chakrams had been taken away from her, and she was defenseless.

"N-NO!" Lloyd cried out as the Desian's sword descended rapidly towards Colette's neck.

Colette was going to die. Not just the Chosen, not just the savior of the world—Colette, the cheerful girl that had been so nice to me. This was really happening.

Then the sword's progress suddenly halted as it flew out of the commander Desian's hands. He let out a yell of surprise and pain, reaching up to clutch at his jaw. It was gushing blood.

What? How—?

They were looking at me. Everyone saw me. My hand was empty. The rock—

It was sitting at his feet. In my panic, I had thrown it without even thinking.

Some Desians with staves were approaching the commander, healing magic at the ready, but he turned away from them to face me with murder in his eyes.

He was coming towards me. My stomach did a somersault and I felt a surge of vertigo; could this be real? I was really going to die, right here in front of everyone? All because of a thrown stone…

No! I wasn't ready to die yet! There had to be something I could do!

But if I just ran, they might kill everyone else…

As the commander approached me, I saw the sun shine off a jewel dangling around his neck. He had been fumbling with it earlier as he spoke to Lloyd. It certainly didn't look like a piece of jewelry, that was for sure. Maybe it was valuable…

That gem was my only bet at turning the tables here. This had to work…I had to make it work.

"Brittany, _run!_" Lloyd cried, breaking me out of my reverie. Now was the time to act, as the Desian commander was drawing near.

"You...pathetic little human..." He said to me, disgust lacing his voice. "How _dare_ you!"

Now he rushed at me, sword angled at my throat. I tensed up, ready to move—if I messed up now, I would be impaled. This was real. I couldn't do this over if I made a mistake. Things seemed to be moving impossibly fast, too fast for me to process, and my heart pounded in my ears.

_Evasion is far more effective than defense, particularly against larger, stronger foes._

In a split second, Kratos' lesson from yesterday came back to me, and I knew what he would do if he were in my position. I waited until the last minute and then dodged to the side as quickly as I could, sidestepping the deadly blade. In that instant, I reached up and caught hold of the jewel hanging around the commander's neck, using my forward momentum to rip it free of its chain.

I didn't wait around to see what would happen. Tucking the jewel into the pocket of my pants, I broke out into a sprint—running past the other Desians and my shocked group, away from the House of Salvation.

The commander cried in outrage a second time, foiled again.

"The Desian Orb!" I heard him shout. "After her, fools, or Lord Kvar will have our heads!"

Now I could hear the sounds of many footsteps in hot pursuit. Good; that meant the majority of them were chasing me. Lloyd and the others should be able to defeat the rest. At least they were safe.

My safety was another matter. The second I had thrown that rock, I had doomed myself. Stupid, stupid! What could I possibly hope to do against a horde of angry, armed Desians?! I didn't want to die!

There was a forest nearby. If I could just make it there, I would increase my chances of losing them. I desperately needed somewhere to hide.

Now that my course was set, I focused on running as fast as I possibly could. An bolt whizzed past my shoulder, causing my eyes to widen in alarm; they had crossbows?! This was looking worse and worse by the second. I had to get under cover or I would get shot down.

The trees were just ahead. I shot into the woods without hesitation, instantly ducking off the path in favor of the dense trees and undergrowth. I heard the Desians crash through the bushes behind me. Adrenaline coursed through me, my heart still pounding. I tried to watch everything in front of me; if I tripped, I was done for. I wove in between trees to the best of my ability, trying to throw them off. It worked for a few, but that wasn't good enough; I was running out of breath. I needed to lose them now, so I could find a suitable hiding place to rest.

The forest grew even thicker, making my flight nearly impossible, but also causing difficulty for my pursuers. The bushes and grass were knee high, some even reaching my waist. I risked a look back for the first time; the Desians were hidden from me behind all of the dense growth, but that also meant that I was hidden from them. I could hear them, though, and they sounded a moderate distance away.

I turned to run again, and finally saw the perfect hiding spot; there was a hollowed out tree nearby. The crack in the bark was difficult to see, but it was there. If I could just stand in there for a while, they would pass me by.

Acting quickly, I tried to step cautiously so I wouldn't leave a trail. I stepped into the hollowed tree, taking in long, deep breaths as silently as I could. I would have to hold my breath when they passed by. Then I grew as still as I could, listening. The Desians drew ever closer, and then suddenly they stopped. Ah, they were listening for me as well, now. The silence dragged on for a minute or so, and I heard some muffled talking. Then the forest became dead silent.

I waited. There was nothing more I could do at this point. When the waiting became too much, I started to count in my head. When I got to two thousand, I told myself, I would try to escape once more.

And so, I counted. Counting to two thousand was a lot more difficult than it sounded in the beginning, especially given the circumstances I was in; I kept losing track and having to start over. My heartbeat wouldn't seem to slow. I couldn't stop myself from trembling. After what seemed like forever, I made it to the number I'd specified. There hadn't been a single sound from the forest during this time. The Desians must have left. And if not...well, I couldn't just stay here all day. If they combed through the forest thoroughly enough, I'd be found if I didn't move. Maybe if I moved from hiding place to hiding place, I could escape without exhausting myself completely.

With this final thought, I stepped out of the protection of my tree.

"Well, well. Look what I've found."

I gasped, turning to find a sword pointed at my throat. The commander had been waiting for me?!

He laughed. "I knew you were somewhere around here. It was only a matter of patience, which you humans seem to lack." The Desian grew closer. "I'll have to ask you to give me back what you stole, pitiful creature. As a reward for your stupidity, I think I'll take you to answer to Lord Kvar personally. It is your fault, after all, that we lost the wanted criminal."

So I'd succeeded with one thing, at least...oh Goddess, but I was scared. What the hell had I been thinking?! I remained taciturn, trying to keep my expression as indifferent as possible. I couldn't let him see my fear…

The Commander obviously grew frustrated with my less-than-satisfying reaction, for he knocked me to the ground with the flat of his sword. I curled up, my face contorting with pain.

"I'll see to it that you're tortured in the worst way possible!" He growled, and kicked me hard in the gut. The shock from the blow caused me to pass out.

* * *

When I awoke, I found that I was being unceremoniously carried like a sack of potatoes. I tried to move my legs a little, but the person carrying me was holding them down, and they were also extremely sore. I remembered what had happened, and my heartbeat sped up considerably. That's right; I had been running from...

"Heh. So the little wretch is awake." It was the voice of that damned commander. I managed to get my head up, and saw he was walking beside the Desian carrying me. I was still too dazed from my previous unconscious state to think up a sharp retort, not that I was brave enough to do so anyway. I did my best to glare at him.

"Stop carrying her. She can walk the rest of the way." He said, and the other Desian simply plopped me down on my knees, jarring them rather painfully. I winced, and did my best to hide it. The commander roughly jerked me up and forced me to walk.

I complied, being far from understanding the situation. Where the hell was I? The metal hallways and doors of this structure felt the same as the rest of Sylvarant: familiar, and yet unfamiliar at the same time. An anxious feeling came over me. The inner reaches of my mind were telling me that this was a bad place, and that area deep in my mind was the only portion of my brain that seemed to know what was going on.

As we went deeper into the building, other warning signals started appearing. I thought it was just my nerves at first, but then it all became too hard to ignore. I could hear...screaming. People were screaming. It became harder and harder for me to hide my true emotions; what kind of place was this? I couldn't see them...but they sounded like they were in so much pain…

Suddenly, my mind cleared and I realized with horror just where I was. Lloyd's angry words from so many nights ago came to mind once again:

_It's exactly what it sounds like. They're monsters—they imprison people and treat them like cattle._

...So this was a human ranch. I could only be thankful that I was unable to see the atrocities that were no doubt being committed here. My steps slowed slightly; I felt like my shoes were weighted with lead.

"Keep moving, slime!" The commander growled with obvious satisfaction as he kicked me. I moved onward, desperately wondering how I was going to get out of this. I couldn't count on being rescued by the others. So what hope did I have on my own? What was going to happen next?

I felt my skin pale a shade as I remembered what the commander had said before knocking me out; he was taking me to that Lord Kvar person. I had heard Raine and Kratos talking about that guy before; he was something called a Grand Cardinal, which was apparently some powerful leader of Desians. And he was the head honcho of the Asgard ranch.

Wait, what?! How...how had I...? But I'd also heard them say the Asgard ranch was even farther away from Asgard than the Mausoleum! There was no way we could've gotten here so fast...I couldn't have been unconscious for longer than a few hours...

I took a double take at the rooms around me, all possessing some familiar looking high-tech stuff. They must've had some method of travel that was unknown to the people of Sylvarant.

Within the next few seconds we entered a new room, even larger and more technologically advanced looking than the others. The Desians around me roughly forced me to my knees, swords pressing painfully into my back. I looked up, wincing, and saw that someone new was approaching. Who...wait.

The man was tall, ears pointed, whitish blond hair slicked back. His eyes were slit nearly shut, but I could see that they were black where the whites should be, and his irises were red...that didn't do much for my nerves, either.

"Hmm..." The man said in a smooth voice, looking unimpressed, "So this is the maggot that interfered. I see."

And this was Kvar. I forced myself to look directly into his horrible eyes, clutching my hands into fists. _Why?_ Why did I recognize him? He was familiar and unfamiliar, too. But I knew his voice, dammit! So why...

"Tell me, inferior being, what possessed you to think you could actually outrun my men?" the Grand Cardinal asked me, looking like he really didn't care anyway.

He was speaking to me. I had to say something, but my mouth was too dry. It took everything I had to keep myself from trembling uncontrollably. If I tried to speak, I knew my voice would crack and this person would know how pathetic and weak I really was.

I kept my face blank, fighting a mental battle with myself. It seemed easier not to speak.

The commander wasn't having any of that. "Speak when you are spoken to, insect!"

He jabbed my back with the tip of his sword. I started to cry out, but bit the inside of my cheek to stop myself. A warm liquid soaked the back of my shirt. My blood...oh...

Kvar smiled—only it wasn't really a smile, because there was no kindness or humor in it. "I suppose it doesn't matter. You've provided me with quite an inconvenience, girl. If not for you, I could have had criminal #0074 safely contained."

"...He has a name," I blurted out before I could stop myself.

"Ah?" Kvar fingered his weapon, an extravagant but formidable looking staff. "Speak up, human."

He was prodding me, his voice terrifying. I knew he'd heard what I said, but I couldn't take it back now. I was scared, but there was an odd feeling in the pit of my stomach...disgust? My fists clenched even harder. The feeling was...anger.

I remembered the way Lloyd had spoken about the Desians, the pain he hid behind a brave face. They had destroyed his hometown and killed his mother, and I couldn't stand the way this man spoke to me like I was a lower form of life.

There was no avoiding it; I had to speak. Considering where I was, the likelihood of me surviving this seemed extremely slim. There was no sense in groveling to save myself.

"I said, he has a name." I spoke, forcing the tremble out of my voice. "His name is Lloyd. He's a person, not a num—_aaah!"_

The half elf chuckled infuriatingly, even more so as the Desians restraining me suddenly turned on me, beating me down and kicking at my sides ruthlessly for my behavior. After my initial shocked yell, I clammed up, my breath coming out in a hiss through my gritted teeth.

"I don't care about the name of a human maggot," Kvar said, sneering. "That boy has something of great value to me. If he prefers to die protecting it just as his mother did, then so be it."

My eyes widened. "You..."

_My mother is dead because of the Desians. _Lloyd's words rang through my head.

Something about it triggered something in me. Kvar and Lloyd's mother…there was a story behind that. I knew the story.

_However, Anna and I were pursued by Cruxis. We traveled from place to place, and when you were born, with you as well…but we were finally caught by Kvar._

_Lacking a Key Crest, the mana in her body went out of control and she turned into a monster. _

_I…killed her._

Kratos. Kratos told that story in Flanoir.

That hadn't happened yet. How could I know that?

Tales of Symphonia. This was a video game.

The truth about this situation sank into me in a haze of reality and unreality, and I felt dizzy; if I hadn't been kneeling already, I would've collapsed right there. All this time...I had been so discouraged in the past few weeks, but in reality I had been inching closer and closer to the memories I sought...in the space of merely half a second, my amnesia was no more.

Earth was reality. Sylvarant was fiction. This didn't make _sense! _How had I gotten here? How could this be happening?!

Another second passed. There wasn't time for me to mull over this. I still felt dazed with the impact of my newly reclaimed memories.

"No matter. It hardly concerns you." Kvar said, coming even closer.

I panicked, trying to understand exactly what was going on; too much information had been dumped on me at once. Kvar...Kvar used magic, he was cruel, and there was no way I'd live in a fight against him.

This had to be a fucked up dream. There was no way a Grand Cardinal was standing before me like this, there was no way I could be in a Desian ranch.

I tried to convince myself, but it just wasn't working. The warmth of my own blood soaking into the clothing on my back proved me wrong, as did the cuts and bruises I felt from the Desians' kicks. And I still remembered all of the events preceding this, all the way down to being found in the forest, and they had seemed real enough back then.

"However..." The Desian Grand Cardinal continued, giving me another one of those horrible smiles, "I must thank you for saving me the trouble of tracking you down as well."

Whoa, whoa. _What?_

The Desians to my sides seemed equally confused. "L-lord Kvar, is this human..."

He nodded. "Another part of my Angelus Project, recommended as an ideal host body by Lord Yggdrasill himself." Now his eyes narrowed. "Do not allow her to die before the experiment is seen through, understand?"

They stood straighter, nervous at his glare. "Yes, sir!"

I raised my eyebrows in utter shock, completely baffled by this new piece of information. Even the whole video game thing made sense to a certain point, but this was just too much.

"What are you talking about?" I blurted out at Kvar; the Desians were suddenly ready to beat me up again, but their leader held up a hand.

"You certainly are oblivious, aren't you." It wasn't a question, merely a snide remark. Anger flared up within me again. There was no way I could be caught up in his stupid Angelus Project, I was from Earth! And what was all this crap about Yggdrasill? This was my first time even being at a human ranch!

"No offense," I growled in a tone that meant I certainly did mean to offend, "But I think you're the oblivious one. You've got the wrong person."

Kvar's dangerous smile twisted into a sneer, and he dropped the hand he'd been holding up. The Desians fell on me, beating me down, kicking me repeatedly on the floor. I couldn't stop a few cries from escaping. My...my anger had overcome my fright, and I'd said the wrong thing again...they finally stopped, leaving me lying broken and bleeding on the floor.

"Stupid human..." Kvar walked up, placing his own foot just below my rapidly beating heart. "Consider yourself lucky that I cannot kill you yet." The pressure from his foot increased suddenly; he was balancing more and more weight on to me, and my eyes widened. What? But, no. This kind of cruelty only happened in movies, or in history books, not to regular—

Kvar brought his foot down hard, snapping two of my ribs.

My eyes widened, and I choked on a breath, unable to comprehend what had just happened. The sickening snap, and then the pain, _oh my God the pain the pain make it stop-_

I screamed. I didn't care about showing or not showing weakness anymore, he was breaking my bones and I'd never felt so much blinding, excruciating pain in my entire life. I kept screaming, running out of breath and gasping for more, wishing I could just pass out, but somehow my body remained conscious despite the horrors it was facing.

The bastard wasn't even laughing, like a typical villain. He was just...watching me. He was watching me with the mild interest of a bored boy who had picked up a magnifying glass to kill a few ants. When I finally stopped screaming and glared at him, tears streaming down my cheeks, he simply turned his back to me.

"Take her away. See to it that the Exsphere is properly implanted."

"Yes, sir." The Desians chorused in reply, and I was dragged out of the room. When I was unable to walk on my own, they proceeded to guide me by using my hair as a handhold. That day was agony.


	5. History Lesson

**A/N: Ahhh, chapter 5 already. If you're wondering about the chapter title...well, I make a lot of Holocaust references here. XD **

**Let the fun at the human ranch begin...**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

----

I was taken to a small room, where the Desians held me down. Yeah, as if I was going to put up much of a fight in my current condition. The pain from my snapped ribs was torture; all I could do was bite my lip and try to focus on what my captors were doing. Two of them dug through some boxes, but my clouded mind didn't recognize this room or know if it had any significance.

One of them finally found what he was looking for. He extracted a spherical stone, a little larger than a marble, deep blue in color. An Exsphere...oh God, were they putting it on me? The next Desian pulled out something gold...a Key Crest. But why would they give me a Key Crest for my Exsphere...?

"Hold still, maggot." The Desian next to me growled, but I ignored him. I was too busy racking my mind for some answers. Think...think...what was Kvar's Angelus Project, again? Dammit, I'd beaten the game four times, I should remember this!

...Oh. I remembered now. Presea...I was going through the same thing as Presea, wasn't I? That had to be it. I vaguely remembered the basement scene in Sybak, Kate telling the group about Presea's experiment. It was an attempt to get an Exsphere to evolve into a Cruxis Crystal by equipping a special Key Crest that slowed the Exsphere's effects.

Okay, so I was probably not going to die right away, since they couldn't kill me until they created a Cruxis Crystal. That was going to take a while, so I had from now till the time I lost all awareness and emotion to get the hell out of here. How long was that? I had no clue.

On the other hand, the experiment might fail, and I'd turn into an Exbelua like Alicia had. That seemed slightly worse. I had to hope for the best, then.

That seemed exceedingly difficult in these circumstances, as the Desians walked toward me with cruel smirks on their faces. I had two broken ribs, maybe three, I was beat up, and I was trapped at a human ranch.

The Key Crest was held firmly onto the skin just below my collarbone, as a second Desian brought the Exsphere in contact with my skin as well. There was an odd, almost painful sensation as the stone attached itself to my flesh and the Key Crest. I winced, my entire body feeling strange.

All of a sudden, my mind flashed back a few days before. I had been watching Kratos and Lloyd train, eyeing their Exspheres...and hadn't I wished I could get one for myself? How horribly ironic...it was strange how ignorant I had been back then, how much different a person I was now. I hadn't remembered anything back then. I hadn't even known my last name, for God's sake!

The process was done. Now the Desians gracefully dragged me out by my hair once again, even though I made honest attempts to walk despite my pain. Before I even realized it, I had been thrown into what looked like a jail cell. Scratch that, it was a jail cell.

I looked up at the Desians who had closed the gate on me, and they leered.

"Heh. Consider yourself lucky that you're a special case, or you'd have to start working right away like everyone else."

I didn't reply, knowing that doing so would not be in my best interests right now. I simply stared at them until they walked away, then fell over on my side. "Oh....oh, Jesus Christ." I murmured, wishing that the Savior of my religion could hear me right now. If I needed anything right now, it was a miracle. There was no answer, of course, and I cursed myself for never going to church. I couldn't even remember a sufficient prayer.

It looked as if I'd have to do this myself. No one was going to come and rescue me.

I tried to sit up, and choked on a gasp of air again. Falling back down, I laid still. So, getting up wasn't an immediate option. I couldn't even black out, so there was no peaceful sleep for me...

That was fine. I...needed time to mull things over, and now I had it. I stared at the grimy ceiling of the cell, doing my best to ignore the pain in my ribs, which had settled to a dull but tormenting throb.

I needed to calm down. Augh, easier said than done...focus on one thing at a time...

Okay. First, I was in Tales of Symphonia. How the hell that happened, I didn't know. It wasn't possible for me to just magically warp my way into the TV or something, and I hadn't even played the damn game in over a year, but whatever. None of it made sense but I had to accept it, because what was happening was most definitely real. Real, and it was not cute and chibi-fied like in the game. People were dying out there, and I was in bad shape.

Second. Whatever it was that caused me to end up here had dumped me in the woods, where Lloyd and his group found me. I'd had a head injury...but that really didn't make sense, either. In any case, I had come into the plot just before they'd gone to interrogate Dorr about his dealings with the Desians. Apparently they'd already done the Thoda Geyser and all that crap...and they'd come back to get me after blowing up the Palmacosta ranch. It looked like I hadn't disrupted the plot too much, which was probably a good thing...only I certainly didn't remember a Desian attack at any of the Houses of Salvation. That wasn't supposed to happen at all. Speaking of which, it was also probably a good thing that I'd saved them, since they weren't supposed to be attacked in the first place. Fuck. Not that I really liked my situation right now.

Third. I was not supposed to matter. So, maybe some dimensional fluke or something or other had dumped me into a friggin' video game. All right, so at best, I'd be an interesting NPC. I was kind of doing the same thing Mithos had done later in the game. That was fine, as long as I didn't do anything to prevent Colette and the others from finishing their journey. But...what the hell was all this about the Angelus Project? I reached up to finger the Exsphere now embedded in me, wincing when it stung a little. I hadn't existed in this world until a couple weeks ago. How could I suddenly be part of a project like that? I hadn't even been involved with Kvar or the Desians before today. And what had he said about Yggdrasill? I mean, what the hell did Yggdrasill know about me? He probably didn't even know I existed.

All right, that brought me to my fourth point. Kvar was mistaking me for someone else and I had to get the hell out of here before he realized it. He'd just assumed I was spewing bullshit earlier, but sooner or later he'd realize something wasn't quite right. Maybe Yggdrasill would pay him a visit on his projector and see me, then call him out on his screwup. Either way, this sucked. I needed to escape, because if I didn't, the outcome would be bad no matter what.

That felt better. Although my physical pain was far from being cured, at least I was all straightened out mentally. I was in Symphonia, I'd met the heroes early on, I was a minor character, and Kvar was an idiot. I could do this.

I just had to conduct a Great Stealthy Escape from the Desian ranch, without getting killed in the process. At least I knew a few fighting techniques. Sort of. I fingered the Exsphere again; maybe it would help me? Presea's had given her strength, hadn't it? Okay, so I'd use it to my advantage until it sucked out my soul.

Having sorted everything out, I tried simply laying there for a moment, clearing my mind. Maybe I could sleep before the bastards made me work.

It was no use. Not thinking caused the pain in my body to be so much more obvious, and it was terrible as it was. I quickly tried to find a way to occupy my mind again, frantic.

.....That dream I'd had in Asgard...my eyes suddenly welled up with tears. Oh, this was a bad thing to think about. But I couldn't stop, now. Not now that I could remember everything. Before Lloyd woke me up, I'd been dreaming about Christmas morning with my family a few years ago. It hadn't been as full of presents as the previous Christmases, but it had been such a nice day. We'd eaten a family breakfast, and dinner, and everything. The tears fell freely, but I couldn't help but crack a weak smile at the memory. My dad had confused me by putting some of his gifts in the box to an ordinary household item. My sister had been taking pictures of everything, earning more than a few objections from me. I'd taken a few for her, and in one of them my dad had poked his head over her shoulder and made the funniest face...

I would've given anything to go back and see them at that moment. A wave of homesickness washed over me. Why was I stuck in this stupid place, anyway?! I didn't belong here!

No, family was a bad thing to think about right now. I pushed the subject away from my thoughts, desperately trying to find another subject to dwell upon.

I wondered how Lloyd and the others were doing...augh, that was bad, too. I needed to stop.

Suddenly the bars to my cell opened again, and there were numerous people standing at the door. I looked up, watching them stumble inside with Desian guards at their backs. The bars were slammed promptly shut again, closing me in with the new arrivals. They looked just as curiously at me as I did at them....ah, it was not they who were the new arrivals; I was.

My curiosity faded quickly, and I looked away. Looking at them was...hard. Very hard. The game, of course, did not justify the brutalities that were obviously done to these people. In the game, they'd just looked like decently fed homeless people. Here....oh, God. They were all so thin and bony, their hair scraggly, dirt and grime worked into their pores. Some had bloody marks across their backs-- I realized with horror that they were from the lashes of a whip. Those...Desian bastards. Every prisoner had a Key Crest-less Exsphere. And every prisoner would probably have it removed later, only to die or turn into a monster.

Seeing these poor, abused people, I found my mind flashing back to pictures I'd seen of Holocaust victims. The difference was little to none. There was the same hollow, broken look in their eyes. My stomach twisted in revulsion to the Desians, even more so now that I associated them with Nazis, the old terrors of my world. Each group did the exact same thing; genocide. Not just killing people from a certain race or culture, they were torturing them and working them towards a slow and nasty death. I remembered reading about the purpose for many of the Nazi's actions in the concentration camps; they had wanted to break the spirits of thier prisoners, cause them to lose touch with their humanity. Prisoners had been assigned numbers and were called by their numbers, they were forced to chop all of their hair off, they relinquished all of their personal belongings, and they even had to trade in their clothes for filthy prisoner's garb. The Desians wanted the same thing; they wanted the people here to lose their sense of individuality, importance as a person. That was why a lot of these people looked like mournful zombies.

I remained on my back, staring at the ceiling, knowing that I would have to move despite the pain sooner or later. I highly doubted Kvar would get his pompous ass down here and First Aid me. Neither would any of the bastards on this ranch, for that matter.

"...So you're a new prisoner." A girl who looked to be about my age crawled up to me, looking like she still had at least half her sanity left. That was good. "My name's Elena. I...just got here a few weeks ago."

I smiled at her, instantly associating her with the Final Fantasy character because of her short blonde hair. "Hey. I'm Brittany. I just got here...well, like five minutes ago."

She smiled back, with a touch of sadness; she seemed to know that I'd lose my good humor soon. Hell, even I knew that. This ugly place was getting very old, very fast.

We sat--well, I laid--in silence for a moment, and then I spoke up. "So where're you from, Elena?"

"Asgard." She replied, her voice pained. She probably missed her family as desperately as I did.

"I was just there around ten days ago." I said, and her eyes widened.

"A-ah. I wonder, could you tell me...who was the next performer of the ritual on the dais? My...my sister might..."

I laughed quietly, the movement hurting. "It's okay. The Chosen came, and her group stopped the monster. There won't be any more sacrifices."

Elena visibly relaxed, her eyes lighting with hope. "The Chosen of Mana? She saved....oh, thank the Goddess!"

"S-shh! Don't let them hear you!" Another prisoner hushed her, and she apologized quietly before turning to me again.

"Do...do you think the Chosen will come to rescue us?"

I sighed. "I don't know."

She looked disappointed and I wished I could cheer her up, but I didn't want to lie to her. I knew I wasn't going to sit around and wait to see if they came. In the game, Kate had said the development of the Cruxis Crystal could take place over several days to several decades. The former meant that by the end of this week, I could be an emotionless doll. I had to get out of here, and fast...especially since Lloyd was pretty much my only hope of getting a proper Key Crest on this thing.

----

The Desians came around an hour later, giving bowls of what they tried to pass off as soup to the prisoners. I made a face, and offered mine to Elena.

"You should eat," she urged, gulping hers up, "they don't feed us often."

I shook my head. My stomach still had a bit of Genis's good meal from that morning in it, and I didn't really want to vomit that up in favor of this disgusting slop. I winced, knowing I'd have to eat it next time. I might even be eating it for a while. I was beginning to really feel sick...

Before long, a Desian guard came into our cell and wrenched me out of it by the hair. I was really starting to think it was just the same guy who enjoyed a sick joke. Fuck, it was like millions of needles driving into my skull. The only thing that eclipsed that pain was the pain from my ribs. Maybe the broken ones would poke into my lung or heart or something, and I could just die quickly. He pulled me into another room, and promptly tore all of my clothes off, down to my bra and panties.

"W-what the--" I was unable to even finish as I looked at him, mortified. Was I about to be--oh God, but I was a virgin, I...

The Desian smirked at my assumption, and shoved prisoner's clothes in my face. "Change. Now. You'll be wearing these from now on."

I tried to glare at him, but I was still too shaky from how scared I'd just been. I brought the Nazi and Desian comparisons back to mind; had the Nazis...yes, they had. They'd raped women, deflowered them, sexually brutalized them in unimaginable ways. This wasn't really a game if it existed right here in front of me, I reminded myself. The Desians probably did sink that low. And I probably could be a victim of it, as well as Elena or any other woman in the cell I stayed in.

No. I couldn't think about that now, I was only scaring myself. Dying was one thing, but being raped and then dying? Or being raped to death? That was....too horrible to put into words. I obeyed the Desian's orders, putting on the clothes as he watched, glad to at least have the cover of the dirty material. I had to appear indifferent, I thought, willing myself not to tremble. Didn't sick men like that enjoy the thought of a vulnerable, helpless woman? Probably. Maybe I was physically vunlerable, but I could at least try to be mentally tough. The Desian led me back to the cell, where I sat next to Elena, staying quiet for a while. I wouldn't ask her if they did things like that here; I didn't want to know. It would just add to my worries at the moment.

----

After another hour, several Desians came, most holding whips-- holy shit, one of them was holding a flail. I realized that before coming to this ranch, I hadn't even been close to knowing what fear really felt like. My only consolation was that they couldn't technically kill me yet, or they'd be disobeying Kvar.

We were all forced out of the cell, and into a large barren area outside. There were large stone blocks resting everywhere, as well as shovels. Half the group was split off to dig holes, and I wondered if they were in fact digging their own graves. The Desians needed somewhere to put the bodies, right? I was sent with the rest of the group to the blocks. I remembered this sort of thing happening in the game, though I'd always wondered what the point was of making the prisoners push the damn things around. I soon learned that there was no point. The Desians didn't explain themselves, for it seemed most of the people here were uninformed on how the process of manufacturing Exspheres worked. I understood now, though. They just wanted to put us through physical stress and trials to activate the Exspheres. It made the work even harder, and pretty fuckin' humiliating. We weren't doing anything that had an end, like building something. We were just pushing huge goddamned blocks around in a circle. It was stupid, but if we stopped, we were punished. And the stone blocks were heavy. Several of us pushing hard only got the thing to budge a little. And I supposed that was only because of the Exspheres we wore, even though they weren't full of human life yet.

"Faster, maggots!" A guard growled, causing rage to build up in me again. Rather than swearing at the guard and getting my ass kicked, I tried to channel the anger and hate into the work I was doing. It worked, but only barely. I still felt like it would be a lot more satisfying to scream at the bastards. Oh God, I wanted to go home...

----

Hours melted into days, days passed into weeks. I wondered how Colette was doing. They'd reached the Mausoleum by now, no doubt. I hoped they hadn't hurt poor Sheena too badly, or vice versa. Maybe...maybe it was hopeless, and they were in Tethe'alla already. I'd never find Lloyd once he hopped on a Rheiard.

...No, that wasn't right. They weren't going to leave before destroying this ranch, as far as I knew. Unfortunatley, what I knew wasn't absolute...after all, I wasn't even supposed to be here.

Elena and I became fast friends, as she was the only person I really could get to talk out of the people in our cell. We spent many of our days conversing quietly when off work. We talked about Asgard, our families, life in general...anything to remind us that we were still us, not cattle belonging to the Desians. I often fingered my Exsphere uncomfortably, wondering if it was going to really change soon.

One day she caught me doing it, and decided to voice a question that had obviously been bothering her for a while. "What do you suppose those things are for?"

I blinked. "Uh? You mean this?" I pointed to my Exsphere.

She nodded. "They put one on every person at this ranch, but I have no idea what they do...I don't really like them."

"I know, me neither."

"But...everyone disappears here sooner or later, right? And it's not just like they were killed for misbehaving...they disappear in groups. What do you think...um..."

I knew exactly what was happening to those people, but couldn't bear to tell her. "I...I have no idea."

Elena looked at me sadly, as if she knew I was lying.

----

**A/N: ...how depressing. D:**

**Well, that's it for now! Next time...even more fun with the Desians! :D heh.**

**Please review? I love the fact that people are reading, but reviews keep me going. If you like reading this, drop me a line, 'kay? :3 I'll give you sugar. Everyone loves sugar.**


	6. Pietro

**A/N: Hello, my lovely readers slash reviewers. ;D hehehe. Well, it's time for more shenanigans at the human ranch. I really need to cut back on the sugar...**

**Oh, and replies to some of your questions:**

**Tanali: Yup, all memories have been regained. :D not just family and ToS, but everything about Earth. And yeah, I'm trying to keep this insert as realistic as possible, so my character will be far from perfect. Although it would be fun to write about gaining superpowers, beating up all the Desians, and suddenly having all the male characters fall in love with me. XD**

**Regal Bryant Lover: Yeah, I read about that. She basically got lucky, although in chapter 5 she does make a halfhearted joke about wishing one of her ribs would poke a hole in her lung. :3**

**Anyway, let's do this thang!**

**Uh...forget I said that. On with the story!**

**----**

I threw up for the second time that day, Desians whipping me across the back. I couldn't take this anymore. People around me were suffering, dying...I was going to break if I had to deal with one more second of this....

I returned to work when they finally stopped, wincing, knowing I was in desperate need of medical attention. I wouldn't die...probably, but this was bad for my body in the long run...My ribs had never been healed, and I was sure the bloody whip slashes across my back were going to get infected if they weren't already. My entire body was an aching, stinging pain.

When we were finally situated back in the cell and the Desians were out of sight, Elena slipped me something. I looked at her gratefully; she'd finally managed to smuggle in a dull pocket knife, at my request. I didn't plan on trying to escape with this, that'd be suicide. I just....figured I'd do away with one of the pains in my body.

Elena watched me sympathetically as I reached up and began to slowly cut my hair. It was painful doing it with this dull knife, and the work was tedious, but it would be worth it. I cut my hair to a boyish length, knowing it probably looked horrible, but relishing the fact that no one could grab on to it anymore. Maybe my splitting headaches would go away now.

This wasn't like with the Nazis. I wasn't taking away my own individuality by cutting my hair; on the contrary, I was making a statement. It was a small victory against the Desians; they had one less thing to torture me with now.

I...I had considered myself a pessimist, even before coming here. I remembered that now, I was indeed prone to bouts of depression. Being here worsened that. And being a pessimist in the face of things like this, I knew, was probably deadly. The only thing that kept people alive during times like these was hope. But the things I'd seen here....how could there possibly be hope, for anyone? A lot of the prisoners took consolation in the fact that the Desians were half elves. They blamed half elves, hating them, thinking that only half elves would do things like this. But I knew better...after all, World War II was entirely the fault of man. There was only one true race on Earth, and that was man, but man still separated himself into groups and attacked his brethren. Everyone had the potential in their hearts to become a Nazi or Desian, even me. There was darkness in the hearts of anyone who was capable of consious thought and emotion. If that darkness was allowed to grow, or if the person was pushed to their breaking point, anyone was capable of performing atrocities like this.

Mithos...he'd once been a hero, hadn't he? But he, too, had more than his share of darkness...

----

Despite my extremely negative mindset, the next day I finally stumbled upon a source of hope.

A new man had been transferred to our cell from another; this happened quite often, so it wasn't anything special. But the second I saw this person's face, I nearly jumped to my feet. The new prisoner in our cell...was Pietro.

Eyes wide, I had to stop myself from calling his name. After all, I technically didn't know him yet. Elena looked at me, confused.

"Do you know him?"

I snapped out of my shocked thoughts, and shook my head. "Um, no."

She continued to stare at me skeptically, though, so I just shrugged. "Come on, Elena. We might as well talk to him."

We did this every time our cell got a new prisoner; we wanted to see if we could at least meet someone who hadn't broken yet. It had worked a couple times, but after a while they were either transferred once again, or simply...disappeared. I glanced at Elena. She'd been with me from the beginning; I wouldn't let anything happen to her. We were a team. So if they ever tried to take her away, well...I'd have to form an escape plan right then and there.

"All right." We walked up to the man, and introduced ourselves with as much cheer as we could muster. Somebody had to act happy around here, or everyone would just get even more depressed.

Pietro smiled weakly at us and introduced himself in turn. Good, so he still had his sanity. He seemed kind, and Elena took an instant liking to him. Although I tried to hide it, I felt like my heart was beating a million miles a minute. Pietro. His name shined in my head, lighting the way through my darkness. He had escaped from the ranch, hadn't he? We just had to follow his lead.

Elena, Pietro and I spoke during our free time for the next day or two, and we generally stuck together. I continually tried to figure out when he was leaving the ranch without being too obvious, but to no avail.

During one of our conversations, he asked me how I'd ended up at the ranch. I contemplated this, wondering how I would explain it without it being too long of a story. Suddenly I remembered the item I'd stolen from the commander Desian-- the Desian Orb! Maybe I needed to mention that to him...I told the story as best I could, emphasizing how I thought the Desian Orb was pretty important. When I finished, Pietro was very quiet, obviously deep in thought.

"What's wrong?" Elena asked, concerned.

"What did this Desian Orb look like?" He asked me.

I told him, trying to keep the excitement out of my voice. So he knew about it? Maybe he knew where that commander was so we could jump him and steal it! Wait, that might work out badly...

Pietro's voice lowered considerably, barely above a whisper, and he looked around cautiously before pulling something out of his pocket. "Do you mean...this?"

I had to stifle a gasp. In his hand was the very same item I'd stolen on that day. "W-where did you get that?" I hissed, unable to contain my excitement any longer.

"I found it on the floor...I thought it looked important, so I hid it. There's been Desians getting worked up about it all day; haven't you noticed?"

I frowned; I had noticed they were upset about something, but I never paid attention. There was always one new recruit that lost something, but it never ended up in the hands of the prisoners. Never. That commander...must've really messed up. Maybe he fixed the chain I broke incorrectly? In any case, wearing the damn orb as jewelry probably wasn't his smartest move. I was giddy.

"What do you suppose it does?" Elena whispered as Pietro hastily put it away. At that moment, I decided to just tell them rather than hint at it. It would waste precious time, time that none of them had. I hadn't said anything about knowing what the orb did when I included it in my story, but I couldn't worry about the details now.

"You know, don't you? It's something good." Pietro leaned towards me, expectantly.

I nodded. "I...overheard some guards talking about it one day. They said it was used to open a secret passage to the outside of the ranch."

"Y-you're serious?!" Elena said, hope causing her eyes to light up.

Pietro's eyes widened as well. "We can use it to get out of here," he breathed. "If only we knew where that passage was."

"I can show you," I said eagerly, "they were standing right by it when they were talking about it. We can just slip into the passage when we're being led outside for work. They won't even notice we're gone until it's too late."

Pietro and Elena looked at me, awed with the enormity of the information I'd just given them. We could escape. Finally, we could get out of this hellish place. This human ranch, this concentration camp.

"...When?" Elena finally asked.

"Tomorrow. Let's do it tomorrow morning." Pietro said firmly, determined now. Good; I rather wanted to relinquish the leadership position to him. I'd just supplied information, but he was the one really cut out for it.

That night the three of us slept well, dreaming of freedom.

----

The next morning...did not go as planned.

It was wrong from the start. We were supposed to escape while being led out for our first shift of work, but a shocking revelation stopped us from proceeding.

Elena was gone. Vanished.

Only she hadn't vanished; I had a pretty good idea of what had happened. As Pietro and I slept, Desians had crept in and snatched her in the night. She had been here the longest out of the three of us; her Exsphere was...ripe.

Pietro and I panicked. It wasn't supposed to happen this way; why did Elena have to be taken now?

"I won't leave without her." I said firmly to Pietro, and he nodded.

"I know. I don't want to either."

"We...we need to rescue her."

Pietro looked at me cautiously. "You realize what may happen to her now, don't you? And what will probably happen to us after we leave the ranch?"

Ah, so he knew the truth about Exspheres. It hadn't really been made clear in the game, but he had learned firsthand when suffering from the illness, after all. I nodded at him. "If we don't stop them, they'll take off her Exsphere. But there's still hope if we all escape!"

"Yes..."

"What are we waiting for, then?" I asked desperately.

It seemed that aside from Elena's disappearance, luck was bending our way that day. Only one guard came to take us out to work, instead of the usual three. Pietro and I nodded to each other, and jumped him. Although we barely managed to subdue him unarmed, we thankfully made it out alive. The other prisoners stared at us in awe as I reached into the Desian's belt and took all of his card keys.

"What are you hoping to do? We don't know where..."

"I do." I said firmly; I knew, but we had to hurry. Really, really hurry. Because if we ran into a single Desian, we were probably dead meat. "Just follow me; I've caught a glimpse of the room they're taken to before, and I'm positive I know where it is."

A little knowledge of the game didn't hurt either, although the real Asgard ranch was vastly different than it's in-game counterpart. Pietro nodded, trusting me. We ran as fast as we could, through confusing sets of halls, through warp pads. I knew that there was probably a surveillance system here, like at Iselia. And Kvar was probably either really pissed or morbidly amused right now. Dammit, who cared about Kvar?! We just needed to grab Elena and get the hell out of here.

Pietro and I ran through another door, into a familiar room full of conveyor belts carrying crates.

...Oh. Crates full of activated Exspheres...

"You there! What the hell do you think you're doing, vermin?" We swung around to come face to face with a Desian, armed with a sword. Shit.

He came at us, and I tried to remember Kratos's advice about dodging, but after all this time it seemed all jumbled up in my head. I tried imagining his voice, how scary he would be if he realized I'd forgotten...and managed to remember some. Pietro dodged a swing from the sword, as I ducked in and punched the Desian in the nose. Not a very strong punch, my body was still weak...but it was enough to startle him. I grabbed ahold of his blade, which appeared to be a zweihander, and yanked. At first the Desian seemed as if he wouldn't let go, but then Pietro got a good punch in, and I ripped the sword free. Rather than harming the bastard, although I knew he probably deserved it, I knocked him out with the flat of the heavy blade.

Panting, kicking the Desian aside where he wouldn't be seen, I scanned the large room for the right doorway. Suddenly I remembered something else that had been in this room in the game...and glanced up. There was indeed a conveyor belt up there...carrying humans. I stood there for a moment, my mind not comprehending. I'd seen this before, but it had been in a game, just pretend...

That conveyor belt was leading them to their deaths. Human lives were being cashed in for Exspheres. I watched the belt move, watched the people....I recognized most of their faces. They saw us down here, too-- for a moment their eyes were alight with hope, only for that hope to die down as they realized we were just as helpless as they.

Oh my God...they couldn't even move. There were too many on the conveyer for any of them to make an escape, and there was, without a doubt, a Desian forcing them on at the other end. They were trapped, they....they...

I watched each face go by, frozen in shock, realizing that each person had a life, a family that cared about them, and a history...just like me. They deserved to live just as much as I did. And each face I saw....their life was snuffed out mere seconds later. I...I had to stop this!

"Pietro....let's go, we have to go shut that thing off!" I said to him, desparately. He started to comply, but then froze in horror, looking back up at the conveyor. I suddenly felt cold; if there was one thing that could make Pietro look more horrified than he already did, it was....

Elena. Elena was one of the people on the belt.

My eyes widened; no, no, no!! This couldn't happen! Elena was--she was--

"Elena!" I cried out, willing it to stop, for the carnage to just end.

She heard me. She looked down at us through the glass, her eyes full of tears. She turned, putting her hands on the glass, searching for some sort of grip, anything to stop the conveyor belt bringing her to her death. Elena was screaming, crying our names. Everyone else around her looked at us, trembling. I ran forward, calling her name again and again, and Pietro followed. There was nothing we could do; it was too high above us, and we didn't have enough time...

Suddenly, she understood. She pulled her hands away from the glass, still watching us, tears streaming down our cheeks. Elena seemed to lose all of her energy, all of her passion. "I'm sorry..." She mouthed to me, just before the belt carried her out of sight.

Out the other end of the conveyor belt...came another crate. Another crate with Elena's life in it.

I trembled uncontrollably, watching the place where Elena had been killed, unable to believe that she was gone, just like that. Why? Why had she apologized? None of this was her fault, none of this was right! She had been an entire year younger than me, _why?!_

Pietro put a hand on my shoulder, utterly shocked himself. "Brittany...we have to go. We have to go now, or Elena's family will never know what happened to her. Her death will mean nothing if we don't live on in her place. We have to move!"

I finally nodded, trying to move my feet...

"Well, well. What a sad sight." A disinterested voice mocked us from behind, and I swung around to face none other than Kvar.

Pietro and I looked on in dismay; this completely destroyed all chances of escape. The Grand Cardinal of the ranch had caught us himself.

"I had only come to inspect our progress with the dispatching of the host bodies, and here I see some rather lost inferior beings...trying to escape, perhaps? You certainly wandered into the wrong place."

"You..." Pietro glared at Kvar. "These people...!"

"Such pathetic intellects you humans have...I would've thought you'd realized by now that this is an Exsphere manufacturing plant. This is where the Exspheres are removed and the host bodies are...disposed of."

Disposed of?! How could he--he spoke of it so damn casually! How could he just toy with people's lives like this, only to throw them away like garbage?!

I was still trembling, but no longer from fear or shock. I hated Kvar. I had never hated anyone in my life as much as this pathetic excuse for a person. "You fucking bastard! They're not host bodies, they're people with names, and families, and they're alive too, dammit! You can't just treat people like this!"

Kvar brushed off my angry speech, adopting his dangerous smile again. "Who cares about the lives of you filthy inferior beings? You are dirt." He emphasized each word of this last sentence with a new and deadly spell. Pietro and I dodged out of the way of Lightning and Eruption, only barely missing Air Thrust.

Suddenly the ground rumbled, causing all of us to tense in alarm. Several of the machines in that room started smoking, and Kvar snarled. "Damn Renegades!"

Pietro and I took this chance as he was obviously distracted, and I reminded myself to thank Yuan or Botta when we got out of here. As I ran past Kvar, though, I felt so much hate and revulsion swell up inside me...I decided to make Kratos and Lloyd's job that much easier. Lifting the zweihander I'd stolen with both hands, I slashed Kvar in the side. His inhuman eyes widened with disbelief, but I didn't take time to truly look at what I'd done. I was just as panicked as Pietro-- as fast as we could, we raced to the safety of the secret passageway. Kvar would alert the entire base once he recovered. We had to hurry.

----

**A/N: Hah! Take that, Kvar! XD**

**In this story, Pietro has figured out the truth about Exspheres. In the game, he's oblivious...but anyway, I hope that doesn't bother you too much. Things are a teensy bit different.**

**There's supposed to be an accent over the 'a' in zweihander...but I really don't want to bother. -sweatdrop- **

**In case you didn't know, a zweihander is a two-handed sword. Fun fact: they can be as long as 6 feet from the base of the pommel to the tip of the blade, and can weigh between 4.5 to 7 lbs. (thank you, Google.)**

**My author's notes are incredibly random...**

**uh, next time: onward to Luin!**


	7. City of Hope

**A/N: hey everyone! Sorry for the short delay...it's been a long and busy day. **

**badculture: I used to have a sheet from my French classes with all the codes for the accents, but I lost it a while ago. Thanks for telling me, now I can do it. :D**

**All right, on with the chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own ToS.**

----

We made it. We really, truly made it. The passage had been even closer than I'd hoped, and we'd gotten out less than a minute after escaping from Kvar. Pietro and I ran through the cool morning air, as fast as we possibly could. I felt like I was soaring, running like this; I hadn't had an unrestricted view of the countryside in so long. I was so tired, but I didn't want to stop. The wind in my hair like this felt so good, and I never wanted to stop running from that horrible ranch, never wanted to lose my freedom again.

----

We had to stop, eventually. My legs gave way as soon as we found the cover of a forest. I had tired faster than Pietro, for the sole reason that I'd insisted on taking the heavy zweihänder with me. Even if it was difficult for me to use, especially in the weakened state I was in, it was better than not being armed at all.

We rested in the shade of the woods, taking turns on keeping watch, feeling unsafe here but feeling much safer with monsters than with Desians. Pietro managed to find some edible berries when we started moving again, and we ate a considerable amount of them. After the slop at the human ranch, they were the best tasting things I'd ever eaten in my life.

Pietro and I walked this time, rather than tiring ourselves out by running. The only thing about walking, though, was that it gave me room to think. I really, really didn't want to think right now. I didn't want to think about Elena. I didn't want to think about Kvar, either. I'd never actually spilled anyone's blood until that moment. I still wasn't sure if I was comfortable with what I'd done, but I still felt he deserved much worse than the gash I gave him. I half wished I could watch Kratos slaughter him later on, but I never wanted to go back into that ranch.

----

On our third morning of walking, we reached Luin. When the townsfolk saw two half-dead looking people show up in thier town wearing prisoner's garb, they were shocked beyond belief. They took us both in with welcoming hands, showing us to warm beds and good food. Our filthy clothes were taken away and we were given clean garments.

I was amazed. People were not suspicious of us, no one questioned our story too deeply. They knew we were escapees from a Desian ranch, and they were hospitable. A family allowed me to use their bath, the mother helping me comb the snarls out of my short hair.

"Oh, you poor girl..." she murmured comfortingly, her eyes kind. "So young, too young..."

At this my eyes welled up with tears. Elena...

The woman didn't ask my reason for tears, she simply pulled me into her arms. I was so touched that I only cried harder, missing my own mother, wanting to go home, wishing I could just escape from it all. I felt so...so damn weak.

A full meal and a good night's sleep cured me of my teary mood, but I still felt very depressed. Luin...these people...they were going to be killed or taken off to suffer the same fate I did, all because Pietro and I had escaped.

I shook my head, determined. No, I wouldn't let that happen. I would fight the Desians off. I had to, or...or there would be more people like Elena.

----

Soon after we arrived, Pietro began to grow ill. Even knowing what the sickness was, I couldn't help but be concerned. What if this time around, he wasn't saved? No. I couldn't think like that. If I did, I would just beat myself down before I got to accomplish anything.

For the time being, I was the only one who seemed to notice; Pietro just didn't seem quite himself sometimes, and I knew the Exsphere was affecting him. After two days, he announced that he was leaving for Hima.

"Hm? Why?" I asked, although I knew it really didn't matter; he was doing what was canon according to the game, so all was well.

"I...have a friend I wish to see." He simply answered, and I realized he must have cared deeply for that girl who had defended him during his sickness in the game. Sophia, that was her name...

Wait, wasn't there a different reason for him going to Hima? He had gone...to find the Chosen. The gears in my head finally started turning. Apparently I'd had a major brain fart back at the ranch, because I'd still screwed up the plot a little. I remembered now; Pietro was supposed to learn about the Mana Cannon at the Ranch, and he was supposed to break out in order to tell Colette about it. I had sped up the process without really realizing it, convincing him to break out before he even learned anything....

I contemplated this for a moment, and couldn't see any long term effect for what I'd done. Pietro was still going to Hima, and the Mana Cannon was going to come up plenty of times later on. Pietro's warning was actually redundant for the most part, except to offer a bit of foreshadowing in the game....Ah, well. He was still going to be saved, that was the point. The others would still need to cure him in order to get information about the Asgard ranch.

"Are you sure you should be going alone?" I asked Pietro, genuinely concerned. Sure, in the game he was just another useful NPC, but here he was my friend, dammit. Unfortunately, I knew I wouldn't be much help when it came to fighting...

"I'll escort you." A female voice came from our right, and we turned to see Sheena the Clumsy Assassin herself strolling up. Or was she the Resolute Assassin by now? Huh. Either way, her breasts seemed just as impressive in real life as they were in the game. Jeez, it was almost like whe was trying to make flat people like me feel self-conscious...

Wait, Sheena?! Shit-- at that instant I almost bolted to hide behind something, anything to keep the assassin from seeing me, until I remembered that she had never even seen me with Colette's group. Oh, well, that was pretty convenient. That meant I could talk to her freely! Sweet!

"Ah, Sheena...thank you. I'd very much appreciate it." Pietro said, and I vaguely wondered how he'd met and befriended Sheena before me.

I blinked, trying to look surprised at her sudden appearance. "Well, I don't think we've met."

Pietro also looked surprised now. "I never introduced you two? It must have slipped my mind..."

"Well, now's as good a time as ever. You're the other escapee, right?" Sheena said, smiling at me. She held out a hand. "I'm Sheena Fujibayashi."

I grasped her hand, shaking it. "Nice to meet you. I'm, er, Brittany. Brittany Furness." Wow, my name wasn't nearly as impressive as hers...in fact, when it came to impressiveness, I was pretty dull standing next to Sheena. Guess I'd have to work on that. Somehow.

"Forgive me, Sheena, but I had been planning to leave today..." Pietro interjected, and we both noticed that he was indeed carrying a backpack. I worried even more; I was still feeling weak from the ranch, so he must've been, too.

"Okay, that's fine." Sheena nodded.

"Um, Pietro...you're not planning to carry that big thing by yourself, are you?" I pointed to his bag. "You may be fine now, but after walking all the way to Hima...."

"Don't worry, I'll help him." Sheena grinned reassuringly at me, and I gave her a grateful look.

"But--" Pietro began to protest, but I stopped him.

"You heard her. It's probably a bad idea to overwork yourself after all that's happened."

He sighed. "...Yes, you're right, Brittany. By the way, what are you planning to do now?"

"Me?" I shrugged, frowning thoughtfully. "I think I'm gonna stay here in Luin for a bit. Maybe if I do enough odd jobs, I can buy a sheath to this sword." I was referring to the sword that hung on my back with a leather strap. I'd gotten the idea from the SOLDIERs in Final Fantasy VII, thinking of how Zack and Cloud carried their buster swords. As it turned out, carrying a sheath-less sword was rather uncomfortable and took a lot more care. I never let it leave my side, though, constantly on the alert for a Desian attack.

"You're thinking of using that thing?" Sheena turned to me, surprised.

I looked her in the eyes. "I...don't want to be caught defenseless again. Besides, I'd already had some sword training before I went to the ranch. I might as well continue it."

Pietro smiled. "Well, then you make sure you don't overwork yourself either." He turned, ready to leave. "Goodbye for now, Brittany. Thank you for all your help."

"Bye, Pietro. I'll come visit soon, I promise. And be careful. You too, Sheena."

Sheena nodded, following Pietro. "We will!"

I watched them leave town, wondering when Sheena would return.

----

Over the next few days I followed up on the plan I'd told Pietro of. I ran errands for people, helped men unload their boats when they reached the dock, and did various other odd jobs. I helped out at the inn as well, to earn my stay. The innkeeper was already kind enough to supply me with free meals because of how I'd recently escaped from the ranch. I was immensely grateful to the people of Luin, and well aware of the debt I owed them for their kindness. I had to help fight the Desians off during the attack. I couldn't let these good people be carried off to the ranch. Even if Lloyd and the others were going to destroy it later, some of these townsfolk might die in the meantime. I didn't want that to happen.

After three days, I'd earned just enough to buy a decent sheath for my blade. It was nothing special, but enough to keep the sword from accidentally cutting me if I was careless. It was difficult, though...the sword was good quality, and it was my only weapon, but it was also a zweihänder; a two-handed sword. Kratos had only taught me the use of a one-handed sword. Still...maybe the same basic rules applied. I tried practicing on my own, but it was much harder. I could practice the foot movements, but pretending I had an opponent coming at me was a lot harder than actually having one. Not only that, the sword was very heavy, and I was unsure if I was wielding it correctly. Rather than learn to do it the wrong way, I focused on strengthening my arms so I wouldn't get tired so quickly. In order to do this, I continued to ask for jobs that involved lifting even though I no longer required money. At least I did manage to get some of the basic techs down; I taught myself how to do Demon Fang and Sonic Thrust, though I wasn't too confident in my skills with them.

That was how I lived in Luin. I kept myself busy, every second of every day. I couldn't afford to stop to think. I was good at hiding my conflicting emotions, but I was really losing it inside. To say Kvar's ranch had been traumatizing...would be an extreme understatement. I had seen things that lived on in my nightmares. Elena's death also plagued me with guilt; if only I had acted sooner, maybe she could've been saved...I had to do whatever I could to stop the Desians.

I felt...lost. I knew what should happen next, and what I should do, but I still just wanted to go home. I was sick of this world and its cruelties. Lloyd and the others were capable of finishing their journey without me. I wanted my life back...

----

Not long after I'd purchased my sheath, a traveler arrived in town. I had been carrying some supplies into the item shop when he approached me, holding some life bottles. I recognized him from his unusual clothes; they looked more like the clothes of an adventurer than a mere traveler.

"Miss, you dropped these." He said, holding them up to me with a friendly smile.

I blinked, surprised. "Ah, thanks! Guess I'd better be more careful...at least they didn't break." I took the bottles with one hand, balancing the box with the other. He watched me go set the box on the store counter, and was still standing by the door when I came out. I was done for the day, so I decided it couldn't hurt to talk to him.

I turned to him, opening my mouth to speak, but he beat me to it. "Those boxes looked heavy. You must have strong arms to be doing that kind of work."

I shook my head. "N-not really."

He laughed. "Now, there's no need to be modest. I've seen you around town. Why is it that you opt for heavy lifting over..."

"More feminine jobs?" I finished for him, raising an eyebrow.

"I suppose you could put it that way." His blue eyes danced with amusement, glancing at the dress I was wearing.

Embarrassed, I said, "I borrowed this. I'm going to buy more practical clothes soon."

His smile grew, and I realized he was still waiting for an answer to his question.

"I need to have strong arms...well, you of all people should be able to tell why." He, too, wore a heavy looking sword at his back.

"I thought so." He replied. "You wanted to take up the sword because you feel insecure after your time at the Desian ranch." He'd heard of my escape, too....well, the news was bound to find the newcomer's ears sooner or later. Desians from the Asgard ranch had come through the town several times, searching for me. Kvar apparently still hadn't realized that he'd gotten the wrong person....or maybe he just wanted revenge for that gash I'd given him. Heh.

I looked away. "That's part of the reason, yeah. Problem is, I've only trained with a normal sword, not a two-handed one."

"I'd be happy to teach you," the traveler said.

My eyes widened. "Y-you would? You aren't busy with something else?"

"I came to Luin to relax for a while, take time off from my travels." He said, "But I must keep practicing with my sword in order to retain my skills. I wouldn't mind if I had someone to train with."

"Thank you." I accepted his offer immediately. This was perfect! "I really appreciate it, mister."

The man chuckled. "Please, call me Lucian. And you are?"

"Brittany." I grinned, taking the time to really examine him now. Lucian had short dark hair, a deep brown that looked almost black, and looked to be in his late thirties. His eyes were a pale blue, and they softened his harsh features. He had a scar on his right cheek that reminded me distinctly of Zack Fair. I had a feeling I would take a liking to this guy.

----

Training with Lucian was vastly different from training with Kratos. It was strange to think that although this man looked ten years older than Kratos, Kratos was the more experienced one. Either way, I still learned a lot from the traveling swordsman.

Lucian preferred to train at night, under the watchful gaze of the stars above. We often practiced just outside of town, where we knew we wouldn't wake anyone. He showed me the correct way to hold my zweihander, as well as the correct way to fight with it. Over the course of the next four nights, I learned how to defend and attack with my new sword. We often practiced on the monsters and beasts in the countryside as well.

One day we sat together in the grassy plains, resting after a training session. We'd always talk for a little while as we rested, before returning to town.

Lucian looked hesitant. "...Forgive me for asking, Brittany, but...what was it like at the Desian ranch?"

I glanced at him, surprised, then looked away. "It was...indescribable. I can't even find the words for it...the Desians are unbelievably cruel." I ran a hand through my short hair, sighing.

"Why do you always do that?" He asked curiously, gazing at me.

"It used to be long..." I replied, "But I cut it at the ranch because they kept pulling it."

"I...I see..." Lucian shook his head. "I'm sorry. I've known a lot of people were taken away to the ranches and never came back. I wish I could rescue them somehow."

"Don't try infiltrating, Lucian. Trust me, it's suicide." I said firmly; it seemed odd to be admonishing someone who was old enough to be my father, but I needed to tell him. "Even if you can get by the normal Desians, the Grand Cardinals are way too strong...I don't want you to end up like I did."

He sighed. "Yes, I know. I only wish there was a way."

I found myself wanting to tell him about Colette and her group, but stopped myself. It was true that they would destroy the ranches, but I didn't want Lucian to get involved. He didn't have an Exsphere...I wouldn't be able to live with myself if he got killed because of me.

----

**A/N: Yay for Sheena! She'll be back next chapter. :3 **

**And excuse all of the FFVII references, I think that's the last of them. XD I'm not sure where they came from, but uh...yeah. **

**Yes, my real name is used here. Hunt me down, I dare you! Hahaha. Furness is not pronounced 'furnace,' by the way. And if you add an 'r' and an 'i,' it spells furriness! :D ...okay, I'll stop now. XD**

**Next time: Luin, City of Ruin? Oh dear...**


	8. Desian Attack

**A/N: Chapter 8, hurray! Ha, not much to say here, really...**

**Midnightxwolfx: hmm...well, furnace is pronounced fur-nis, with an emphasis on the first syllable, and Furness is pronounced fur-nes, with the emphasis on the second...I hope that made at least a little sense... O.o It's a small difference, but noticeable. **

**Golden-Black Dragon: Lucian is a minor OC, who will pop up every now and then. He's not going to be a major part of the plot, though.**

**Onward with the chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I own Lucian, myself, and nothing else.**

----

Sheena returned, a full week after she left. I greeted her when she came back, and we often stopped to talk in between the jobs I did. Sheena gave me a sense of security; as long as she was here, I had a connection to the game's main plot. It couldn't continue unless Lloyd and the others came here and ran into her.

"Here, let me help you with that." She walked up, grabbing the other end of the crate I was carrying. "...Ugh! This thing is heavy!"

We managed to get it from the boat on to the dock, and the owner of the vessel thanked us.

"You carry things like that all day? Don't you ever want to relax?" Sheena asked me, as we walked back to the center of town.

"Relax?" I merely repeated, frowning.

"Yeah. You know, sit back and just let go for a while."

"That sounds really great."

"Then why don't you?"

I shrugged. "Because I think too much."

Sheena looked confused for a moment, and then it sunk in. "...Oh."

There was an awkward silence, and I grew so uncomfortable that I almost started fidgeting. Instead, I decided to speak. "Huh. I should probably do some clothes shopping. It's hard to work like this, and Lucian keeps making fun of my dresses..."

"Clothes shopping?" Sheena smiled. "I can help."

"All right! I was hoping you would." I grinned. "I need to get something cool, like the stuff you wear."

She glanced at me, looking suddenly embarrassed. "You think what I wear is...cool?"

I laughed quietly, having predicted her reaction. "Yeah!" Although her boobs hung out a little too much, I added silently. Oh well, Sheena wouldn't be Sheena without them.

We strolled through the markets around town, browsing the various types of clothing. I had no idea what to look for; I was so used to my usual wear, jeans and a t-shirt. Not only was I unlikely to find either here, they were impractical in these circumstances. As I searched through the clothes, I thought about what everyone else wore. Sheena's attire was no doubt meant for stealthy movements. Raine's and Genis's....well, they were magic users, so that probably wouldn't help me. I was fairly sure Lloyd wore lightweight armor beneath his red coat, and Kratos did as well. Kratos's clothes were also very tough looking as they were. So, what would be best for me...?

I would need armor, like Lloyd and Kratos, since my fighting type was short range. I was sure of that much. It should probably be lightweight; my sword already slowed me down enough. Hmm, what about chain mail? Was that lightweight? I'd never even touched it, so I couldn't be sure. I walked up to one of the vendors, recognizing the mail. He allowed me to lift it, inspecting it.

No sir, it was not lightweight. Despite how it looked, it actually felt rather heavy...lighter than I thought, but it would still probably impede my movements. Still, I would no doubt get hit one way or another in a fight, so it would probably be better to at least try using armor. I looked at my other options; there was what I assumed to be splint mail, but it looked even heavier.

"Go with the leather guard." Lucian's voice came from behind me, causing me to jump. He'd pointed out another option, something that seemed much easier and affordable.

He chuckled at my reaction. "And speaking of guards, don't drop yours."

I rolled my eyes. "Thanks." I purchased the armor, and hoped the rest wouldn't be too expensive.

"What are you doing buying armor?" He asked me, and I shrugged.

"I'm not staying here in Luin forever. I've got to go home at some point, and I don't want the Desians to catch me again." It was the truth, although I'd left some things out. Lucian seemed to accept my answer, but he frowned thoughtfully.

Sheena came running up. She said hello to Lucian, whom she'd apparently met before, and then turned to me. "There's some things over here that I think you might like." I followed her down to a new set of stalls.

Now we were looking at normal clothing, rather than armor. I felt a smile tugging at my lips. These did have a very Symphonia-like flair. After a few minutes of pondering, I ended up choosing a dark blue sleeveless coat with sky blue trim.

The colors were pretty, but I was going to end up looking like Zelos at this rate...I had to hold back a giggle. The sleeveless coat was the only thing I could think of that would suit me. Well, I might as well go all the way while I was at it; I bought a pair of long, tough fingerless leather gloves that matched the coat. With it came some dark pants and traveling boots.

"Finally," I sighed happily as I picked up all the items, "clothes of my own. Thanks for the help, Sheena."

"No problem." She replied, eyeing my selections curiously. Did she notice the similarities to Zelos? The colors were different, but the style...well, at least I didn't have poofy pants. I stifled a laugh as we parted ways. Maybe I could start wearing a white headband just to screw with her.

----

Ten minutes later, I stood in my room at the inn, inspecting my clothes. I was wearing everything now, even the leather guard beneath the coat. My eyes were wide as I inspected myself in the mirror.

I looked like full-fledged Symphonia character now. It scared me a little; I wanted my old clothes back, just so I could be reminded that I was really a teenager from Earth. But my old clothes were gone...even if I could find them now, they were ruined from all the blood I'd gotten on them my first day at the ranch. I almost looked like a completely different person now. My face was the only thing that remained the same; my long hair had been cropped short, and I'd lost a lot of weight. I would be happy about the weight loss, if it didn't remind me of the ranch. I had lost too much. The first day I had eaten upon my arrival here, I had thrown most of it up. My body was still recovering from food deprivation and malnutrition.

The clothes did seem to suit me, though. I liked them. Would this become my trademark outfit for the rest of the journey...? Well, at least it wasn't purple. I laughed to myself. Kratos, the Purple Terror...

"You think your outfit is funny?" Lucian caused me to jump again; he had walked in, and was now looking me up and down.

I frowned. "L-Lucian!"

He smiled. "You left your door open, and I couldn't resist. Twice in one day, Brittany...."

"Yeah, yeah. I'll try to be more alert." I sighed.

"Are you wearing the armor you bought? ...Good. We'd might as well test it out."

"It's time for training already?" I looked out the window. Yes, it was pretty dark. The day had flown by.

Lucian nodded. "Shall we go?"

I grabbed my sword, following him out the door.

----

"Concentrate, Brittany." Lucian frowned, knocking me over for the third time. I lay on the ground, wincing and catching my breath.

"I'm...trying." I replied, and he knelt down next to me with concern in his eyes.

"Are your ribs paining you?" He asked softly as I sat up. He'd learned about my old injury during one of our first training sessions; at random times, I would feel a jolting pain coming from my broken ribs. I knew they'd healed incorrectly, and the pain was probably a bad sign, but there weren't any healers in Luin that could help.

I nodded weakly. "Can we...can we just sit for a minute? I'll be fine."

He helped me sit up, understanding. "All right."

And so we rested, waiting for the pain I felt to subside. The night was cool as always, and a gentle breeze caused the grass around us to sway. I found myself wishing Apple Gels could heal broken bones; I'd tried out a few upon my arrival to Luin. The red gels were helpful for curing flesh wounds when spread on the skin, but their healing abilities only went so far. Even a Lemon Gel wouldn't really help; I'd probably need healing magic or an Elixir to fix this, and I had neither. For the moment, I had to live with the pain.

"...So," Lucian said, trying to make conversation and distract me, "have you named your sword yet?"

I raised my eyebrows at him. "Named? Why would I...?" I was familiar with the practice of naming swords, but hadn't heard of anyone doing it in this game. The swords were just referred to by their build and type...well, maybe except for the Material blades. Kratos's sword had been called Flamberge, and the ice one...hadn't that had a name too?

He smiled easily. "You said you stole that blade from a Desian, did you not? If you travel alone, it will be your only companion for a long while. Don't you think it deserves a name?"

"You talk as if it's a living person or something."

"Maybe I'm just old fashioned." He laughed. "Traditionally, if the sword is to be named, it is the smith who names it. But in this case, its smith was probably involved with the Desians. If you rename this sword, you will be disassociating it from them."

I frowned, troubled, as I gazed at my sword. In truth, it did still remind me of my captors. It may have helped me turn against Kvar, but....perhaps Lucian was right. If I named the sword, it would probably ease my mind.

"...Well, what do you think I should name it?" I asked, unsure.

"Only you can know that." He replied, and I stopped to think.

I frowned thoughtfully; I wanted a name that truly matched this sword. Huh...or maybe I could just steal the name from another fictional character. Tetsusaiga? I almost giggled at that thought.

...No. I wanted a name that fit the situation but reminded me of Earth...

"Loki." I said, finally sure. I'd always been interested in that particular Norse god.

"Loki?" Lucian looked at me questioningly.

"In myths back home, Loki was the god of thievery and deceit." I grinned. "I did steal this, after all. Plus Loki could also shapeshift...just like the purpose and owner of this sword had changed."

He laughed heartily. "Not bad at all. Loki it is, then."

I looked down at the blade, and quickly noticed the change in attitude that came with this naming. Loki....I liked it. I liked this sword now that it reminded me of mythology from Earth and not the Desian ranch.

The two of us sat together in silence for a moment, and I finally spoke. "Lucian?"

"Hmm?"

"...Thanks."

----

The night was lit up with sparks from our clashing swords; I'd felt better and we'd taken up our training once more. The weight of the leather guard did slow me down a bit, but it was inconsequential. It absorbed some of the blow when I was shoved to the ground, and I was glad I'd bought it.

We stopped for a moment, catching our breath.

"Your footing and sense of balance is good." Lucian remarked, and I couldn't help but smile victoriously. It'd better be good, or Kratos would kick my sorry ass. "But," He continued, "you continually hesitate."

My smile quickly fell. "I do?"

He nodded. "A good swordsman goes with the flow of battle, calling techniques and skills to mind instinctively."

"How do I do that?"

"Practice hard. In a true fight, a single hesitation could be fatal."

I nodded, understanding. "Okay, I'll give it a shot."

We readied our swords once more, and then Lucian himself hesitated. He looked over my shoulder, his sword lowering, eyes wide. I turned to follow his gaze.

A short distance away, Luin was up in flames. It glowed in the night, clashing with the cool darkness and comforting breeze. My eyes widened and my body tensed; the Desian attack had already begun.

"Oh, no..." I said, clutching Loki even tighter.

"The Desians." Lucian's eyes narrowed, and he turned to me. "I'm going to try and stop them. What will you do?"

"I'll come, too." Anger was already causing me to shake. "I won't let them hurt the people that helped me!"

----

Luin was in worse shape than it had looked from our training grounds. My anger had subsided a little, replaced with horror. The heat of the flames felt as if it was burning my skin, and there were dead villagers everywhere. We were...too late to save everyone.

I looked up at the inn I had stayed at, shocked to see it slowly collapsing because of the flames. I could hear the screams of the people trapped inside.

Lucian acted without a second thought. "Find Sheena," he told me, "perhaps she can help."

"Be careful!" I called, as he ran into the burning building.

Now that I was alone, fear was stacked in with my jumbled emotions. I shook my head, turning to go. I would die if fear caused me to freeze up in a place like this.

"You! Inferior being!" The voice of what was no doubt a Desian caused me to whip around. My lip curled in a scowl; I hadn't missed that demeaning language one bit.

There were three Desians waiting for me. Two carried whips, and the third was a mage. The one that had addressed me was one of the two whip holders. He spoke again, his voice loud so it would carry over the screams of townsfolk and the roaring flames. "You are wanted criminal #0097, charged with escape from the human ranch, assaulting our guards, and injuring Lord Kvar! Come with us or the people of this city will come in your place!"

"You bastards," I growled, "you think I actually believe you?! You'd kill everyone anyway!"

"Stupid human!" The second whip holder frowned, "You have no choice!"

Both Desians with whips ran forth, ready to attack, while the mage stood back and began to cast. I lifted Loki, heart racing. Shit, I had to take out that mage before he sent a spell my way. The two Desians raised their whips, and I was forced to dodge out of the way. They were between me and the mage; I couldn't run around, either, because there were burning houses at my back. I swore, running forward to attack.

It was difficult to take two on at once; while I slashed at the one in front of me, the second whipped me across the back. I cried out, having never gotten used to that pain. The Desian in front of me shoved me back, and I raised my sword again. The two closed in on me; I ran forward and raised a leg to knee one in the stomach, then turned to slash at the second. I had a clear shot; I could easily take this one out. I could kill him.

As soon as the word 'kill' entered my thoughts, I hesitated. It was a big mistake. The one I'd turned my back to recovered from the blow, pulling me back with his whip held over my throat. The one in front of me smirked, using his whip to catch my sword and loosen my grip. I gasped; was it over already?

Suddenly the one behind me fell, and the smirk dropped off the face of the one before me. I got my sword back when Sheena ran forth, pressing two cards into the chest of the Desian.

"Pyre seal!" She shouted, and sent him flying backwards into the flames...to his death.

I stood watching her, shocked even as she looked back at me. Her eyes widened.

"Brittany, what the hell are you doing?! Move!" She ran towards me, grabbing me and just barely managing to pull me out of the way of a large fireball. So the mage had cast his spell...

The mage was dead within the next few seconds, as the female ninja sent an attack his way. I blinked, frozen up, unable to process what had just happened. They were...dead...really dead....

"Brittany!" Sheena shook me, causing my clouded mind to clear.

"Sheena? T-thanks."

"You've gotta keep your guard up." She frowned, looking around us quickly.

I nodded, though I knew that wasn't what the problem was. I had hesitated, and nearly paid for it with my life. But...could I really find the strength to actually kill someone?

More Desians came, spotting us, and I lifted Loki once more. I had to; these were the enemies. It was either kill or be killed. I had a duty to protect these people, as well.

"Shit. Let's go!" I growled, and we both ran head on into battle. Even as we fought, more and more enemies showed up. I ran at the first Desian I saw, dodging his whip, and tried to rely on instinct as Lucian had taught me. Without hesitating this time, I ran him through with my sword. Warm blood coursed down Loki's blade and onto my hands; I nearly dropped it, eyes widening in shock. I had really taken someone's life...

Sheena's shout brought me back to reality once again, and I saw two more coming at me. I turned, panicking, and dodged an attack. I kicked one as I slashed the other. The one I'd cut was killed, and the one I'd kicked fell to the ground; I turned to him, without hesitating, and thrust Loki into his throat. He gurgled as blood spilled out his mouth and down the sides of his face. His helmet tipped off, and I could see his eyes looking straight at me. They were wide with fear; my hands shook, and I forced myself to look away from the dying man. He was an enemy, and he would've done the same to me. I just had to keep repeating that.

The rest of that night was a blur. Sheena and I fought together, killing Desian after Desian, trying to clear out the townsfolk. Lucian showed up at random intervals, but I could never keep track of where he was. There were so many attackers that the simple techs I knew became irrelevant. By some miracle, I managed to learn Beast over that time period; I wasn't joyous in my breakthrough, though, because it was merely a new method of killing.

Despite all this, though, we were still overwhelmed. We barely managed to survive during the fight, sustaining many injuries of our own. I lost track of time; it seemed like we'd been fighting for an eternity. I could no longer tell how much of the blood on me was my own, though I was sure I was bleeding profusely.

The sky began to brighten. Had we been fighting all night? Sheena and I had been split up; luckily, as the light came, the Desians subsided. I fought the last few off, and realized that there truly were none left. Dripping with blood, I quietly wiped my sword clean on the shirt of one of the Desian corpses.

Luin was...devastated. My eyes filled with tears at the very sight. The flames had died down, the houses still smoking. Bodies were everywhere. The coppery smell of blood filled the air, mixing with the acrid stench of smoke. No building was left standing. The Desians...no matter how hard I'd tried, they had won.

I stepped over corpses and rubble as I walked through the streets; Lucian was nowhere to be found, but I had an idea of where Sheena might be. Stumbling towards the bridge to the town's fountain, I held a hand to one of my wounds in an attempt to quell the blood flow. Once again, I was in very bad shape.

"...me off, now's your chance." Sheena's voice reached my ears. She was talking to someone. "I don't have any strength left to fight."

"You're hurt badly. Professor, please...heal her." I heard Colette's voice now, and my weary mind was finally put at ease. If Colette was here, then all was well.

"...I will, but first, I want you to tell me what happened here." Raine said. "It seems she has companions, and this may just be a trap to catch us off guard."

"Professor!" Colette protested.

I saw Sheena smirk, about to say something, when suddenly she noticed me walking up. Ever the graceful one, I stumbled and fell to my knees, catching the attention of everyone else in the group. I noticed Kratos's hand rest on the hilt of his sword, and fought a smirk of my own. They didn't even recognize me.

"It looks like whatever companions she has are wounded as well." Kratos remarked, and I felt his eyes on me.

I started to laugh, and ended up in a coughing fit. Looking up the mercenary, I said, "Bet I surprised you, though. I'm so stealthy, you didn't even notice me coming."

His eyebrows flew up, recognizing my voice, and the others had similar reactions.

Lloyd stepped forth, shocked. "W-wait, Brittany?! But how did you--I thought you were--huh?!" Ah, he was so good with words. I had to fight laughter, not wanting to cough again and rupture a lung.

"First thing's first." Professor Sage interjected, remaining cool. "What happened here?"

"Take a look at this city. Everything's in ruins. The Desians...invaded." Sheena said, her voice weak.

"What?!" Lloyd gasped.

"Do you know about the human ranch northeast of here? The people of this city had been hiding some prisoners who escaped from the ranch, including me." I said, coughing again.

"The Desians found out about it, and not only was the entire population forced to go to the ranch, but the city was destroyed." Sheena finished.

"That's...horrible..." Lloyd looked down, eyes narrowed.

"Ahh! Help me, please!" A new voice cried out, and a man I recognized to be the pastor of the city's church ran by me. I turned to see an Exbelua coming straight at me.

"Th...that's...!" Lloyd's eyes were wide.

"It's Clara!" Raine said, "She managed to get all the way here!"

I stood and raised Loki weakly, but a sudden pain from my ribs caused me to fall to the ground again. Sheena ran to my defense, alarmed.

"Stay back, you monster!"

Clara pulled back an arm and hit Sheena with it, knocking her backwards into me. I lay on the ground beside her, the wind knocked out of me. Clara came even closer; she readied an arm to attack again. Colette took out her angel wings, flying over to the Exbelua.

"Clara, please calm down!" she urged.

The mutated woman attacked Colette as well, knocking her to the ground. She then escaped down another bridge, stumbling out of sight.

"Dammit!" Lloyd swore, running up to the three of us, who lay injured in a heap.

"Colette, are you okay?" Genis asked, running up as well.

Colette stood up, a little shaky. "Y...yes."

"What about these two? Professor..." Lloyd frowned, worried.

"They've lost a lot of blood." Kratos said, inspecting our wounds.

Raine hesitated, frowning. "You realize what you're asking me to do? You want me to heal someone who tried to kill Colette on several occasions. And we don't know for sure if Brittany had been working for her."

I looked up at her, hurt. "I didn't even know Sheena was that assassin..." It was a lie, but I wasn't supposed to know, anyway.

"Professor, please! How can you say that? Brittany is our friend!" Lloyd said, gesturing to me.

Raine sighed. "...Fine. But I swear, you're all way too softhearted for your own good." She stepped forward, casting what I assumed to be Nurse on both of us. My wounds quickly healed, the pain subsiding. My eyes widened; healing magic was so incredible! Sheena and I were both instantly able to find the strength to stand up.

"Why...why did you save me?" Sheena asked, surprised.

"Probably for the same reason you saved Brittany and helped the people of this city." Lloyd answered.

"...Thanks." She paused, looking uncomfortable, and I realized what she was about to say. Good; she was going to join the group now, rather than later at the ranch. "I know it's a selfish, unreasonable thing to say at this point, but I have a favor to ask of you."

"A favor?"

"I owe the people of this city for food and lodging. Please, help me save these people. If you agree, I'll declare a truce with you and help you in any way I can."

"All right." Lloyd nodded.

Raine looked dismayed. "Lloyd, are you serious?"

"I agree with Lloyd." Colette said.

"Colette, not you too!"

Lloyd turned to Kratos. "What about you?"

"I see no problem with it." He replied.

I raised a hand. "If my opinion really matters, I think Sheena's a good person at heart. Even though she turned out to be that assassin...I still trust her." It was easy to say things like that, when I already knew what the future had in store.

Genis frowned, looking around at all of us. "Ah...um...I'm sorry, Raine!"

"Fine!" Raine said, looking exasperated. "Do as you wish. I suppose if we look at it another way, it does mean we can keep a close eye on her."

Sheena smirked at this statement. "Heh. You'd better watch out so you don't lose your head while you sleep."

----

**A/N: haha, silly Sheena. :D Well, that's about it for this chapter. Thanks for reading!**

**Let's see...forgive me, I really have no idea how heavy chain mail would feel. On that note, the only thing I know about naming swords is what I've seen in animes and video games. XD not very much.**

**Yeah, the design of her coat looks similar to the one Zelos wears, and she's got the long gloves too....wonder if he'll notice when they meet?**

**For some reason, video games always seem to take names from Norse mythology. I mean, just look at Symphonia...Yggdrasill, Asgard, Fenrir, Heimdall...and there's more, I'm sure. So I chose Loki as the name of the sword, lol. **

**Next time: traveling with the group, once again. :D**


	9. Pep Talk

**A/N: Whew, it's been a little while. Stupid school, keeping me from updating...I've been doing a lot of review work and studying lately, since midterms start this Monday. D: I'm not a big fan of midterms. Then again, who is? Anyway, I figured I'd add a new chapter before the exams start.**

**The Spore Whore: haha, I don't think it's strange. :D I like reading self-inserts too...they can be interesting, if they're decently written. How long were they separated? Oh boy...let's see. I'd say...about a month? Maybe a little more. **

**Disclaimer: If I owned ToS, I would turn into a sparkly angel and rule the world. :D**

**...Alas, I don't. On with the story!**

**----**

Because Sheena and I were still in an unstable condition, everyone agreed that we should rest on the outskirts of Luin for a little while. Healing magic was nice, but not quite the same as in the game; although it did speed up the process of healing wounds, the wounds could reopen at any time if the person's body was put under too much stress. Infiltrating the ranch right away wasn't a smart idea.

We sat in the shade of the woods, concealed within the trees. I knelt near the river that ran through Luin in just pants and a shirt, attempting to get my clothes clean....and trying not to throw up. Sheena was next to me, and we spoke as the others were caught up in their own conversation.

"I didn't see Lucian anywhere after the battle...I hope he's all right." I remarked quietly, worried. He'd been a good friend to me through the short time I'd known him.

"That guy? I bet he's fine." Sheena reassured me. "A traveling swordsman like him should know more than enough ways to defend himself. He was okay for most of the battle, wasn't he?"

I nodded. "Yeah, he was. Thanks, Sheena."

She frowned thoughtfully for a moment. "Hey, I've been wanting to ask you. Since when do you know these guys?" She was referring to Colette and her group.

"I met them near Palmacosta...it's sort of a long story, but we got separated on the way to the Balacruf Mausoleum. That was when I was taken to the ranch."

"Oh..." She looked as if she were about to say more, but Raine approached us.

"Brittany..." she said, looking down at me, "We'd like to hear exactly what happened to you."

I paused for a moment, and then nodded. "Okay." I left my coat and other clothes pinned to the riverbed with rocks, deciding to let them soak. Then I got up and sat back down with everyone else, Sheena following.

Lloyd looked incredibly impatient and fidgety. I would have giggled, if I was really in the mood to. Washing the blood out of my clothes had also washed away the excitement and hope I'd felt when meeting back up with the group.

Colette smiled, instantly speaking up. "We haven't seen each other for a long time, but ever since you disappeared, I've wanted to say thank you...for saving me."

"You saved all of us. We really owe you." Lloyd said earnestly. I tried to smile, but I knew it probably looked forced. I was glad I saved them, but...nothing could change the concequences I'd faced. I couldn't erase these memories.

Lloyd spoke up again, when I was quiet. "So what happened after you ran off?"

"I would assume the Desians caught you, or you would've had no reason to be escaping from the ranch." Kratos interjected, and Lloyd frowned, obviously remembering Sheena's earlier words.

"Yeah, that's right. I managed to make it as far as the woods, but it was only a matter of time before they found me." I said bitterly. "They took me to see their Grand Cardinal, Kvar. I guess they were pretty mad that I made them lose you, Lloyd."

"Kvar?" Kratos's eyes narrowed at the name. "I'm surprised you weren't killed on the spot."

I met his eyes, knowing that I was probably the only one able to see the hate burning within them right now. "I thought that was what the Desians had planned, but Kvar stopped them. He said I was part of something called the Angelus Project, and I needed to be kept alive."

I thought I saw a surprised look on Kratos's face, but it was gone in an instant.

"The Angelus Project? Forcystus from the Iselia ranch said something about that, too..." Lloyd frowned thoughtfully.

"I see they put an Exsphere on you as well." Raine remarked, and I nodded, pulling the collar of my shirt down so they could see it better. Lloyd's eyes widened, and he came over to me.

"But...this doesn't make sense. It has a Key Crest! I thought the Desians didn't give them to their prisoners..." He said, examining the stone embedded just below my collarbone. My body tensed a little as I realized something; they weren't supposed to know about the Cruxis Crystal experiments until they got to Tethe'alla. They couldn't find out about it now, because they still thought Cruxis was good. But if I waited...would it be too late?

"...Wait." Lloyd frowned. "There's something weird about this Key Crest...I don't like it."

"If there's something wrong with it, I wouldn't be surprised." Raine said. "The Desians might have been testing new types of Key Crests."

She didn't even realize how close she was, I thought with surprise.

Lloyd nodded. "Maybe we should give you a new one. Hey, Professor...what about the one you picked up after we were attacked?"

"This?" The professor frowned, holding it up. "I thought you said it was unuseable."

"In normal situations, yeah. Too much of the ore has been worn away. But since she already has a Key Crest, I could carve the charm into the ore and fit it directly over the crest she already has." He replied. His words filled me with hope.

"Perhaps you should try it, then." Raine said, handing him the worn Key Crest.

"All right. I should be able to finish it in a few hours, if everyone is willing to wait."

"I'm all for it." Sheena spoke up. "I'm still a little beat, anyway."

Lloyd took out a small knife, seemingly designed for intricate work. "By the way," He said, "What happened to your hair?"

"Hm?" I ran a hand through my locks, which had grown about half an inch since the day I cut it. My bangs were growing in, and due to the curly nature of my hair, it was always messy in the back. "Oh. The Desians kept using it as a handhold, so I cut it off with a pocket knife when they weren't looking."

"That's awful!" Genis exclaimed, shocked.

"And your ribs?" Raine asked, her eyes solemn.

I blinked, surprised. "How did you..."

"Whenever I heal someone, I can sense their injuries. You still aren't fully healed; two of your right ribs have broken and healed incorrectly."

"Wh-What happened? What did those Desian bastards do to you?!" Lloyd growled, his work suddenly forgotten.

I gently placed a hand on the skin above my broken ribs, looking down. "I-It was my own fault. I got angry and said the wrong thing to Kvar. The Desian guards beat me to the floor, and he..." I trailed off, remembering the unbearable pain.

"And they never even...they just left you like that?!"

"Lloyd, calm down." Raine said.

"I can't calm down!" He said, enraged. "If...if only we had..."

I shook my head. "It's fine, Lloyd. What happened can't be undone. It's over."

He looked down, clearly upset. "I...yeah."

"In any case, I'm going to have to ask a favor of you." Professor Sage said to me, and I looked up.

"Huh? What is it?"

"Come with us to the ranch. You've been there before; we could use your knowledge of its layout."

My eyes widened, fear gripping my heart. Go back there, after I'd only just escaped? No. No way in hell. "I...I'm sorry."

"If we rush in there without any knowledge of the ranch at all, our chances of survival are low." Kratos said, glaring at me. Did he think I was weak? He had no idea what I'd been through, and yet...! With him looking at me like that, I felt weak.

I looked away, feeling guilty. "But..." They'd made it in without my help in the game! And yet...as I'd noticed myself, the Asgard ranch was much different here. Different, and bigger. If they were killed, the two worlds were doomed...and my chances of ever getting back home were probably destroyed, as well.

"Please, Brittany? Think about the people of Luin!" Colette urged me, and I sighed.

"All right, I'll do it." I owed the people of that city, anyway. It was my fault they'd been hauled away...I had vowed to protect them, and failed.

----

Lloyd's work on the Key Crest took until nighttime, and by then we'd decided to camp there. Traveling at night was probably unwise, since the Desians' activity had stirred up the monsters in the area.

"All right, it's all finished." He said, walking up to me. He reached out and pressed the new Key Crest over the old one, where it seemed to lock in place.

I gasped. Suddenly it seemed like all my emotions had intensified, and my senses sharpened.

Lloyd's eyes widened in concern. "Brittany! What is it?!"

"...Oh...it's nothing. That just felt really weird for a second."

He continued to watch me, not quite believing what I said. I leaned against the tree behind me, trying to sort out my thoughts. The answer came to me a second later; my senses and emotions hadn't been sharpened, the Exsphere had been dulling them. So the process had already begun, and I'd never even noticed...

Oh, God. It had been painful killing people in Luin, but it wasn't nearly as painful as the regret I felt now. What kind of monster was I?!

I turned, headed to the river.

"Where are you going?" Raine asked.

"I've still got blood in my hair..." I replied quietly, "And I need to see if my clothes are dry."

She nodded, seeming to accept my answer, and I continued down to the water. My clothes were indeed dry; I was unsure if the bloodstains were really out, but their dark colors probably hid the worst of it. I proceeded to dunk my head under the cool water, and scrub viciously. I could feel the blood, dirt and grime come out between my fingers. When I pulled out of the water, I felt sick.

How many people had I killed back there? I had lost count after the first two. Even though they were Desians, even though they had treated me like trash, their lives still had meaning. How could I have slaughtered them like that? Each one of them probably had a name and families, too. They had friends and enemies, likes and dislikes...they were just like me, no matter what race they were. Who was I to play God? I had no right to decide if those people lived or died...I was a murderer.

I remembered the face of one of the Desians I'd killed...his was the only face I'd seen. His eyes...had been wide with fear. He had been just as afraid as me. But I had...I had...

I'd thrust my sword into his throat. All of the images of the gore and carnage I'd helped cause came to me at once, and I nearly vomited. There was still dried blood on my hands from the men I'd killed. I still smelled distinctly of blood and death...

I began to scrub my hands in the river, washing the blood away. I lost track of time as I sat there, rubbing my hands in the cold water until my skin was raw. I felt tears well up in my eyes.

I heard footsteps approaching, but ignored them. I was too absorbed in my work.

"What are you doing?" Kratos's voice interrupted me, and I looked up. He was frowning. "It's time to eat. You have been gone for an hour."

"I'm not hungry." I said, scrubbing my hands even harder. They were beginning to hurt.

"Your hands are clean."

I shook my head. "No. They still smell like blood." I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to block out the tears that threatened to come. I couldn't cry, not in front of Kratos. "And...and no matter how much I scrub, the smell won't go away..."

He came closer, sitting down on a fallen tree trunk nearby. "And it never will. You cannot simply wash away the bloodstains of those you kill. You bear the burden of every life you take."

I felt myself begin to shake. His words...weren't helping at all. "I never asked for this. I didn't want to kill them!"

"But you did so because it was necessary." his tone was firm.

My struggles weren't working anymore; tears spilled down my cheeks. "I'm just a teenager....just a kid." I didn't want him to see me looking this pathetic.

"That may be so," Kratos said, "but you took adult responsibility on your shoulders the minute you saved the Chosen's life. You were well aware of the consequences for your actions. You also chose to fight in Luin."

I reached up, wiping my tears away with a dripping hand. If Kratos had noticed I was crying, he said nothing. "I...Yeah, I did. But the things I did were wrong. Killing people indiscriminately, just because they don't agree with me...I lost track of how many I'd killed. Is that really the way to live? Aren't I just sinking to the Desians' level?" I dared to look up at Kratos, wishing I could get out of this somehow.

"No. People are killed in battles. It is unavoidable. It is impossible to try and remember the face of every enemy you've killed; you mustn't think about each individual death, because doing so will impair your ability to protect those that are close to you. If you hesitate before killing a Desian, he may take that chance to slaughter an innocent."

His gaze was piercing, and I found it difficult to maintain eye contact. I looked down at my raw hands, now sitting in my lap, instead. "I guess so."

"We're heading to the ranch tomorrow. If you wish to save the people you fought for, then you mustn't doubt yourself. Think of Kvar's cruelty; you know the correct path, the one you owe them to take."

I pondered his words, frowning. I did know. I didn't want to kill, but...but he was right. If I didn't act, the people of Luin would die. And it would be entirely my fault.

Kratos walked over to me, bending down at my side. He took my raw, bleeding hands in his. "First Aid." A green light flashed; when it faded, my hands were back to normal. He then stood back up, turning to go.

"I'll give you ten minutes. If you are not back to the campsite by then, I will come to escort you myself." He said sternly.

I gulped, knowing the word 'escort' was probably putting it mildly. "O-okay." I paused as he began to walk off, then gathered the courage to speak. "Kratos?"

He stopped, turning his head to look back at me.

"Thank you." I said, wiping another tear away.

"...Don't be late." He said in reply, and continued walking until he was out of sight.

I smiled; would it kill him to say "you're welcome"? Apparently, he feared it would. I stood up, knowing Kratos would hold true to his threat if I just sulked here any longer.

Even though he'd told me a lot of truths I didn't want to face, somehow I still felt better. Kratos wasn't so bad, after all. To think, he gave Lloyd these kinds of pep talks all the time! I was sort of jealous...it must be nice to have a guy like that constantly looking out for your safety. Even though Lloyd didn't know it yet, he had a damn good father watching over him.

I sighed, gathering up my now-dry clothes. It was sad to think that soon enough, the mercenary would show us his true colors. At the Tower of Salvation, he'd betray us and go back to Cruxis...I had a feeling that even though I knew, I'd still be stung by the betrayal. Kratos could be a jerk sometimes, but I'd miss him when he left. Who else would I have mostly one sided conversations with? Who else would I giggle at when he gave Lloyd all those awkward stares?

The sudden humorous tone of my thoughts was cut off, as a new idea entered my head. If I screwed this up...there was a chance that Kratos would never return to our side. He might be killed at the Torent seal, or he'd just continue to cling to Mithos's ideals....no. I couldn't focus on the 'what if's it I wanted to make it out of this journey alive.

----

Just as Pietro and I took three days to make it to Luin, it was going to take our group three days to get to the Asgard ranch. Although Kratos's talk with me had given me some strength, I just wanted to get in there and get it over with. It was going to be hard keeping up the tough attitude for three days straight.

I arrived back to the campsite, sitting down to eat. Genis had prepared another one of his amazing meals, and now I was looking forward to it. Nothing could beat that kid's cooking. I looked at Colette, seeing her absentmindedly pick at her food.

It must have been hard for her...she couldn't eat any of it, and yet she had to keep up the act. Lloyd was looking at her in much the same way, and I realized that by now he'd confronted her about it. I quickly returned my attention to my food, before Lloyd saw me staring. I wondered vaguely what it must've been like to lose the ability to sleep, and that brought my memories back to the times I'd tried pulling all-nighters. Staying up all night and then some was a lot of fun with your friends, but not so much alone. Every time I attempted it, I grew bored out of my mind, and exhausted as well. Even when I wasn't tired physically, I would suffer from mental exhaustion. I'd never thought much about it, but sleep was probably one of my favorite parts of life. My favorite part of the day was when I laid down in bed, relaxing and letting my mind run over the day's events. And then there was that pleasant sensation of sinking deeper and deeper into your subconscious...I shook my head. Not sleeping...it just didn't feel right. Sleep was the borderline between one day and the next, and the times I'd skipped it, I always felt disoriented. I had no motivation to start a new day when it still felt like the old one hadn't ended. Poor Colette...I couldn't imagine how much she was suffering. Life was just one continuous day for her. Nothing ended, there were no breaks to relieve the stress from her journey.

Anger flared up within me, and I fought to keep my thoughts from showing on my face. I hated this stupid system. Colette wasn't allowed to say no to being the Chosen; she was forced into her fate. What had it been like, being told the day you were born that your life was a suicide mission? It was her life, why couldn't she choose what she did with it? And the worst part was, she was so selfless that she let herself believe that this was the best way...she was so much better of a person than those she was saving. Why did people like her have to be sacrificed, and bastards like Kvar left to do as they please? It was wrong. It was just fucking wrong.

I looked at Kratos, frowning. He had to see that this system was horrible. I knew he was a good person at heart; didn't he disagree with this? Why was he pushing Colette to her death? The others didn't see it, but Kratos used the world regeneration ritual as the solution to every problem. "The only way to fix this is to have the Chosen regenerate the world. Then surely everyone can be saved." He said that, but he was just lying through his teeth...he was deluding himself so he could continue to cling to Mithos's twisted ideals. As our journey in Tethe'alla progressed, I knew Kratos would begin to doubt himself, but it was just difficult to tolerate this while I waited.

The mercenary glanced at me, and I quickly looked away. Shit, he'd known I was staring...I really needed to cut back on the suspicious behavior.

Huh...while my thoughts were on Kratos, I pondered his reaction from earlier. He'd been surprised to hear that Kvar said I was part of his Angelus project. That only confirmed my beliefs that Kvar was a complete idiot. Kratos was one of Mithos's right hand men, so he would've known if Kvar was supposed to continue that project, right...? After all, Kratos had personal interests in the Angelus project since his wife had been a part of it. Or maybe he averted his gaze for the same reason....agh, this was all too confusing. Point is, Kvar had supposedly made me part of that project because of a recommendation by Mithos, and one of the Four Seraphim hadn't known about it. I couldn't possibly be the right person...Kratos would've recognized me or something...

I wasn't getting anywhere with that train of thought. I downed another spoonful of Genis's soup, savoring the taste. Why had I joined up with the group in the first place? Wouldn't it be better if I wasn't there so my presence wouldn't screw things up? ...But I couldn't imagine being left behind. I wanted to know what happened. And what if I was needed? The real Sylvarant was a lot different from the game Sylvarant, and the same probably went for Tethe'alla. I couldn't imagine I'd be of much help, but...I felt like I was a part of this too. I had seen the bad state of this world, and I wanted to help its people. My desire to just go home overrode everything else, but it looked like I wouldn't be able to do that for a while. While I was here, though, I might as well make myself useful...maybe once everything was over, I could get Lloyd to use the Eternal Sword to send me back.

The Eternal Sword! Yeah, that had to be the answer. If it had the power to split apart worlds, then it had to have the power to send me home. I paused, my frown deepening; that would mean I had to tell Lloyd the truth sooner or later. He'd just think I was insane....but maybe I could convince him to at least try to send me to the world of my "delusions."

"Hey, Brittany?"

I blinked, seeing Lloyd staring at me. Crap, I hadn't realized how lost in my thoughts I had been. I hadn't been giving him looks too, had I? I distinctly remembered hearing conversation while I had been thinking, and had assumed that everyone was involved. Except Kratos, anyway. Had Lloyd been lost in his thoughts too or something? Damn, I needed to pay more attention.

"Yeah, Lloyd? What is it?" I tried to look casual, as if he hadn't caught me off guard.

He frowned, considering me for a moment, then shook his head. "Nah. It's nothing."

"Oh, okay..." What the hell was that about? I forced myself to look away from him, paranoid. Usually when people looked at you like that and said it was nothing, it was a flat out lie. But what had he been about to ask me?

Realizing my frown was now easily noticeable, I quickly pressed my lips into a neutral line. The best thing to do at this point was to stop daydreaming and get into the conversation....I started listening to what the others were saying once again, and did my best to shake off the looks Lloyd gave me. He wasn't supposed to be this perceptive, dammit!

After about another hour, the conversation began to die down. Kratos announced that everyone should probably go to bed; we would need our rest for the many hours of traveling tomorrow. I gladly complied, desperately wanting a way to release myself from the stresses of that day. Fiercely grateful that I wasn't the Chosen, I drifted off into a deep sleep.

----

**A/N: Um, yay for the new chapter? Hehehe.**

**Yeah, Raine picked up a worn Key Crest that the Desians dropped. Instead of half the runes being worn off, the ore itself is worn away...naturally, Lloyd found a solution to this. How convenient! XD It certainly isn't the authoress being lazy, that's for sure.**

**I love Kratos and Lloyd. 8D They are so fun to write. The Aurion family is just plain awesome. **

**Next time: Kratos vs. the giant tomato! ....no, not really. XD let's try that again, shall we?**

**Next time: Child--er....teenager abuse, and dead grasshoppers! ...that sounds a little worse...**

**Review, please? You know you want to. ;D **


	10. Mutual Trust

**A/N: Phew, finally got the chance to update. :3 Midterms are over, yay! I would've updated earlier, but I had to take my laptop someplace to get some malfunctioning software to work...they had to keep it for two days! TWO DAYS! D: I don't know about you, but I can't stand being apart from my precious laptop. XD**

**Alas, in the end, the software never worked, and I'm going to go demand my money back. :D**

**Er, I'm rambling again...I can't believe I'm already at chapter 10. O.O and over 1300 hits? That might not be a very big number to some, but it's huge to me. You people are awesome. 8D**

**Tanali: Oh! Thanks, for pointing that out. Mistake is fixed. :D**

**nohaydeque: It's funny you should say that, since there is a bit of humor coming up. :D Not so much this chapter, but the next, I think...hmm. Anyway, it's coming. As for changing the plot, I'm not completely sure yet...I know I do want to break away from it at least a little, or else writing would be extremely boring for me. I'll probably keep to the same general plot, but some things will change as a result of the main character being there. I'll try to keep it interesting, in any case.**

**Okay, chapter time! One more note, though-- there will be a second Brittany briefly referred to here; rest assured, I'm not suddenly talking in third person. XD I have a lot of friends named Brittany. Anyway, I don't think I made it too confusing. I would've changed the name, but then I'd just end up confusing myself...O.o I'll shut up now.**

**Disclaimer: Do not own.**

**----**

So...tired...

I opened my eyes once more, trying my best not to yawn again. Why was I so tired? And why was I standing at a desk?

Mrs. Duggleby's voice rang through the classroom. Oh, she had gone off into another one of her lectures. I glanced at the clock; it was only 8:30. Class didn't end for almost another hour...

Brittany pushed a sheet of paper over to me, and she'd written a note betting on how long Duggleby would be talking this time. She usually talked too long to accomplish anything, other than boring us out of our minds. I wrote down my bet, grinning. At least I had friends in this class.

Wait...I wasn't a Sophomore anymore. I had graduated from high school months ago, hadn't I?

'...and the part that looks like rice pilaf is called the gastric caeca....' I quickly blocked out my teacher's words, realizing that we were doing the grasshopper dissection. Ugh, I knew I'd already done this, and had no desire to relive it...

That glow in her eyes looked familiar. She was almost as bad as Professor Sage. I frowned; why was I thinking about a video game character at a time like this? And I'd always called her Raine, hadn't I? That was weird...

As it was, we weren't about to progress any further with the stupid dissection. I didn't really want to focus on the pinned open grasshopper-on-steroids in front of me, so I looked at one of the handouts we'd been given. There was an open space on the bottom of the paper, and I noticed I'd started a picture already.

Ah, it was Kratos. I'd half drawn in his hair, and had begun a sad attempt at his clothes. Finally succeeding in ignoring the teacher, I continued drawing. I was able to fix every error I'd made on his outfit; for some odd reason, his image was ingrained in my memory. His belts were supposed to be slightly uneven, and the shoulder part of his cape tapered down past his elbows...

'Brittany.'

My eyes widened; huh? Had my drawing just spoken to me? I glanced at Brittany to see if she'd heard. She continued to stare disinterestedly at Mrs. Duggleby, absentmindedly cutting up a scrap of paper with the dissection scissors. Okay, so she hadn't heard anything. Obviously I was starting to doze off. I sat up straighter, looking at the grasshopper again. Ugh, dead insects smelled horrible.

'Now, I want you to move everything over and search for the nerve cord...it should be a small white line.' the teacher said, and Brittany and I boredly tried it. Naturally, the grasshopper's insides were so badly preserved that we couldn't make anything out aside from the mush. I made a face.

Someone shook my shoulder, and I looked over to find empty space. Weird....I turned my attention back to the insect.

'Get up.'

I frowned. What? Why did I keep hearing things?

"Get up." Kratos's voice rang in my ears, blocking out the voice of my teacher. I grimaced. Why were my eyes closed? I opened them, only to find the man I'd been drawing staring down at me. He looked rather irritated.

I blinked, disoriented. Then I realized that it'd only been a dream. That day in tenth grade had long since passed...I was in Sylvarant now, and I'd graduated from high school last June. But it had felt so real...I gave Kratos a blank stare, feeling numb and lost. "Um...what?" I said, managing to work my voice.

"It's time to train," he replied. When I didn't say anything back, he let out an exasperated sigh. "Simply because you were gone for a while is no excuse to shirk your duties. Kvar will kill you if you aren't properly prepared."

Kvar's name jolted me awake. That was right; I had to train or I'd lose to the Desians again. "Y...yeah." I began to stand up, when I was assaulted by a horrible smell. I wrinkled my nose. "Ugh, what smells like dead grasshopper?"

Lloyd laughed, walking up. "Oh, I dunno...maybe a dead grasshopper?" He gestured behind him, and there was indeed one of Sylvarant's car sized 'hoppers lying dead on the ground.

Ew. And I'd thought the ones I'd dissected were on steroids. Well, that explained my dream. Everyone else appeared to be up, and putting away their weapons. Wait, they had fought it and everything?

I opened my mouth, voicing my confusion. "How the hell did I sleep through this...?"

Lloyd shrugged. "I was about to ask you that. We were wondering if you were seriously unconscious. Kratos even hit you a few times!"

I turned to gape at the mercenary, suddenly feeling bruises where I was sure none had been before. He merely did one of his dissmissive grunts, turning his back to me.

"Are you coming?" his voice was cold.

"Yeah, yeah. Abusive jerk." I got up, following him and Lloyd to a clearing so we could train.

----

Somehow we were able to find a place that the grasshopper stink didn't reach, and I wondered how the others could stand waiting for us back there. The area we stopped in was a rather rocky part of the field, and I had to watch my feet so I wouldn't trip.

"Um, Kratos, this place is kind of....well, don't you think we should find someplace less rocky?" I asked him tentatively.

He looked over his shoulder at me. "Hmph. Tell me, do you think an enemy would comply with this request?"

I looked away, sighing. "No..."

"This is a good opportunity to work on your footing." he merely said, continuing to lead us deeper into rocky territory. The dejected expression on Lloyd's face told me that he hadn't expected this, either. I suspected we would both be doing a lot of tripping in the next few hours...and the ground didn't look very nice to fall on, either.

Finally we stopped walking, Kratos seeming satisfied with our surroundings. He turned to me; apparently I was the lucky first contestant. "Draw your blade."

I unsheathed Loki, its familiarity giving me confidence. This wasn't just some wooden sword Kratos forked over to me; this was _my_ sword. It may have been a tool for killing, but it had also protected my life on numerous occasions.

Kratos inspected my stance, looking over the sword as well. "And why have you changed your fighting style? You may still be weilding only one sword, but now you are incapable of holding a shield."

"I stole this sword from a Desian at the ranch. It's the only weapon I have, so I figured I'd might as well get used to it...there was a swordsman in Luin who gave me some training before you guys came."

He nodded. "Very well. You wouldn't have survived the attack if you had merely been doing guesswork with the new blade. Show me what you have learned." Kratos drew his sword as well.

----

"...You've improved," the mercenary told me as he knocked me to the ground for the fourth time.

I struggled to my feet, panting. It sure didn't feel like it. Even as Lucian had trained me, I had felt myself slowly growing stronger. But with Kratos, it felt like my skills did me no good at all. I knew I was profusely different from the person I'd been back in Asgard, but it was difficult to believe that when Kratos could still easily beat me down like this. Stupid, four thousand year-old seraph...

Noting my crestfallen expression, Kratos raised an eyebrow. "Had you been hoping to defeat me after only a month?"

Embarrassed, I shook my head. "No, just...I don't know, it would've been nice to at least land one hit."

"Heh." The amused expression on his face was infuriating, and I saw Lloyd grow irritated as well. He hadn't been able to land a hit in spite of everything, either. Damn, how were we ever going to survive against Kratos at the Tower?

We continued as we usually did, Kratos alternating between Lloyd and I. Now that we were fighting with real swords, Kratos was even more frightening. Sure, the wooden ones bruised, but a real sword could do some serious damage...

When it was almost time for us to finish up, the mercenary pitted Lloyd and I against each other. This time, we were more evenly matched, but I still sensed that Lloyd was stronger. He'd better be-- after all, it was Lloyd who would have to singlehandedly take Kratos down in the future.

By the end of the training session, both Lloyd and I were covered in cuts and bruises. Kratos, being Kratos, refused to cast First Aid again. We spent the next few hours begging Raine for Apple Gels...and ended up with even more bruises as a result.

----

Later that day as we stopped for a break, Raine got my attention.

"Your ribs must pain you often, am I correct?" she said. The careful tone of her voice set me on alert, but I nodded.

"It usually causes me to collapse...at the most inconvenient times." I replied, thinking of how easily I could've died if they'd affected me before the battle in Luin ended.

She sighed. "I can heal them, but..."

"But what?" I asked, frowning. Suddenly it came to me-- oh, no. She couldn't possibly mean...but healing magic was supposed to...!

"They healed incorrectly, and we would need to rebreak them in order to fix the problem." Raine answered, confirming my fears.

I winced, remembering how painful the first break had been. "...that sucks."

"But if we don't...." she stared at me, her eyes pressuring. I knew what she was going to say; I would be a burden if I collapsed in the middle of battle, and I might end up getting myself or someone else killed. I could chicken out if I wanted, but that would be a really nasty thing to do when my friends needed me. Dammit.

I watched her uneasily. "I...I know. When should we do it, then? I'd rather...get it over with." Hopefully she could use First Aid or Nurse right away, and get rid of that horrible agony.

"We can do it right now, if you like." She said, standing up and lifting her staff. Lloyd and Colette were off in the distance, talking. Genis and Sheena were gathering wood to build a fire to cook with. They wouldn't have to see it happen.

"Y-yeah. Okay." I said, my voice growing shakier by the second.

"In that case, I can perform the breaking." Kratos spoke up now, walking over to us. Raine nodded to him.

I managed a weak chuckle. "So you're volunteering? Is this stemming from your abusive tendencies?"

"Hmph."

Raine stood beside me, her staff ready. "Very well, then. Kratos, get ready. I will tell you where to break."

Oh, God, I didn't want to do this. I could feel myself beginning to tremble, anxiety causing my heart to pound.

Kratos stepped closer to me, holding me with one arm. He placed his other hand in the exact same spot Kvar had placed his foot, several weeks ago. I shuddered.

Raine nodded, approving of where he'd placed his hand. She looked at me. "I'm going to perform a healing spell the second your bones are rebroken. There will be pain, but I will not allow it to linger."

I nodded weakly, barely comforted by this; the initial pain was what hurt the most.

Kratos gazed at me, his eyes surprisingly soft. "Take a deep breath." He said, his voice calm. "It will be over in a second."

I did as he said, and looked straight ahead.

"On a count of three." The professor said quietly. "Three..."

I took another deep breath, anticipation growing.

"Two..."

The pressure from Kratos's hand increased slightly as he readied himself.

"One."

Kratos pushed his arm forward with shocking force. I heard the snaps once again, followed by blinding pain.

I screamed, my knees giving out beneath me. Kratos caught me, holding me there, while Raine cast her spell. The pain was gone in an instant, but my body was still reacting. Trembling violently, all I could do was rest my head against Kratos's chest, gasping like a fish out of water. I clutched the place where my once-broken ribs had been, trying in vain to get ahold of myself.

I vaguely heard the sound of running feet, and concerned voices. Lloyd and Colette? Ah...Kratos and Raine were still calm. Was I really okay...? I felt my breathing slow, deepening. Kratos, who hadn't ever had a problem with beating the shit out of me, now held me gently. He set me on the ground, looking me in the eyes.

"She's in shock," I heard him say.

"Dammit, why the hell did you go and do that?!" Lloyd was pissed off, and taking his anger out on Kratos.

"Quiet, Lloyd." I whispered, "I'm okay. I think."

He looked down at me, worried. "Are you sure?"

I tried to nod, but couldn't; instead I settled for "Mhm."

Colette smiled, seemingly in awe. "She's really strong."

I managed to laugh. Colette was the one sacrificing her humanity to save the world, and she said _I_ was strong? Maybe the definition of the word had changed since I last checked.

After I recovered from that state, the group trudged onward. At least now I knew I wouldn't be bothered by that anymore. But I didn't think I'd ever get used to pain, no matter how much of it I experienced.

----

Two more days passed. The Asgard ranch loomed in the distance; its very image gave me goosebumps. I couldn't believe I was actually going back there. Dammit, everyone owed me big time for this.

Our morning training that day was very brief. Thankfully, Kratos knew we wouldn't fight very well if we were already exhausted. I noticed that something was wrong with him; it was unlike him, but Kratos was very on edge today. Lloyd had noticed too, voicing his confusion to me. I pretended to be puzzled as well.

Seeing the auburn haired mercenary this tense only made me feel tense, too. I knew he was probably concerned mostly about Lloyd. After all, we were going to the stronghold of the man who had caused Anna's death...

I felt mildly annoyed. I was already apprehensive to begin with; I didn't need Kratos making it worse! He was supposed to be the tough guy of the group, who was always sure of everything. I needed him to be that guy, especially on a day like today.

All right, worrying and anxiousness weren't going to help me here. As we got closer and closer to the Desian ranch, I mulled over all the time I'd spent there. I felt fear at coming to this place, but with it came indignation. I tried to fuel that anger and hate into something I could use. I realized that while rage could cause a person to do reckless things, it could also be used as a tool. Extreme emotions summoned up adrenaline.

After much walking, we passed through the forest leading to Kvar's ranch. We stood within the trees, watching the ranch.

"Wow," Genis whispered. "The security is intense."

"Shall we follow through with our plan?" Raine asked, and everyone nodded. Sheena had obtained a Desian outfit a short while before I'd met her in Luin, for she had been planning on infiltrating the ranch. We allowed Raine to slip it on, disguising herself as a lance soldier. We were to pretend that we were her prisoners; it was practically the same strategy used in the game.

"Let's go, then." the Professor said, slipping the metal Desian helmet on. My stomach tied in a knot; I didn't like seeing her in that uniform one bit. We followed her out of the trees, approaching the main doors with a bit of uneasiness.

A Desian guard quickly called out to us. "Stop!"

Raine spoke up before he could get a chance to examine us too closely. "We've done it!"

"Done what?" The Desian asked, now looking puzzled.

"We've found the wanted criminals, Lloyd Irving and Brittany Furness!" Raine replied, her voice confident. I frowned; it was extremely strange to hear her say my full name. I really was in a video game....augh.

The guard looked shocked, and examined us further. He'd probably seen me around when I was imprisoned here, and he would have recognized Lloyd from those badly drawn wanted posters. "What?! Good work!" He said, "And you've even caught them alive!"

Raine nodded. "I want to turn them over to the Five Grand Cardinals immediately. Let me through." Wow, her act was so convincing...

He stepped aside, giving us a clear path to the door. "Understood. Go on in!"

We entered the doors, everyone else seeming visibly relieved that our plan had worked. I knew it wasn't over yet, though.

"Do you know the way to the control room?" Raine murmured to me, when there were no other Desians in sight.

I thought for a minute, then nodded a little. "I think I have an idea."

We continued onward, and I would indicate the path for Raine to take with a faint nod of the head. My hands were shaking; I could hear the screams again. I could remember being part of those screams. As we passed Desian guards, some recognized and smirked at me.

After what seemed like an eternity, we reached the control room.

"Here we are." I said. I'd never actually been in here, but I recognized it from the game. The structure of this room was almost exactly the same.

There was a window on the wall across from us, and everyone approached it curiously. I lagged behind, already knowing what was behind it: conveyor belts. That dreaded room...

"It looks like this is an Exsphere manufacturing plant," Raine remarked.

"That's right." I confirmed, my voice bitter.

Lloyd glanced back at me questioningly, having heard the off tone in my voice. When he saw that I wasn't going to say anything more, he turned back to the window. "These are all Exspheres? Incredible..."

My fists clenched. Lloyd...he wouldn't think that anymore in a few minutes. This place was anything but incredible.

Raine and Kratos turned away, examining the rest of the room. I did as well, unable to look through that window anymore. Lloyd, Colette, Genis and Sheena all peered through, still curious, when suddenly Colette stopped.

"...Shh. I hear voices coming from the next room."

"I don't hear anything." Genis frowned.

"Be careful anyway." Lloyd warned him, knowing of Colette's angel senses.

We all turned to the door Colette was looking at, and soon after, it opened. Botta and two Renegade soldiers ran through. Wow, Botta was quite an imposing man. It was unusual seeing him not chibi-fied. I wondered if he still had the English accent.

"Hmm?! You!" Yup, he did.

"Uh-oh, these are the Desians we ran into in the Triet Desert!" Lloyd exclaimed. I hid my frown; how could they not have realized by now that these soldiers weren't Desians? I'd never understood that. I mean, the Renegades always laughed at Lloyd when he called them Desians.

Proving my point, one of the soldiers smirked. "They still think we're Desians."

"Sir, this is the perfect chance!" The other soldier spoke up.

Kratos glared. "Are you looking for a fight?"

Botta looked at each of his soldiers, shaking his head. "Wait. Kratos is with them. We'll retreat for now." Heh, smart move. I'd want to run too if Kratos was glaring at me like that.

Lloyd looked at Kratos, confused. "...You know each other?"

"I suppose, if you mean the fact that we ran into them at Iselia and Triet." Kratos replied coolly. I refrained from rolling my eyes.

"I think it would be in both our interests for us not to fight here." Botta said, looking at Kratos.

"Do what you will," said the mercenary.

Botta merely nodded, and he and his soldiers fled through the door we came in. I vaguely wondered what they had been doing here in the first place. It was a hint at them being the Renegades, but other than that, what was the purpose of it...?

Another door opened near Colette, and I instantly grasped Loki's hilt. This was it. I got a glimpse of a Desian mage, right before he cast a fireball spell towards us. Colette was the closest target; Kratos rushed forth, defending her with Guardian. Everyone looked on, shocked.

"Colette! Kratos!" Lloyd cried.

Colette turned to him, perfectly fine. "I'm okay."

Kratos and I, however, had our attention elsewhere. There was a man we both loathed waiting beyond that door...

"No time for that, look behind you!" Kratos warned, his voice raising a notch.

"Huh?" Lloyd frowned.

The others turned and I drew my sword; Kratos already had his out. The mages waiting behind the door moved to the side, clearing the path for Kvar. My eyes narrowed, body tensing.

"Well, this is a surprise. When I heard we had some rats, I assumed it was the Renegade, Botta. But instead I find the wanted inferior beings...I must say I'm quite impressed you're still alive after that attack." His slitted eyes swept over us, his voice irritatingly nonchalant.

"Who are you?!" Lloyd demanded.

Kvar arched an eyebrow. "You barge into _my_ ranch and then demand _my_ name?"

I turned my head to Lloyd. "He's Kvar, one of the Five Grand Cardinals."

Kvar chuckled. "Ah. I see that some of you know me." His inhuman eyes focused on me for a moment, and he gave me a cruel smile. I could tell he remembered me, although he was too disdainful to say so now. He then returned his attention to Lloyd. "...It's just as Forcystus said. That Exsphere is without a doubt the product of my Angelus Project!"

We were suddenly surrounded by Desian soldiers. Colette acted fast, rushing forward and hurling a chakram at Kvar. When the Grand Cardinal jumped out of the way, we took the opportunity to run right past him and through the door.

"Good job, Colette!" Lloyd praised her, as Raine closed the metal door and activated its locking mechanism. We were now in the manufacturing plant sector of the ranch. I suppressed a shudder as we ran further in. I knew what was coming.

We cut down the Desian guards that spotted us, weaving past the conveyor belts while looking for a door out. Soon enough, we arrived at a dead end. This was the same place I'd stood with Pietro a few weeks ago; the place where Elena had died. I bowed my head, unable to bring myself to look at that final conveyor belt again. I was already haunted by its image in my nightmares. I didn't look, but there was nothing I could do to drown out the cries of the prisoners who were being slaughtered.

Everyone froze in shock, save for Kratos and I. We'd both seen it before. I wasn't sure, but I thought I saw him send an understanding look my way.

"Wh...what is this?!" Lloyd gasped, horrified. I sensed movement behind us, and turned around. Kvar had quickly caught up after the guards broke down the door.

"This is where the Exspheres are removed from the host bodies." He said, and I snarled once again at how he described the people being killed. Everyone else turned around as well.

Raine's eyes were wide. "Do you mean that Exspheres are made from...human bodies?"

"Not exactly." Kvar explained calmly, "Exspheres are dormant at first. They extract nourishment from humans to grow and awaken. Human ranches are Exsphere manufacturing plants. Why else would we spend our time raising and taking care of these inferior beings?"

"Care?!" I growled, furious. "You abuse us and treat us like dirt, only to send us off to the slaughterhouse in the end! You're terrible!"

Kvar smirked. "Terrible? Terrible is what you've done. Stealing and using Exspheres that we've invested so much time and care in creating. You deserve to be punished." He made a small gesture with his gloved hand, and Desian soldiers surrounded us. Lloyd swore.

"Brittany, the Exsphere being cultured on your body is valuable research material that Lord Yggdrasill himself requested. Give yourself up, and perhaps your friends won't be killed on the spot." Kvar said to me. Dammit, what was this about? This wasn't the way the conversation was supposed to go. I shouldn't have come here.

Despite my uncertainty, I felt frustration flare up once again. Kvar was still standing by his beliefs that I was really the subject he was looking for. Stupid idiot! "I've said this before, you pompous bastard: you have the wrong person." I said, speaking slowly as if he were going senile. Hmph, he probably was. "I've never even seen this Yggdrasill person, and I had never been to a ranch before I was taken here." It was difficult not to start swearing. My hands shook with anger and resentment.

Once again, that frightening cruel look showed itself on Kvar's face. "Wretched human. You are still deluding yourself? How pitiful."

My fists clenched. "You...!"

His smirk grew. "You believe I am mistaken? Very well, I'll prove you wrong." He pulled out a sheet of paper, and I felt a twinge of uneasiness. What was that? Kvar began to speak again, reading from the sheet.

"Name: Brittany A. Furness. Eighteen years of age." His eyes darted up to meet mine, then back down to the paper. My uneasiness grew, but I shook it off. Mere coincidence. Kvar continued to speak. "Height: Five feet, four inches. Hair color: brown. Eye color: brown." My body shook. No, still, he couldn't really prove... "Birth date: November 20th. Immediate family: mother, father, older sister, older brother. Shows a predilection for dark clothing." He looked up at me once again, and the callous amusement on his face was nearly unbearable. My blood ran cold. "Ah," He added, "and you bite your nails."

I gaped at him, utterly shocked. How...?! How could he know that about me? How could anyone here know such personal things about me? It was impossible!

"I see you believe me now. As you can see, I was given a full profile of you several months ago. Did you think I was merely doing guesswork?" Kvar sneered.

"..." I moved my lips, trying to make some sort of retort, but my voice completely failed me. He'd been right all along.

"Wh-what do you want with her?!" Lloyd finally broke in, his voice full of anger.

"Now, don't you think you should be more concerned about yourself?" Kvar turned to Lloyd now, switching targets for his verbal abuse. "Lloyd, your Exsphere is the result of years of time consuming research. It's time you gave it back." His slitted eyes narrowed. "I can finally reclaim what was stolen by that filthy female host body."

Lloyd blinked. "What are you talking about? The female host body?" Now his eyes widened in disbelief. "You're not talking about..."

Yes, Lloyd, he was....My hatred for Kvar grew as the Desian leader continued.

"...Hmm, you don't know anything, do you?" He said with disdain. "That Exsphere was cultured on host body A012, human name, Anna-- your mother. She took it and escaped from the facility. Of course, she paid for her crime with her life."

My friend's disbelief was replaced with shocked rage. "You killed my..."

Kvar smiled, his voice mocking. "Now, now, don't blame me. I'm not the one that killed Anna. Your father did."

"Liar!" Lloyd yelled, shaking.

"Please. When her Key Crest-less Exsphere was removed, Anna turned into a monster...and your father killed her. Pathetic, don't you think?"

I snarled. I'd heard these words spoken many times before, but now that he said them in person, in real life...it was appalling. How dare he?!

Kratos stepped forth, and I could sense the waves of hate emanating from him. He was shaking as well, but I was probably the only one who noticed-- he had his emotions carefully, but barely, contained. "Do not speak ill of the dead." The mercenary's voice was icy, the look on his face terrifying. If Kvar had any sense right now, he would run.

Apparently he did not. Instead, he laughed, causing Kratos's jaw to clench even tighter. "Who cares? They were both just a couple of filthy humans-- worthless maggots."

"Don't you ever talk about my parents like that!" Lloyd shouted, his tone threatening.

Kvar did another hand gesture, and the Desian soldiers started moving in on us. Dammit, I wanted to defeat that bastard right now!

Unfortunately, I could see that fleeing was our only option. I looked at Sheena; she already had one of her cards out.

"I'm gonna use the last one, Grandpa," I heard her mutter. She lifted the card up, summoning a Guardian. The Desians backed away, alert. The Guardian produced a large cloud of smoke. I felt a strange sensation, as if being lifted up...and when the smoke cleared, we were standing in the woods outside of the ranch.

"Thank you, Sheena!" Colette said, as the others looked relieved.

"Don't mention it," she said. "But what are you going to do now?"

"We should get a safe distance away from the ranch before making any plans." Raine said.

"I concur." Kratos agreed.

----

Everyone walked in relative silence, myself included. I was pondering my Exsphere with uncertainty. If it had the capability to give me strength, then it had probably been activated with someone else's life. I was just supposed to take that one step further, making it into a Cruxis Crystal. It was horrifying to think that I was using something created with the life of a human being-- someone just like me, a victim of Kvar and the Desians. In the game it had been obvious that keeping the Exspheres was necessary, but now...after I had seen it actually happening...I felt like a complete hypocrite.

Not only that, there was another serious issue that I was trying not to think about. I was unhappy enough with the situation. The way Kvar had looked at me...it had comforted me to think he was merely being a fool, but I couldn't pretend any longer.

My thoughts were interrupted when Kratos announced that we were far enough from the ranch, and we could set up camp. He still seemed rather troubled and irritated from what had happened; I didn't blame him. As Genis started a fire with one of his spells, we all got as comfortable as we could. Sheena took her Exsphere out of--well, wherever she kept it, I had read it was someplace over her heart--and rested it in the palm of her hand, gazing at it. I knew a familiar cutscene was about to start.

Sheena finally spoke, breaking our long silence. "...I can't believe Exspheres are made from human lives."

Genis took his Exsphere out as well. "This is Marble's life..."

Lloyd took out his Exsphere, looking as if he was about to throw it. "Arrgh! This...thing!"

"Lloyd, wait." Colette stopped him, stepping forth. "What will you accomplish by taking that off? It's not just an Exsphere, it's also your mother's life, remember?"

"But these things make a mockery of human life!" Lloyd protested. I had to agree.

"But we would have lost long ago had we not had them." Kratos said; he was right, too. Augh, I didn't know who to side with!

"Don't you think I know that?!"

"Do you really?" Kratos crossed his arms. "If you throw away that Exsphere now, do you think you can finish this journey?"

Lloyd gazed down at his Exsphere. "...Yeah. I know. Without these things, we're just a bunch of weak humans. We can fight because we have these. I know that. But Exspheres exist as a result of taking someone's life!"

"And? These people didn't become victims because they wanted to, but I doubt they would want to be thrown away after being turned into Exspheres."

I fingered my Exsphere uncomfortably. I knew I wouldn't want to be thrown away, had I turned into a Cruxis Crystal...I would've wanted to be used against the people who made me that way. But still...it felt so wrong.

"My opinion may not matter much because I don't use an Exsphere, but I believe the Desians will defeat us if we throw away the Exspheres now. And if that happens, more people will lose their lives to these stones. I don't want that to happen. I don't want this journey to be meaningless." Colette said, and Kratos nodded.

"Colette's right. We can throw away the Exspheres at any time. But right now, we must carry the weight of the hopes and dreams of those victims and fight for their sake, as well as ours. Didn't you say you weren't going to hesitate anymore?"

At this point, I wondered what Lloyd's response would be. I, personally, was still undecided, although I knew what the correct path was.

Lloyd shook his head. "I just can't! ...I know you're right, but...but right now...let me think by myself for a while, okay?"

"Lloyd..." Kratos frowned, and I decided to back him up. Lloyd would come around, but he'd ultimately have to do it on his own.

"I second that." I said, standing up. "I'm still really uncomfortable with this whole thing. After being imprisoned in the human ranch for so long...it's still hard for me to accept it. This Exsphere..." I rested a finger on mine, "it was made with the life of someone just like me. Only that someone wasn't so lucky..." I bowed my head. "I think I need some time to think, too."

The mercenary sighed, looking from me to Lloyd. "Fine."

Our group grew quiet once again, and I took the opportunity to slip off into the woods. Lloyd, I knew, would do the same later. He'd have a talk with Kratos, who would finally convince him to keep his Exsphere. I didn't have the same convenience.

After a few minutes of walking, I sat down on a rock in front of a small lake within the forest, setting Loki in its sheath beside me. I knew I had no choice but to keep my Exsphere; if I wanted to stay with this group, I had to be able to fight. I couldn't imagine being left behind again, the way I had been back when I first met them.

The stars were so nice tonight. They didn't feel cold and uninviting like that night in Asgard so long ago. Perhaps it meant I was getting used to Sylvarant, as frightening as that sounded.

I frowned as I realized I wasn't even looking at the real sky. It was just an illusion to block out what was really there-- Derris-Kharlan. I tried to envision the large purple planet directly overhead, and couldn't do it. Where in the sky was Welgaia? Was Yggdrasill up there right now?

Yggdrasill. My body tensed, and I beat down another panic attack. Despite what Kvar had said...I had to stay calm.

I shifted on the rock I was resting upon; I hadn't had a chance all day to think by myself. I didn't want to ponder this in front of the others, for fear that my emotions would show through.

Ever since the day I regained my memory, I'd told myself that Kvar was mistaken. I knew I couldn't possibly be the one he wanted; I wasn't even from Sylvarant! But then, at the ranch, he had pulled out an entire profile of me. I had been able to see that the sheet he held was typed on the front and back-- the things he'd read off of it were only the beginning. How much information did the Desians have on me, anyway? And how in the world did they get it? Knowing my name was one thing, but they knew I bit my nails?! That was borderline creepy. Kvar had gone into too many specifics, and it was obvious that the only person that report was referring to was me.

And he'd said that my Exsphere was research material that Yggdrasill himself had requested. And hadn't he also said that Yggdrasill reccomended me as a host body? What the hell was going on? I was suddenly even more terrified of going to the Tower of Salvation. How did Yggdrasill even know I existed?

I shook my head. It just wasn't possible. Maybe...somehow my driver's license had come through the dimensional gap as well? Or something...? That still made no sense. I really hated being confused like this.

My being here was a mistake in itself. I had been planning to remain anonymous, and finish the journey before trying to make it home. Once the worlds were safe, I could try getting help from Lloyd. I wanted to pretend that I still had amnesia for the duration of the journey, so no one would really know who I was. Kvar was going to be killed anyway, so his mistake wouldn't make a difference anymore.

But it wasn't a mistake. Somehow I was caught up in all this, and somehow Cruxis knew about me. Did Kratos know something...? It was impossible to tell. I couldn't just walk up and ask him, as much as I wanted to. My amnesia excuse, though, might not work anymore. I had pretty much revealed that I remembered something back at the ranch; my shocked expression had confirmed the information Kvar was reading out. Kvar being killed, although it would make me feel better, wouldn't change my wanted status.

I sighed, resisting the urge to hit my head against something. Okay, I had all the information, but no solution. I needed to do something about this!

Tomorrow...we'd probably set off for Hima. We needed to get the Desian Orb from Pietro so we could go through the secret entrance of the ranch. I knew, without a doubt, that I would be going again. I had to see this through...for everyone's sakes. I wanted to make sure they got out okay, and my knowledge of the ranch might help them.

Then what? I racked my brain for pieces of the plotline. We'd go...to the Tower of Mana. We'd release that seal and take Boltzman's book...then Lake Umacy, then the pact with Undine, Lake Umacy again, then we'd cure Pietro. It had been an irritating, tedious quest in the game, but when I thought about my friend, it seemed more than worth it.

Oh...and after Pietro was cured, it would be time to go to the Tower of Salvation. I really didn't want to think about that. Kratos betraying us, Colette losing her soul, seeing Yggdrasill for the first time? No, it didn't sound appealing at all. There was still the chance something could go wrong, and we'd all die.

Man, this sucked.

Running a hand through my short hair, I tried to come up with some answers. None came. Instead, I bent over from where I sat and grabbed a flat stone, hurling it horizontally towards the lake. It skipped once, then plopped into the water. I needed to work on my rock skipping skills. I began to reach for another rock, when I heard a rustling from the bushes behind me. Alert, I stood and swung around, beginning to unsheathe my sword.

"Relax, it's just me."

I frowned a little, stopping at Lloyd's voice. It was a little less cheerful than usual, but given the circumstances, I wasn't surprised. He stepped out of the shadows, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Lloyd?" I sheathed Loki again, lowering my guard a bit.

"Hey. Mind if I sit with you for a sec?"

"Um, not at all. Go ahead." I replied slowly, sitting back down. I really wasn't ready to see anyone right now, but it wasn't like I'd been getting anywhere with my thoughts anyway. Lloyd came over and sat next to me, resting his elbows on his knees as he looked out onto the lake.

I did the same, feeling mildly uncomfortable. It really had been a while since I'd been alone with any of them, hadn't it? Aside from Kratos, that is. I remembered the time before I'd overcome my amnesia; I had taken it upon myself then to speak to each member of the group on my own. It had been hard enough then to gather the courage, but now...I knew who they were. I really knew them. The guy sitting next to me was Lloyd Irving from Tales of Symphonia, only now he wasn't just some video game character, he was a real person. I felt self-conscious. I wasn't really a member of this group; I was just some wimpy girl from Earth, bound to this place by an unknown force. I couldn't remember what I had been doing the day I came here, but I did know what had been going on back home. My life consisted of management work with my sister at Dunkin' Donuts, a sort of decent apartment in Maine, and a used silver Chevy Cobalt. My biggest concerns back then had amounted to getting into a good college and having the money for it. Now I just wanted to stay alive long enough to get home. How could I ever compare to brave, goodhearted Lloyd? Not for the first time, I had a sudden distinct feeling that I didn't belong here.

I realized we had been silent for a while, and figured I should say something. "Did you ever figure out what to do about your Exsphere?"

He looked down at the stone embedded in his hand. "...I guess so. Kratos talked to me about it. I think...I'm going to keep it. Nothing will change if we don't do anything to stop Exspheres from being made. There will only be more victims." He turned to look at me. "You should keep yours, too, because you know what it's like to be used by the Desians. I bet whoever's life is in your Exsphere would've wanted you to stop them."

I nodded. "Yeah...I don't like it, but..." I reached a hand up to my Exsphere. "If I were an Exsphere, I wouldn't want to be thrown away or used by the Desians. I'll keep it, at least until this is all over."

We looked out onto the water again, and Lloyd picked up a rock, as I had done earlier. He threw it, and it skipped a total of seven times. I frowned a little and tried to copy him with my own rock. Mine didn't even skip once this time; it just plunked right into the water. Lloyd couldn't help but laugh.

"You suck."

I smiled, fake punching him on the arm. "Shut up, Lloyd."

He picked up another rock, checking it to see if it was flat enough. "Listen, I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Yeah?" I examined my abused nails, not bothering to humiliate myself by attempting to skip another rock.

"All that stuff Kvar said, back at the ranch..."

I froze internally, trying to remain calm on the outside. Crap, I hadn't even finished figuring this out myself!

"I got distracted when he changed the subject, but I remembered when I was thinking a little while ago." He threw the second rock, watching it hop across the water before sinking.

"And?" I was determined to stall. This was the last thing I wanted him to bring up.

"Was all of that true? I mean, sure, your appearance and name are obvious...but with the other stuff you looked really shocked. Did he make you remember something?"

I stared into my lap for a few seconds, unsure of how to deal with this. Should I just lie? I hadn't thought of a sufficient cover story, and if I whipped one up on the spot, it probably wouldn't hold for very long. And then there was the fact that I wasn't so good at lying to people I cared about.

Screw it. Lloyd would be hurt if I lied straight to his face, and I wouldn't feel too great about it either. I'd have to tell him the truth later on if I wanted him to help me get home.

Finally, I slowly shook my head. "He didn't make me remember anything. I...I recovered from my amnesia the first day I was imprisoned at the ranch. I've already regained all my memories." I felt scared; what if this was the wrong move? My story sounded weird enough to me, never mind someone else.

Lloyd looked at me, shocked. "You remember? Why didn't you say anything?"

I shrugged halfheartedly. "No one ever asked."

His eyes narrowed. "That's a dumb excuse and you know it."

I sighed, unsure of how to respond. I sensed Lloyd's frown; he seemed to realize something was wrong. His voice was considerably gentler when he spoke again.

"So...what, it happened all at once? Just like that?"

I nodded. "Yeah. One minute I couldn't remember anything, and suddenly I just knew. It was kind of startling."

"So how'd you end up in the woods where we first found you?"

"That's one thing I don't remember. That day is a complete blur."

Lloyd paused, considering this. "...Okay, where're you from?"

I looked away, shrugging again, almost squirming with uneasiness.

"Oh, c'mon, you said you remembered!" Lloyd turned, fully facing me, no longer distracted with rock skipping. Crap.

I couldn't meet his gaze. "Um, it's kind of far away."

"Yeah? Is it...Triet? Palmacosta? I would've recognized you if you were from Iselia."

I shook my head. "N-no, neither of those."

Lloyd stopped, and I could feel him staring at me. "...You can't even look at me. You've been acting really weird lately, you know? I don't know why your hometown is such an issue." He sounded puzzled. I couldn't blame him.

"I...um..." Damn, I really didn't know what to tell him.

"Just look at me, okay?"

I managed to, uncomfortably trying to maintain eye contact.

"Was it...was it destroyed by Desians, like Luin? Look, you can tell me." His voice was quiet, his eyes serious.

I shook my head. I wouldn't lie about something like that. "No, that's not it. It's just..." I measured his gaze as I spoke, and it looked like he wasn't leaving until he got an answer. I wasn't going to get anywhere stalling, was I? I forced myself to continue. I had to give him something. "...my story isn't exactly believeable."

"Huh? What do you mean? Are you from the moon or something?"

I had to suppress a giggle at the irony of this statement. "No, of course not. But still...I don't understand my situation much either. If I told you, you'd think I was crazy."

He blinked, and to my surprise, laughed. "You dork," he said, "I'd never think you were crazy. Even if you told me you were from the moon."

I raised an eyebrow. "You're just saying that."

"No, I'm not." He replied, more firmly this time. "I know you, Brittany. We've known each other for a couple months now, and I know you're perfectly sane."

"Then...you just wouldn't believe me." I said, sighing.

"Of course I would! I trust you. We're friends, aren't we?"

I stared at him, taking in the heartwarming smile on his face. He seriously trusted me that much? I was touched. I didn't know what I'd done to deserve such kindness from him.

"I...yeah. I mean, I trust you too, Lloyd. But..."

Lloyd waited, watching me quietly.

"...not now, okay? I need some time to think this through. But I'll tell you later on, after..." I thought for a minute. "After Colette regenerates the world."

He considered this for a moment. "...You promise?"

I nodded. "Yeah. If I don't tell you, I give you permission to pester me about it until I really do go insane."

"I'll hold you to that." He said, grinning.

"One thing, though...could you not tell the others?"

"Don't worry, I won't say anything."

I smiled, relieved. "Thanks."

I hadn't really told him yet, but at least he knew something was up. At least I wasn't lying to him.

"So..." His face grew solemn. "What's going on with you and the Desians? Kvar had all that information on you..."

I sighed hopelessly. "I have no clue. I really thought it was a case of mistaken identity. I know for a fact that I've never even had contact with the Desians before then, and I've never met that Yggdrasill guy." Oh, it felt so nice to confide in someone.

"We'll figure it out." Lloyd said confidently. "And in the meantime, I'll make sure they don't get their hands on you again. I already owe you enough for what you did back at the House of Salvation."

I felt my face turn red. "All I did was throw a rock and run away."

He rolled his eyes, returning the fake punch I'd given him earlier. "Shut up. You know it wasn't like that." Now he examined my face a little more, eyebrows raised. "Hey, why's your face all red?"

Great, by saying that he only made it worse. "Um." I looked away, but he only leaned over. Then he seemed to catch on, and he slowly grinned.

"Aw, are you embarrassed?"

"S-shut up!"

"You are, aren't you!"

And that was how the night went, Lloyd teasing me all he way back to the campsite. I ended up jumping into bed as soon as we got back, not wanting anyone to see how red my face was, but I heard Lloyd snickering from his place across the campfire. I threw my shoe at him.

----

**A/N: Haha, I hate it when people point out that I'm blushing. **

**Whew, that was a long one! It's nice having a bunch of this already written. :D I try to stay ahead so I can post steadily. Anyway, time for more of my random comments...**

**Has anyone else had to dissect a grasshopper before? It sucks. And my teacher took it upon herself to reference different parts to food, so I was unable to eat rice pilaf for many weeks afterward...and I _still _can't eat pulled pork. XD**

**Oh, by the way. I'm actually 16, but for some reason I always set self-inserts in the future. I have no clue why, it's just a weird habit of mine. I'm hoping to have a car and apartment by the time I'm 18, but I think we all know how likely that is. XD As for the bit on Dunkin' Donuts-- My grandfather is a franchisee, he owns a couple stores. So yeah, I work there from time to time, and probably will be working there again. I'm talking too much...**

**I don't know if the whole rib-rebreaking-thing made sense at all. O.o It must suck if they heal weird in real life, since you can't really put a cast on your ribs, can you? Anyway, I just decided to let Kratty be abusive and such...XD Humor me, please? Or you could correct me if I'm mistaken, I have no clue.**

**I tried not to recycle too much game dialogue. It's boring to just copy from the game script, and probably boring to read, so I try to space it out or have Brittany say something....bleh. This author note is too long.**

**Next time: Onward to Hima! Adventures with the abusive mercenary! ...yay?**


	11. Fun With Kratos

**A/N: Update time, yay! I figured I'd post a new chapter before I tackled the piles of homework waiting for me. :D**

**Notice the chapter title? Get your head out of the gutter! XD Needless to say, the scenes with Kratos in this one were rather fun to write.**

**Rattler20200: Actually, Brittany's sword is a LOT smaller. It's still heavy, but not that big; she could never hope to even lift one of Nightmare's swords. XD Those things are like, bigger than she is. Anyway, hers is more in proportion to her body...I'm not totally sure if she'll keep the same sword or not, but I think I might stick with it. :3**

**Thanks for all the reviews, everyone. :D Chapter time!**

**Disclaimer: Don't own ToS; never have, never will.**

**----**

The next morning, after we'd all had breakfast, Kratos turned to Lloyd.

"Well, what now?" He asked expectantly.

Lloyd knew he was referring to the Exspheres. "There is one thing I've realized," he said, "I'm certain that my mother must've wanted to live longer than she did. Therefore, I'm going to live...for myself, and for my mom, too."

"In other words, you're going to fight," said Kratos.

Lloyd nodded. "Yeah. And I'm going to break this cycle. For the sake of preventing any more victims like Marble and my mom, I'm going to help Colette on her journey to regenerate the world."

I smiled at him; he was such an admirable guy. My smile fell, though, when I remembered that the end of the path we were on right now was not as bright as it seemed.

"...Yeah. Me too." Genis agreed, "I'm going to fight on Marble's behalf as well."

"Yes," I said. "I'll fight too. To prove that their deaths..." I placed a hand over my Exsphere, "...were not meaningless."

"Me too." Colette added, "I'm going to regenerate the world as quickly as I can."

"I think you've made a wise decision, Lloyd," Raine remarked. "People are sinful beings. That's why we must continue to bear the burden of our sins for as long as we continue to live."

"Life survives at the cost of another?" Sheena asked, troubled. "...I don't really know how to say this, but I don't think there's a way to justify the lives sacrificed to make Exspheres. They have to be stopped at all cost!"

----

Soon after, we began to get into a discussion of our next move.

"What are we going to do now?" Lloyd asked.

"Kvar will undoubtedly increase the security now. We won't be able to get in easily." Kratos replied, frowning.

"Wasn't there someone else who escaped from the ranch?" Raine questioned me.

"Hmm? Yeah, Pietro." I answered her. Then I frowned, pretending to be deep in thought.

"He should still be in Hima, shouldn't he?" Sheena spoke up, turning to me. "Wait, didn't you guys use a secret entrance to get out?"

Kratos turned to me, and his glare was more than a little frightening. "A secret entrance? And why didn't you mention this before?"

I blinked, reflexively backing a step away from him. "B-because you need a special item to access it. I didn't think Pietro would still have it, you know...we kinda forgot about it once we were out..." Jeez, Kratos was friggin' scary.

"What is the item you need?" Raine asked, and I was grateful to turn to her instead of the mercenary who probably wanted to kill me.

"It's...remember the thing I stole from that Desian at the House of Salvation near Asgard?"

"The weird jewel he was wearing?" Lloyd offered, frowning.

I nodded. "Yeah, that. Well, anyway, that's what we need. The Desian got it back from me when I went to the ranch, but then he went and lost it again because he's obviously a dumbass." Kratos raised an eyebrow at my choice of words, and I continued. "Pietro found it lying on the floor and hid it. I'd overheard some Desians talking about how it was used, so I told Pietro and we escaped."

"So, you don't know if he still has it?" Sheena asked, and I shook my head.

"He might not. But I guess it is our best bet at this point...we'd might as well go ask him about it." I replied.

"Yeah, let's go to Hima." Lloyd said, and the others agreed.

Sadly, as with pretty much every time we decided to travel together, it took much longer than I hoped. I couldn't cross all of Sylvarant in ten seconds like I so often did in the game. We were not blown up chibi figures, and the monsters didn't show up as black blobs scurrying towards us. Traveling to Hima would take at least a week from where we were now. I held back a groan; I was really, really getting tired of walking. There was only so much to talk about with the others until there were no more conversations to be had. It didn't help when one of the group members was naturally untalkative; Kratos was as stoic as ever.

As everyone had more time to think, though, I realized that they must've been mulling over the events at the Asgard ranch. Eventually Raine asked me about the exchange I'd had with Kvar.

"He seemed to know more about you than you know about yourself. Did any of the things he said bring back a memory or two?" Ah, Raine had been standing somewhat behind me. She wouldn't have seen my expression.

I shook my head slowly, quickly glancing at Lloyd. "No. I still can't remember anything..."

Lloyd nodded a little, letting me know that he planned to keep to his word.

Raine hadn't been able to see my face, but unfortunately Kratos had. He'd been standing right beside me. "Your expression said otherwise."

"Yeah, you looked pretty shocked." Genis said, troubled.

"Well, like the Professor said, he knew more about me than I did." I said, "I was pretty surprised, yeah."

"Put yourself in her shoes," Lloyd said, backing me up. "What would you think if some random guy you hate started spewing all this stuff about you that you couldn't even remember?" I shot him an extremely grateful look.

"I'd feel kind of scared. Okay, that does explain it." Genis's troubled expression vanished. Raine still seemed a little doubtful, but she was apparently going to let it slide.

Kratos looked unconvinced. He didn't say anything, though, so I was supposedly off the hook for now. But he looked a little disturbed, which left me rather uneasy. I could understand him being suspicious of my behavior, but disturbed? That was a new one.

We stopped for the day to eat lunch; I was voted to be the chef this time, since I always missed my turns at cooking. My excuses that I wasn't all that great at it never worked, for Genis would only tell me that I couldn't be worse than Raine. So, I thought quietly to myself as I whipped up some okay looking sandwiches. I couldn't mess up at a sandwich, right?

The others were distracted with their own tasks as I cooked; most of them were gone from the clearing we'd chosen to stay in. Lloyd sat a bit of a distance away, boredly carving something. Kratos sat nearby on a tree root; he was cleaning his sword. I had gotten relatively used to the mercenary, and often contented myself with interviewing him while he gave me one word answers. While he wasn't looking, I enjoyed admiring his incredible hotness. Today was different, though. He still seemed to be bothered by something, and that continued to bother me. Not only that, I saw him occasionally stop what he was doing from the corner of my eye; he was stopping to stare at me. Kratos has the most intense stare of anyone I've ever encountered in my life. I could practically feel it burning holes in my back every time I turned around. Well, maybe that was an exaggeration, but it certainly was uncomfortable. I suddenly had a lot of sympathy for Lloyd and promised myself that I wouldn't giggle at him anymore.

It was only a matter of time before his stares became too much for me. I turned my head to look at him, trying to catch him in the act, but he was good at looking away before I could really tell.

"Hey, Kratos." I couldn't handle the silence anymore. This was way too awkward.

"Mm."

"Try a sandwich," I said, holding a finished one up. "Someone's gotta test it to make sure it's safe."

He didn't even roll his eyes at my comment, cluing me in to his serious mood. All right, so he didn't want to hear my jokes, but I was determined to distract both of us.

"Later," he said. "I'm busy."

I shrugged. "Fine, be that way. Raine can always whip something up..."

"Your cooking is questionable," he said, "but I would be concerned if you couldn't even put together a sandwich."

I pouted. "Gee, thanks." I resumed my task, thinking of what else to say. "...I wish I could meet the Wonder Chef."

Kratos raised an eyebrow from where he sat. "What?"

"You know, the Wonder Chef." I grinned, "He's like the superhero of cooking."

"The Wonder Chef is a myth. All egotistical chefs claim that identity, while in reality no such man exists."

My grin grew; he was actually engaging in conversation? And of all the topics... "I believe in him. You know what? When I find him, I'll introduce you."

"No."

"You're no fun at all. I hear he's got a giant fork and everything!"

Kratos didn't reply, and I sighed. Well, it was amusing while it lasted. After a moment or two, I opened my mouth to speak again. The mercenary cut me off.

"I'm not in the mood, Brittany."

I frowned. "Don't get your panties all in a bunch." I instantly regretted this comment, as his glare intensified tenfold. I also realized that he'd stopped cleaning his sword and was now grasping it as if he were about to use it.

"E-er...you know I was kidding, right? Kratos!"

Several large bruises later, the mercenary was back to cleaning his blade and I was laying on my side with one of the sandwiches shoved roughly into my mouth. I spat it out, gagging.

"Y-you bastard..."

Well, at least he wasn't staring at me anymore.

----

My food apparently didn't poison any of my friends, so we left once again within that hour. Raine kept frowning and looking at me, as well as Lloyd. Finally, the brunette decided to speak up.

"Hey, where did those bruises come from? We didn't even train this morning."

I opened my mouth to answer while indirectly insulting the mercenary, but was stopped when I saw the auburn haired man glance over his shoulder at me. I shuddered. "Um...I fell?"

Lloyd gave me a skeptical look. "How many times did you fall?"

I shrugged. "A lot."

Raine nearly rolled her eyes. "Here, I'll heal you."

"No." Kratos suddenly spoke.

"I see no reason why I shouldn't." the Professor said, raising an eyebrow at him. I inched my way behind her, trying to avoid Kratos's glare.

"She could use some discipline."

"But..." she began to reply, but I cut her off.

"It's fine, Professor." I slapped on a fake grin. "I'm okay, anyway." And if she healed me, Kratos would just beat me up again. He was such a bully...

"Yeah, sure." Lloyd looked from me to Kratos, frowning. Finally, he shrugged, and apparently decided to drop it. I quietly thanked his short attention span, as Kratos walked on ahead in an irritated silence.

----

After many nights of walking, I finally spotted Hima in the distance. It was similar to what I remembered from the game; the small town was built upon a cliff face, and we would have to walk up a steep pathway to reach it. To my dismay, I noticed that this path was much longer than I'd anticipated.

Genis frowned, seemingly sharing my thought. "Um...Sheena? Is this really the right way?"

"Huh? Sure it is. Why do you ask?"

"It seems kind of...long." Lloyd said, eyeing the winding path.

"And rocky. And steep. And horrible in general." I added to his statement, kicking a stone. I hid behind Lloyd when it accidentally hit Kratos in the leg.

"Quit whining," Sheena said, rolling her eyes. "It's not that bad."

Kratos, meanwhile, was looking for the stone kicker. His eyes immediately rested upon Lloyd. The teenager was oblivious, though, as something else caught his attention. He looked over his shoulder at me, curious.

"Brittany? What are you doing?"

I stiffened at being caught. "U-uh, nothing! It's just...hey Lloyd, your coat's really cool."

He grinned, instantly distracted. "It is, isn't it? My dad made it!"

Some of the others gave me odd looks, but a certain abusive mercenary wasn't fooled. His glare was now directed my way. I offered him a nervous smile; his eyes only narrowed. Crap, and I'd just gotten back on good terms with him too...

Kratos slowed down, approaching me. My eyes widened, and I quickly dodged out of his way. Searching for a means of escape, I swiftly tapped Lloyd on the shoulder.

"Tag, you're it!" I called, running past him.

Lloyd blinked, surprised, and then seemed to catch on. "Hey, get back here!" He laughed, chasing after me.

I looked back as I ran; Kratos facepalmed.

----

We were within sight of Hima by the time the sun began to set. The rock upon which we walked gained an almost fiery quality as it was hit by the rays of the sun. Lloyd and I had ended up walking together after our game of tag, ahead of all the others. The spreading darkness had gradually made our shadows much taller than us; we occupied ourselves by making shadow puppets. As we wrestled each other to avoid being given bunny ears, I could've sworn I heard Kratos sigh from behind us.

"Whoa, look..." Lloyd pointed to the rock wall beside us, pausing.

I turned, and was shocked to see parts of the stone sparkling in the now-dimming sunlight. Upon closer inspection, I was able to see that certain shards of the rock reflected light, in a manner similar to that of a mirror. The effect was incredible; ahead of us, the path was sprinkled with what looked like tiny diamonds.

It wasn't long before we heard Raine's cry of delight. "Look at this!" I looked over my shoulder to see her run up to the rock wall. "This ore is exclusive to Hima; it can't be found anywhere else in Sylvarant! Simply marvelous!"

"There she goes again." I sighed, but a smile was on my lips. I was just as fascinated as Raine was; I'd never seen anything like this back on Earth. Maine wasn't exactly full of natural wonders, unless you took a drive up north into the untamed wilderness that was the top portion of the state. The White Mountains in New Hampshire were another option, but that was also another few hours of driving. My opportunites to marvel at things like this were few and far between.

The Professor continued to ramble on the science of how the rock reacted to the sunlight, but Lloyd and I were mostly spared because we were ahead. As we walked, Lloyd appeared deep in thought, which was another rare sight. He looked over his shoulder, then frowned a little.

"Hey, I'm gonna go walk with Colette, okay?" He finally said, a pensive expression on his face.

I shrugged. "Sure, knock yourself out." Lloyd nodded and left my side.

He'd been wondering if he'd still be able to share these sights with her when she became an angel...shaking my head, I sighed dejectedly. As beautiful as this world was, it was no less cruel than Earth. Colette could see all of this, but she was unable to feel the warmth of the setting sun, or the gentle breeze that teased her hair.

Part of me wanted to hug her, to tell her that everything would be all right, but I knew that she wouldn't be able to feel that, either...

----

We continued onward, and now I remained ahead of the others; I took the opportunity to think. Well, I guess it was more like brooding, but I couldn't really help it. I'd always had mixed feelings about the town we were going to-- in the game, its music had been relatively cheerful, despite the fact that it was the second to last stop on the Chosen's journey. Right now, it felt as if we were all marching to our own deaths. How could I know for sure that the Renegades would really save us at the Tower of Salvation? Would we even last till then, or would Kvar kill us?

I heard Lloyd's cheer, and realized I'd set foot in Hima. Stopping, I looked around in surprise. The town really was as small as the game depicted it to be. There was the inn and the shop stall next to it, and a few small houses, but only that.

"Finally! That took forever!" Lloyd ran up, looking around eagerly. His excitement died down even faster than usual. "Aw, this is it?"

"What were you expecting? Hima was visible before we started up the path." Kratos approached now.

"Ah, I dunno...I thought maybe there was more..."

"I like it. I think it's nice." Colette, ever the optimistic one, smiled.

"What do you think, Brittany?" Lloyd asked me, for the sake of making conversation.

I looked around, pretending to be deep in thought. "Well..."

"Yeah?"

"I think I'm hungry!" I declared, grinning. Lloyd gave me a weird look, and if it were possible, I bet he would've sweatdropped.

"Now is not the time." Kratos said, exasperated.

"It's okay, Kratos, I'm kind of hungry too." Colette said, keeping a cheerful smile plastered on her face. She was only saying it for my benefit...

The three of us looked at her, suddenly quiet. It occurred to me that we all knew Colette could no longer eat. The silence was suffocating, and I quickly grew depressed with our circumstances. Before Colette wondered why it was suddenly tense, I spoke up.

"W-wait, I guess Pietro should come first. I'm excited to see him and all." I turned my face away from them, towards the houses, so they couldn't see how incredibly fake my expression was.

"...oh, okay." Colette agreed with me, and Lloyd sighed. Kratos stared at me again.

Before I had a chance to get fidgety under another one of the mercenary's looks, the rest of the group caught up to us. Genis and Sheena looked annoyed; apparently Raine had held them back on another one of her rants. Maybe the cliff rock shined in the moonlight, too.

"Do either of you have any idea where this Pietro fellow might be staying?" Raine asked Sheena and I, having gotten over her earlier craziness.

"He should be staying with his friend Sophia, at the inn." Sheena answered, nodding her head in the direction of the building.

"All right, let's go." Lloyd said, taking the lead. We followed him to the inn, and I prepared myself for some more game dialogue. It often bored me when I had to listen to conversations I'd already heard, not to mention it was extremely weird being able to predict every single word coming out of their mouths. It was also annoying having to feign surprise and other emotions, since I was a really bad actor. I usually tried to add to the conversations so they might be more interesting, but I could never seem to find a decent place to interject. Ah, well, I'd keep trying.

The inn was more like a small lodge, though it did have more rooms than in the game. Then again, that was true of all the inns here...seriously, who built an inn with only two rooms? ...Wait, why was I dwelling on this? A lot of things in Symphonia didn't make sense: the Wonder Chef, Kratos's hair, why Lloyd wore his swords in the hot springs...ooh, I couldn't wait to meet the potion eating gnomelettes.

"That grin is really starting to creep me out." Lloyd was looking at me, seemingly trying to hide a grin himself. "What're you thinking about?"

"Spicy," I replied automatically.

Everyone gave me an odd look.

"...Spicy?" Lloyd asked, confused.

I laughed, patting him on the shoulder. "Trust me, Lloydie, you don't want to know." I had to stop myself from calling him 'loser,' knowing there was still a small chance he'd remember this later on.

He shoved me lightly. "Don't call me that, Brit...aww." Lloyd pouted, unable find a way to poke fun at my name. My grin only grew; I wasn't about to tell him what my friends sometimes called me back home, Brit's Knee. Hopefully he wouldn't figure that out on his own.

We all grew silent when we saw the expression on Sheena's face as she walked back down the stairs. She'd gone up to the room the innkeeper said Sophia was staying in, hoping to find Pietro. I was able to avoid that particular conversation, at least. Still, I was going to have to do some acting now.

"Sheena, what's wrong?" Lloyd asked, frowning with concern.

She shook her head. "Sophia...she said..." The ninja looked up at me, her eyes apologetic, and I adjusted my expression accordingly. "She said that Pietro has passed away."

Everyone else's eyes widened in shock.

"He's...dead?" I looked down, fists clenched, trying to summon up some grief. I thought of Elena, and suddenly it wasn't really acting anymore. "But he...he was fine when he left..."

"He came down with an illness shortly after he got here. It must have been from the Exsphere..." Sheena shook her head sadly.

"Were you able to find out anything else?" Raine asked, solemn.

"He didn't say anything about the ranch to Sophia, and she doesn't know anything about the Desian Orb. She did tell me his grave was at the back of the Adventurers' Graveyard, though."

I turned to the door. "I'm going to go pay him a visit, then." My voice shook. Damn, my acting plan had really backfired. I didn't want to cry again.

"Wait," Sheena said, "I'm coming too."

"Don't forget about us." Lloyd stepped forward, placing a hand on my shoulder.

I sniffled. "Thanks, everyone." Great, now I really wanted to cry because they were being so comforting when I didn't deserve it...

We exited the inn, heading up a small inclined path to where the Adventurers' Graveyard stood. I looked around, mildly curious; it was a normal sized cemetery, and rather well kept. Flowers lined the graves, often placed next to small mementos. I found myself wondering just who was buried here; back home when I visited graveyards, I had always occupied myself with reading the headstones. They usually bore the year the person died, as well as small tidbits of information about them, so I could guess at what the person might've been like. But this cemetery seemed...bare. The headstones here bore only the names of the deceased, nothing more. It was sort of creepy...even the headstones in Pet Sematary had more information on them. Here lies Smucky the cat, he was obediant...

...Okay, there went that train of thought. I shook my head; I really needed to focus. If I kept rambling in my head like this, I was going to miss something important.

"There it is," Sheena said quietly. There was a patch of dirt behind the rest of the graves that looked like it had been recently dug up. A small marker was set there, bearing Pietro's name. I felt like it hardly did him justice.

Hold on, what was I thinking? Pietro was alive. I was getting all worked up over nothing. It was this cemetery, that had to be it. But...what if he'd really died? What if...

Raine was frowning, and I remembered that at this point in the game she'd remark that digging up the grave was probably out of the question. She seemed to bite her tongue, though, and I was grateful.

"We should pray," Colette suggested, and I nodded in agreement. Everyone bowed their heads, silent, save for Kratos; he was standing at the back of the group like a statue as he usually did.

I contemplated the grave before me. It certainly looked big enough to hold a body...had he died? Had we taken too long to get here? Just as doubt began to cloud my mind and I felt real tears forming, the sound of uneven footsteps reached my ears.

"Hmm?" I saw Colette look up curiously, from the corner of my eye. I looked up as well, turning around; Pietro was stumbling up to us. A wave of relief rushed over me.

His lips moved, barely managing to form words. "Chosen...mana...d...die."

I blinked. How did he know about that, anyway? When he was cured in the game, he never said anything about what would happen to Colette at the end of her journey. Did the illness cause him to forget? But where could he have learned about the true nature of the World Regeneration? How confusing...ah, it was acting time.

"W...what's he saying?" Genis took a step back, looking a little afraid.

I pretended to be shocked. "Pietro, you're all right! I thought you were dead..."

A young woman came running up, stopping when she found Pietro. "Here you are."

He continued to babble. "Chosen...die...angel...die...human...ranch...underground..."

Sophia put a hand on his shoulder, her voice gentle. "You mustn't come out here. Let's go." She began to guide him back to the inn, but Raine stepped forward.

"You lied to us," she said, her voice accusing. "He's the one that escaped from the ranch!"

Lloyd's eyes widened. "Really?!" He turned to Sheena and I for confirmation, and we nodded.

"Pietro, please." I stepped forth now. "We need the Desian Orb to infiltrate the ranch. Where is it?"

"Boulder...big...underground...jewel...boulder...move...Chosen..."

I nodded. "Yeah, the escape route we used. We need the jewel."

Sophia stepped in front of him, shielding him from view. "Please, let him be!"

"Now listen," Sheena said, getting angry, "You may be happy just protecting him, but if we don't get his help, countless people from Luin are going to die!"

"And countless more have already perished..." I said quietly, regret lacing my voice. It was my fault as well. I looked up. "You have to help us."

"I'm sure Pietro has many things he wants to say as well, but because of the curse, he's been turned into this..." Sophia looked at him, and now I really noticed what the illness had done to Pietro. After escaping from the ranch, he'd started to look a little livelier, more healthy. But now...he looked like he'd never escaped at all. He was dangerously thin, his eyes hollow and almost completely blank. Looking at him made me feel squeamish; would that have happened to me?

"But he's still alive." Lloyd's voice broke through my thoughts. "The dead can't even tell us they were scared. Please. Help us."

"We want to go to the ranch," Colette said. "But we need the jewel he took to do it. Please."

Sophia sighed. "...I'm willing to help you. But in exchange, lift his curse. The healing technique left behind by Boltzman is in the Tower of Mana. That may be able to cure his curse."

"All right. But infiltrating the ranch comes first. That I won't relinquish," Raine said.

"...His things are in the grave. Take them with you; I'm sure the item you seek is amongst them."

"Thank you. We'll come back once we've acquired the healing technique." Colette smiled.

"Come...let's go." Sophia said, turning to Pietro. The two descended down the path, back in the direction of the inn.

I had to hold back a sigh of relief as I watched them leave. Everything had turned out the way it was supposed to. Pietro was alive, we could infiltrate the ranch now, and we were going to cure him later.

"This is it, right?" Suddenly a gem was shoved in my face; I jumped backwards, and fell on my ass.

"Don't do that!" I snapped at Lloyd, but he only laughed.

"You're always zoning out. It's your own fault."

"Whatever, Lloydie. Yeah, that's the one." Getting to my feet, I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Good. Shall we move out tomorrow?" Kratos finally spoke. I groaned loudly, and he glared at me. "What is it now?"

"Can't we take a day off? Walking is so boring, and I'm tired." I realized how whiny I sounded, but I really hated traveling everywhere on foot.

I saw Genis roll his eyes. "You're hanging around Lloyd too much. You sound just like him."

"Shut it, Genis!" Lloyd said; it was his automatic response to most of the boy's remarks.

"Tomorrow, then." Kratos confirmed, in response to my complaint. I was almost surprised that he didn't threaten to leave me behind, but then I realized that they would probably need my help again. Ha, did that mean I could complain as much as I wanted? ...No, the mercenary could still beat the shit out of me. Damn.

----

The inn had more than two rooms, but apparently there still weren't enough. We ended up sharing; I stayed with Sheena. Raine and Colette had a room together, and Lloyd roomed with Genis and Kratos. The beds were more like cots, but it was cozy enough.

I flopped on to my bed as soon as I walked in our room, staring at the ceiling. It had been a long day, but I wasn't really sleepy. My mind was too preoccupied with what was to come. I heard the sound of Sheena copying my movement, and when I looked over, her eyes were still open as well. It looked like neither of us were going to sleep much tonight.

"Hey, Brittany?"

"Hm?" Sheena had turned over to face me, her eyes troubled.

"How many seals do you think are left? You think Colette's almost done with the journey?"

Oh, this explained her behavior. She was still arguing with herself-- she didn't know which side to take. I frowned, considering my answer. "...Well, I'm not really sure. But we've come a long way, so..."

She turned over again, sighing. "Yeah. It sure feels like the end of the road is near."

"When you put it that way, it sounds like a bad thing." I observed, not really wanting to press her, but wanting some form of a conversation.

Sheena suddenly looked uncomfortable. "No, it's not like that. I mean...well, I really don't know what I mean."

I averted my gaze, staring at the ceiling once more. "I get it. I'm scared, too." Hell, I've been scared from the beginning.

"Glad I'm not the only one." She smiled, without much humor.

We were quiet for a minute or so after that. Not wanting to brood, I occupied myself with finding pictures in the grain of the wooden walls. Before long, though, the silence was broken by my stomach's audible protests. I hadn't been lying when I'd said I was hungry earlier.

Sheena laughed quietly. "Wanna get something to eat? I don't think I'll be able to sleep much anyway."

I beamed, sitting up. "Yep, food sounds pretty much awesome right now. Let's go."

The two of us got up and left our room as quietly as we could, not wanting to disturb the others. We made our way through the darkness until we encountered the inn's small kitchen. My stomach growled again as I helped Sheena get some ingredients out; I glared at it. The ninja continually sent me amused looks.

"Maybe you should leave the cooking to me. I don't want you passing out." She grinned.

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, yeah." Then, slowly, a smile crept on to my face. "Your loss. After all, we both know how great I am at cooking."

"Second only to Raine." Sheena said, laughing.

As we spoke, she finished beating some eggs; now she was adding oil to a frying pan, heating it over one of Sylvarant's old fashioned stoves. I watched her, frowning slightly; it was still so hard to get used to this world's primitive facilities. I liked to think I was relatively familiar with them now, but every now and then I would longingly think of the advanced technology back home. The stove in my apartment had been one of those nifty flat tops; it had a little panel on it that warned you which burners were still hot. I had failed many dishes on that thing...ah, such fond memories.

I shook my head to clear it, and returned my attention to what Sheena was doing. She had cooked the eggs in the pan, and removed them. Sheena cleaned out the pan, adding more oil, and then she put in some rice. Finally, it clicked.

"You're making fried rice!" I declared enthusiastically, and she turned her head to look at me.

"You didn't realize that from the ingredients we got out?"

"Um...like I said, I'm a great cook." I offered a sheepish grin.

"Come on, you've never tried to make this before? It's the simplest thing in the world." Sheena gave me an interested look.

I shrugged. "Maybe you can teach me sometime." She had mixed the rice, eggs and a few other ingredients in the pan, and now she was emptying all of it into two bowls. "Hey, are you done? Marvelous!" I did my best Raine impression as I skipped over to her.

For the record, Sheena makes delicious fried rice. Maybe it has something to do with her Asian-ness? I mean, Mizuho-ness. Gah, same difference. Why is it that every video game has at least one place that looks exactly like Japan? Final Fantasy VII had Wutai. There were others, but I couldn't remember them at the moment...probably because I hadn't played video games in many months. All I really remembered in detail were my absolute favorites...and Symphonia, of course. How could I forget a storyline I was currently stuck in?

We sat at the small table in the kitchen, Sheena quietly picking at her rice as I shamelessly wolfed mine down. Who said I was ladylike? Well, I had manners, just not when I was starving. It doesn't help when I suck at eating. Yes, I did just say that. It should be a simple procedure, fork to food, food to mouth. Unfortunately, my food likes to jump off the fork on the way to my mouth, and land on my clothes. Or down my shirt, but we won't go there. Whenever I went out to eat with my dad, he'd always stop and watch me eat, laughing at my stupidity. Uh oh, here comes the homesickness. I quickly derailed that train of thought.

"So..." Sheena spoke, and I looked up from my food. "Tomorrow we're going back to the ranch. How're you feeling?"

I snorted. "Fucking terrified."

She raised an eyebrow. "You wanna do something about the vulgar language?"

"Sorry." I replied, shrugging. It's hard to stop saying swears once you add them to your vocabulary. Hey, isn't she supposed to say something along those lines to Zelos later on in the game? Right, it's after he calls Kratos an arrogant SOB in Sybak. Hmm, maybe I'd get along with the pervert after all. I really had no idea.

"Anyway, we've still got a lot of traveling to do before we'll even get there, so there's no point in getting worked up," I said quietly.

"So you're really going back again?"

I frowned. "Well, yeah. It's not like I have a choice...I mean, have you seen the looks Kratos has been giving me? He's going to kill me in my sleep one of these days, I swear."

"Hmph. And you have done nothing to deserve that fate, I'm sure." An annoyed, sarcastic voice interrupted us, and I began to choke on my rice.

Sheena's eyes widened as The Purple Terror strolled into the room, seating himself at the table. Dammit, I had a feeling Kratos really did eavesdrop on everyone.

I finally managed to gulp down my food. "Uh...hey, Kratos."

He glared at me for the millionth time today. Or was it past midnight already?

Panicking at his lack of a response, I quickly tried to defend my actions from earlier. "Lloyd kicked that rock, I saw him! I mean, I was going to tackle him for you, but he saw me sneaking up on him." Yeah, that sounded believeable. I was too tired and focused on food to even try.

Kratos ran a hand through his long bangs, ignoring me as I leaned over to catch a glimpse of the elusive other half of his face. "And your attempt failed, so you decided to tag him and run off?"

I nodded, totally bullshitting it now. "Yeah, I was trying to get him alone so I could tackle him then, y'know? But then I got distracted 'cause the rocks were pretty."

Even Sheena was facepalming now. Kratos wasn't smiling at my jokes, he merely looked aggravated. Then again, he never smiled at my jokes. Hell, the only reason I joked around him was so I could lighten my own mood. Right now, I was kind of worried I was going to get beat up again.

He sighed. "It seems you lie about as well as you fight."

I blinked. "That's either a really nice compliment, or a really harsh insult."

"It wasn't a compliment."

"Yeah, well I kicked that rock."

"I know."

Sheena watched our exchange tensely, looking curious but a little afraid, possibly for my safety.

"What, not going to beat me up?" Crap, why the hell was I provoking him?

"I've been resisting the urge. You're making it difficult." His glare was suddenly even scarier. Okay, time to back off. I didn't want him to hate me, that really wouldn't be good for my health.

"It was actually an accident." I held my hands up defensively. "You don't really think I'm that stupid, do you? I mean, sometimes I say dumb things, but I wouldn't actually kick rocks at you--"

"Go to bed, Brittany." He stood up, choosing now to ignore me. "And you as well, Ms. Fujibayashi."

Sheena mumbled an apology, going to wait for me by the doorway. She didn't really know Kratos too well yet, but she was apparently smart enough to know that his word was law.

I, on the other hand, wasn't finished with my rice. I voiced this fact to him, in the form of a whiny protest. In reply, he snatched away my bowl.

"You'll live. Now get some sleep."

"You just wanted to steal my food. That's why you came in here. You abuse your authority, Aurion." I grumbled. My lack of sleep was really preventing me from thinking before I spoke. Sheena had already fled to the safety of our room.

Kratos narrowed his eyes. "If you are not in bed within the next ten seconds, I will personally see to it that you room with me for the duration of this journey."

My mouth opened in a gape. Room with Kratos? The rest of the journey? Holy crap, AWKWARD. And scary, and potentially painful. And sort of perverted sounding, if you really think about it. I quickly backed out of the room, making my escape before I accused Kratos of being a pedophile. I had a feeling that comment wouldn't have gone over well.

----

**A/N: Lmao, so I guess _technically_ Kratty wouldn't be a pedophile since she's 18, but that's beside the point. XD **

**Hmm, what else to say...nope, I got nothin'. Hey, I'm not rambling for once! 8D**

**uhh...first reviewer gets Kratos's cape! -waves it in the air-**

**Next time: Freaky dreams and...a giant fork? **


	12. Nightmares and Wondrous Omelettes!

**A/N: Well, here's the newest chapter. Not an extremely eventful one, just some random stuff, and our beloved Wonder Chef makes an appearance. XD**

**Weird dream in the beginning, as well as Silent Hill 2 references. I was in a strange mood...it's still understandable if you're not a SH fan, anyway. -sweatdrop-**

**Hmm....yeah, not much else to say. Oh! Kratos's cape goes to...OFIS! hahahaha. Maybe the next reviewers get more of his clothes...let's try to strip him naked! Poor Kratty.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia, fortunately for Kratos.**

----

I yawned, stretching in my chair. Light filtered in through the thin blue curtain over the window, giving the room a blue tint. Hey, I was in my old room! I looked around, observing my various dragon-related decorations. Was I dreaming again? I had moved out of here a while ago. All of this stuff was in Maine; I didn't live in central New York anymore.

'She's not even paying attention to where she's going.' I heard a laugh, recognizing the voice of my friend, Alyssa. She was sitting on my bed, along with several other people. Huh, I hardly ever hung out with some of these guys...ah, well. I guess I could be popular in my dream.

'Where I'm going...?' I asked reflexively, and realized I was holding a controller. I was playing a video game, then? Agh, don't tell me I was playing Tales of Symphonia. That would just be cruel.

Hmm, nope. I was holding a PS2 controller, not a gamecube one. My thumb was pressing up on the control pad. I finally looked up, deciding to see what the hell I was doing.

Oh, hey, I was playing Silent Hill 2! Hadn't thought about that game in a while. Now this dream sort of made sense...I did have people over every now and then for a scare-fest. It was usually amusing enough. I got distracted, looking over at some of my friends. There was Callie, and...oh, Brittany was back in this dream, too. Hi, Brit!

A familiar gurgling noise reached my ears, and several of the others gave me looks. Brittany pointed at the TV screen. 'Uh...hello...'

I turned to look, and saw that the main character, James, was about to get his face eaten off by a monster. Ah, time to beat it with a steel pipe! I killed off the creature, grinning happily as some of my friends made faces. Not all of them had experienced the delightful world of Silent Hill.

And so, I sent James onward, through what looked to be the Labyrinth of watery sewage-like doom. The stupid grin was still on my face, and I vaguely remembered how scared I'd been when I first played this a few years ago. Now it was cake.

Now Callie shrunk back, growing tense. 'Brittanyyyy...'

Something had appeared in my line of sight, at the end of the corridor. Oh crap, it was Pyramid Head. The old fear returned; I never really had gotten over him. For you Silent Hill virgins, his name is pretty self-explanitory. And symbolic of something incredibly perverted.

"Shitshitshitshitshit..." I unleashed a string of swears as I turned James around; the poor guy actually looked scared. Hell, he had every right to be. Pyramid Head began to give chase, and he'd somehow acquired his Great Knife even though I was supposed to have stolen it earlier in the game; I ran for the hills before James could be murdered and/or ass raped. Why was I being chased? He never chased James in this place during my last few playthroughs...gah, I wasn't going to escape at this rate. I made him duck into a new corridor, and Pyramid Head's steps slowed, searching. Maybe I should just let Jamesy die, so I could reset the game and pick a better route. As I looked at the screen, James actually turned and glared at me. Shut up, James, you're not even real.

Immediately after I had that thought, the room went dark. Wait, no...it wasn't even my room anymore. I was ankle deep in water. Eh? Why was I holding a pipe?

'Not real, huh?' James's voice echoed in the corridor, though he was nowhere to be seen. 'If I'm not, neither are you. I don't think he cares either way.'

'Uh...who?' I looked around frantically, eyes wide with disbelief. The only thing illuminating the passage was a flashlight clipped to my coat. I heard the sound of footsteps, sloshing through the dirty water, coming from around the corner. A loud screeching noise met my ears as well; metal on concrete.

Oh, fuck. The tip of a large, pyramid shaped helmet had appeared at the mouth of the passageway. _Fuuuuuck._ The figure continued to move, coming into full view. I froze up with terror as Pyramid Head turned to look at me. He considered me for a moment, dragging his massive knife with a gloved hand. He seemed to decide that although I wasn't James, I was good enough prey. He began to advance towards me.

I did what any sane person would do: I fucking ran. Unfortunately, since this was a dream, I couldn't seem to run fast enough. Even more unfortunate, even though this was a dream, I could feel everything perfectly well. So was it really a dream? I could hear the bastard chasing me, feel the resistance of the water at my feet as I ran, and see...

Well, I could see that this passage was a dead end. Literally.

I stopped at the wall before me, shocked. Oh dear God, this couldn't be happening--

Seconds after I realized what was about to happen, I was suddenly slammed into the wall, my stomach somehow pinned against it. I looked down; something was protruding from my middle. Something metal...oh...I had been impaled.

The huge knife was pulled out of me and I fell to the ground; the water was gone. The floor suddenly felt like steel...it was wet with my own blood. I felt woozy and faint.

Laughter reached my ears. I was in the Desian Ranch now. Kvar stood over me, chuckling; I was unable to move due to my fatal wound. He leaned over and ripped my Exsphere and Key Crest off, causing even more pain to explode throughout my body. I tried to scream, but it came out as the anguished roar of a monster...

Yggdrasill was there too; he smirked, watching as Pyramid Head stabbed me again and again, then turned to where the corpses of Lloyd and the others already lay. Blood coated the walls of our slaughterhouse. Even Kratos lay dead beside his son, his Judgment outfit stained with crimson.

The color faded out of my vision...

...and I woke up, gasping.

My entire body was trembling violently; I looked around warily, alert and terrified even though soft morning light was filtering through the windows of the inn. It took me at least thirty seconds to realize I wasn't dead.

Holy mother of God, that had to be the worst nightmare I'd ever had in my life. I placed both hands on my stomach, trying to convince myself that the wound was gone. Sheena's bed was empty; at least I hadn't woken her up.

I heard pounding footsteps coming from the hallway, and I tensed, looking up. The door burst open and Lloyd came running in. He held a piece of toast, his hair messy; a concerned look was on his face.

"Brittany! Are you all right? What's wrong?" His eyes searched the room for a possible threat.

"Huh?" I stared at him, confused.

He blinked, calming down a little. "I heard a scream. That was you, wasn't it?"

"...Oh." I finally understood. "Sorry...I had a really bad dream."

Suddenly Kratos was in the room as well, sword drawn. "What happened?" His sharp gaze rested on me.

"Bad dream..." Lloyd repeated, sighing with relief. "Man, you had me scared for a minute there."

Kratos regained his composure, frowning. "I have heard that eating before bed increases the likelihood of having nightmares." Oh, great. Was he scolding me now?

"Yeah, well going to bed hungry isn't healthy either." I retorted, receiving a "hmph" in return. The mercenary sheathed his sword, and left the room. Jeez, only Kratos would be lugging that thing around this early in the morning.

Lloyd looked troubled. "You sure you're all right?"

I shrugged. "...I think so."

"What was the dream about?" Now he leaned against the wall opposite my bed, curious.

I stared hard at him for a moment, remembering the horrific details from the nightmare. Lloyd's mangled body had been sprawled next to his father, lifeless eyes staring into nothingness...I felt the sudden urge to cry. I just wanted to hug him right now, to make sure he was real.

"What?" Lloyd asked, disturbed. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

I shook my head. "It's nothing...I don't want to talk about it."

He frowned a little, puzzled. "...Okay. C'mon, maybe some breakfast will make you feel better."

I nodded, although the thought of food made me a little sick. "Yeah."

----

Upon entering the kitchen, I was grateful that I wasn't really hungry. As it turned out, Raine was cooking breakfast. I turned to Lloyd, eyeing his piece of toast suspiciously. He shrugged.

"I managed to get the first one she made, before she started adding in red satay..." He murmured to me, shuddering.

Spicy toast? Urgh... "Why couldn't you get Genis to cook?"

Lloyd sighed. "He's still sleeping! I would be too, if _he_ hadn't woken me up..." He glared accusingly at Kratos, who ignored him.

I frowned. That's right, we still had to train...plus Kratos was probably trying to break Lloyd's habit of sleeping in whenever possible. Heh.

Suddenly Lloyd gave me a look, and grinned. "Hey, why don't you take over? You still have a bunch of turns to cook before you're even with the rest of us."

"Uh--" I started to protest, but the brunette had already turned to Raine.

"Hey, Professor Sage! Brittany says she really wants to cook today. She's been begging me for the past ten minutes."

What the-- was he serious? I glared at him as the Professor turned around.

"But I'm having a breakthrough!" She said eagerly, "Different types of satay on toast-- think of the possibilities!"

Lloyd looked creeped out for a moment, but immediately adopted his shameless grin once again. "Please, Professor? It's her turn again, anyway. Besides, she might cry if she doesn't get to..."

I smacked my forehead, noticing that Kratos was watching the entire ordeal with an eyebrow raised.

Raine frowned, put out. "...Well, I suppose it's all right, if it's that important to you, Brittany."

I started to mention that it wasn't important at all, and I'd gladly let her blow up the kitchen, but Lloyd slapped a hand over my mouth just in time. As soon as Raine left the room to find something else to do, he burst out laughing.

"I'm gonna smack you into next week, Lloydie." I grumbled, but he ignored my threat and clapped my shoulder encouragingly.

"Make something good, okay?" With that, he left the room, still laughing.

"Crap." I sighed loudly, and turned to the only person left in the room; he promptly got up to leave as well.

"W-wait!" I protested, "Don't leave me here! You've gotta help me!"

Kratos paused briefly, looking over his shoulder. A small smirk played at his lips. "You'll do fine." And then he was gone; yet another person gained amusement at my expense...

Now I groaned, sitting at the table with my head in my hands. What the hell was I supposed to do now?

Breakfast. Breakfast foods...okay, I could do this. I had overcome weeks in the Asgard Ranch, I could make some goddamned breakfast. What to cook? Pancakes were out of the question; I'd always used the powdered mix back home, and that obviously didn't exist here. Waffles? No. There weren't frozen Eggos here either. Cereal or bagels? No way.

Damn, the only breakfast food I really knew how to cook was scrambled eggs...only scrambled. That was hardly a breakfast. And I'd probably find a way to burn them, knowing my luck.

Frowning, I got up and started looking through all the supplies and ingredients we had. Raine had ruined all the bread with her pathetic toast attempts, of course. Wow, our stuff was unorganized. This might take a minute.

As I stalled, my mind began to wander back to the dream I'd had. I wasn't so shook up about it anymore, but the whole thing just troubled me. I found myself wishing I had one of those dream books, where you could look up what each thing in your dream symbolized. Unfortunately, I didn't know anything about dreams and psychology, unless you could count a certain Dane Cook joke involving giant crabs and homosexuality. Moving on...

It had been the third of my dreams about home, and yet so different. Pretty cruel, too. I was stuck in a video game, and what did I have to dream about? Being at home playing a video game, of course. And then getting stuck in that particular game. My frown deepened. The dream must've been caused by my nervousness about going to the ranch. That had to be it. I didn't want to die by Kvar's hand, that was all.

But then, where had all that other crap come from? Maybe Pyramid Head was the physical embodiment of my fears, or something. I was terrified of him, anyway.

_Not real, huh? If I'm not, neither are you. I don't think he cares either way._

I froze, remembering James's words. Did that mean...Tales of Symphonia wasn't the only exception? Did all video games exist as real worlds out there somewhere? Not just games, but novels and movies and all that, too?

That was a frightening thought. If that was true, then...all those times I'd just given up and let a character die, was I allowing someone to suffer in some alternate reality? In that case, I'd caused a lot of pain to others. Shit, what about all the stories I'd written? All the characters I'd killed off...

Was Earth just one big story that someone out there wrote? Were all the wars we'd had just interesting plot twists? Was the universe just an intricate web of other peoples' imaginations?

I was getting a headache.

Shaking my head fiercely to clear it, I turned back to the supplies I'd gotten out. Pondering all the possible meanings of that dream wouldn't get me anywhere. I was probably just reading into it too much; the stress of this journey was just getting to me.

The array of ingredients I'd set before me looked, truthfully, rather pathetic. Raine had gotten away with cooking too many times...our food had suffered the consequences. She'd used up all the satay on toast, which sucked, since that stuff was nifty as well as friggin' expensive.

How the hell was I going to put anything together with this? We didn't have any eggs; I was so screwed. Sheena had probably used the last of them up for our midnight snack. Damn me and my random hunger pangs.

Okay, I had to do something. Maybe the innkeeper wouldn't notice if I stole some of their food? Determined, I began to rifle through the kitchen drawers and cabinets. Most of them were empty or full of silverware. I sighed with frustration, when suddenly I saw something sitting in the corner of one of the cabinets. Frowning, I reached out and picked it up.

No way. Pocky?! It was a box of pocky! Awesome!

Wait a minute, what the hell was that doing here? It had a price sticker on it that said 'Wegmans'...

Just as I began to get really confused and excited, the box poofed into thin air. I coughed and hacked at the smoke suddenly surrounding me, rubbing my eyes. Gah, today just wasn't my day.

Eh? Now a man in green trousers with a red cape stood before me, a rather triumphant grin on his face. Well, half his face...part of it was covered by a mess of blonde hair. Wait, I knew this guy...

He held up a giant fork, attempting to look heroic. "It is I, the Wonder Chef!"

I raised my eyebrows at him, unsure of whether I should be happy about this or not. The pocky was gone, he'd scared the shit out of me, but then again, he radiated awesomeness.

"Um, hi," I said stupidly, unable to think up a response. "...Can I help you?"

He bopped me on the head with his fork. "No, no. It is you who needs help, Brittany!"

I frowned, puzzled. "I do--wait, you know my name?!"

"Of course! I know everything!"

"Okay, then where am I from?" I challenged.

"Kennebunk, Maine, United States, North America, Earth, Milky Way Galaxy..." He paused, considering anything else he should add to the list, as I gawked.

"W-what else do you know about me?!"

The Wonder Chef's grin grew; he seemed to enjoy talking. Unlike Kvar, though, most of the things he listed were completely irrelevant. "You have a French heritage! Your father's middle name is Jarvis! You collect ticket stubs, and you like candy necklaces!"

Sweatdrop. "Have you, er...been leaking information to the Desians, by any chance?" Seriously, how else could they have known about me?

His grin fell. "Desians? Heavens, no! Have you seen the food they eat? Ghastly! Who do they let into their kitchen?"

I continued to stare at him as he rambled on, no longer sure if he'd even answered my question. This guy was even crazier than I thought he'd be...

Wait! If he knew about me, then maybe... "Hey, can you tell me how to get home?"

He cocked his head. "The same way you came here, I should think. Say, are you cooking?" He stared at some ruined toast, still sitting on the counter. "Satay on toast?! Blasphemy!"

"Uh..." I attempted to recover from his random outburst, and quickly tried asking again. "N-no, I don't know how I got here, but maybe you do, so..."

The chef looked up, confused. "How who got where?"

I resisted the sudden urge to hit my head against something. "Me. Sylvarant."

Taking a seat at the table, he appeared deep in thought. I joined him, waiting impatiently for his answer.

"Well...have you tried setting your Rheiard to 'wumbo'?"

Now I did hit my head against the table, causing some of the ingredients to fall to the floor. "What?!"

"Oh, now look what you've done..." The Wonder Chef pouted, bending over to pick them up.

I rubbed my forehead, giving up. Seriously, a Spongebob reference? The scary part was, he hadn't sounded like he was joking. Did he know how I could go home, or didn't he? Agh, at any rate, I wasn't going to get any information out of him. His attention span was shorter than Lloyd's.

Finally I sighed, deciding to let it go. Might as well stick with plan A, getting Lloyd to use the Eternal Sword. I watched the Wonder Chef get distracted again and start to juggle some of the things he'd picked up, and suddenly I remembered my earlier predicament. I had to make breakfast, and the freakin' Wonder Chef was sitting right in front of me. Could my luck get any better?

"Uh, hey..." I waved a hand, trying to get his attention. "I was wondering, could you help me make breakfast? I'm kind of a bad cook..."

The Wonder Chef stood, hands planted at his hips as he laughed. "Nonsense! Everyone has the ability to create a tasty meal, with proper instruction!"

He really believed that? The poor guy would probably cry if he ever met Raine.

"To the stove!" he yelled dramatically, even though the appliance was only a few feet away. He pointed at it, and the burners instantly produced flame. Whoa, that was pretty cool.

"W-wait, what're we making?" I asked tentatively, joining him at the stove.

"Omelettes! They're a scrumptious way to start the day!" He reached down and pulled an egg out of my pocket, leaving me extremely creeped out.

"Where the hell did that egg come from?" I looked at it incredulously.

"Your pocket! Isn't that convenient?" He replied cheerfully, cracking said egg into a bowl. I patted down my other pockets, paranoid, but found no other food items. When I looked up, the chef had a dozen eggs sitting in front of him.

"Hey! What about those?" I pointed my finger accusingly. He eyed them, and looked pleasantly surprised.

"Oh! What do you know? Just what I needed!" He grabbed another egg as I smacked my forehead. This guy was impossible.

----

And so, the famed (or according to Kratos, mythical) Wonder Chef taught me how to make omelettes. I kept messing up, but we never ran out of eggs; he'd always pull some out of a ridiculous place every time we needed more. I got a little more weirded out when he lined them up and put mini chef hats on them. Honestly, he was a teensy bit insane...

Wait a minute! That's right, now I had the chance to prove the Wonder Chef was real, and rub it in Kratos's face. Ohoho, I was getting excited already.

"Hey, could you give me a second? One of my friends is...a diehard fan of yours." I told the blonde, a mischievous grin spreading across my face.

He turned to me, and began grinning as well. "Yes, yes, of course! I always make time for my fans!" He said this, and yet he seemed surprised to have any fans at all...I had to stifle a giggle.

As soon as I got my answer, I turned and bolted out the door, beginning my search for the mercenary. Unfortunately, he had the uncanny ability to pull vanishing acts when you needed him most. Not that I absolutely needed him right now, but...gah, I had to find him!

Let's see...where had he gone? He wasn't in his room at the inn, so he had to be somewhere in town. It couldn't be that hard, considering how tiny Hima was.

Walking through the town, I looked around with a thoughtful frown. Okay, he didn't know anyone here, so he wouldn't have just barged into any of the houses...you could do that in the game, but that wasn't exactly realistic. Heh.

"Hey!"

I looked up, eyebrows raised, as Lloyd came running over to me. His arms were full with what looked like different types of gels...ah, the Professor was standing near the shop stall. Had they been stocking up?

"Yo." I simply replied, attempting to examine the colors of gels they'd bought. Yay, we finally had a few lemon gels! I had to make sure to steal some.

He frowned. "You're done with breakfast already?"

"Uh, no." I offered a sheepish smile, "Almost, though. Do you know where Kratos is?"

"Huh, Kratos? What do you need him for?"

I shifted uncomfortably. "Well, I need to show him something."

"Did you blow up the kitchen?" Lloyd started to facepalm.

"Hey! Who do you think I am?!"

"Right, right." He rolled his eyes. "I don't know where he is...try the graveyard. He seems to like weird places like that."

"Okay." I turned on my heel and jogged away, still a bit annoyed at his kitchen remark. Graveyard...why didn't I think of that? Lloyd was right about that; Kratos did seem to like graves. Probably because he was emo. He could go and tell the graves how he was dead inside, and go slash-happy on his wrists, and--no, bad Brittany. Kratos will sense your thoughts and kick your ass. Or not. Maybe he'll just kick your ass because he doesn't like you.

Crap. I had arrived at the graveyard, and there was no sign of the purple mercenary. There was just the graves, and the dug up one that we'd once thought belonged to Pietro. Shouldn't someone fix that? It didn't look very nice...

I turned around, glancing toward another pathway, one that led even further up the cliff. Eh, it couldn't hurt to check. I hadn't seen him anywhere around town, anyway.

Thankfully, the path was fairly short. Within the next few moments, I had made it to the summit. I shivered; there was a pretty cold wind up here.

The view was amazing. I felt like I could see all of Sylvarant spread out before me; the cliff rose above the clouds, but they were sparse today. Eyes wide, I looked out over the mountains, until I remembered why I had come up here.

His back was to me as he looked out at the place where he'd betray us in due time. So this was where Kratos had disappeared to, probably seeking to isolate himself as he always did. I hadn't exactly been quiet coming up here, but he didn't make any move to acknowledge my presence. The tails of his cape swayed in the chilly wind, and he stood completely still.

The Tower...up until now, I'd only gotten the occasional glimpse of it. I usually avoided looking at the damned thing, since it only reminded me of Cruxis and what was to come. Tower of Salvation? Hah, more like Tower of Death.

I was suddenly chilled to the bone, and I had a feeling it wasn't the wind. Oh God, I couldn't do this, I was never cut out for this journey...

Shit, I didn't come up here to scare myself. I had to show Kratos that the Wonder Chef was real, and the look on his face would be hilarious, and it would definitely cheer me up.

The wind blew again. I shuddered, while the mercenary remained unmoving. I had been about to approach him, but I faltered; what was he thinking about? He couldn't be in very high spirits. Was he worried about Lloyd? He must've hated himself for ever letting his son come on this journey. Kratos had killed his wife, and now he thought he was going to have to kill his own child.

He had all this crap on his shoulders, and all I ever did was get on his case. Dammit, what was I doing here? At least I knew my family was safe and sound back home. My world wasn't at stake; I only had to worry about myself. It was about time I stopped annoying him to cheer myself up.

Yeah. We'd start fresh, right now. I turned back towards the path, intent on leaving him alone.

"Brittany."

I jumped, only to see him staring at me with an eyebrow raised.

"Uh, hi, Kratos." Ugh. So much for new beginnings.

"Was there something you wanted?" His expression was unreadable, as usual.

"N-no. Never mind...It's nothing, really." I tried to retreat back down the cliff as hastily as I could without seeming suspicious. The Wonder Chef would be disappointed, but I could always drag one of the others over--

"Did you die?"

"Eh?" I looked back, confused.

"In your dream." His gaze was scrutinizing; he was still watching me, with his arms crossed.

I blinked, and quickly averted my gaze. "...Yeah."

"How?"

Why did he care? Usually I was the one asking the questions in our conversations.

"I was..." I gulped. "I was stabbed." I didn't have the guts to say 'impaled'; every time I thought of that word, I felt as if I were reliving that part of the dream. My hand subconsciously went to my stomach.

"I see." He didn't look surprised.

Frowning, I just shook my head. "It was a stupid nightmare, anyway."

"If you remain doubtful of yourself, you will become a burden," he said abruptly.

"...Huh?" Right, where the hell had that come from?

Kratos sighed. "You dream frequently."

"A lot of people do," I replied, confused and a little annoyed. He kept jumping around with unrelated topics, which really threw me off; Kratos was supposed to always make sense.

He only arched an eyebrow at my answer. "Do they? I cannot recall any of the others tossing and turning as much as you do at night."

"What does this have to do with me being a burden?"

"Your sleep and state of mind are being affected. You've been distracted during training, and if you are preoccupied at the ranch..."

"...I'll be killed. I know." I couldn't help but feel frusturated at his words; what the hell did he expect me to do? I was probably going to die anyway, given how weak I was compared to the others.

"Telling someone about it may help you clear your conscience," he said, answering my unasked question.

"You want me to...tell someone?"

Kratos nodded. "I believe Lloyd asked you about it, did he not? Perhaps--"

"No." I cut him off, smiling. "I'll tell you, since you probably don't want to hear it."

The look on his face confirmed that yes, he had been hoping I would run off to one of the others. I'd told myself I would stop intentionally annoying him, but...dammit, if I talked to Lloyd, he'd just get even more apprehensive about the ranch. I didn't need him getting all distracted too; at least I knew Kratos's performance wouldn't be affected by the fucked up story I was about to tell him.

Kratos didn't do anything to stop me, so I walked up next to him and sat down. My eyes rested on the Tower once again. I bit my lip, thinking of how I was going to word this while trying to ignore the mercenary's irritation.

I saw movement from the corner of my eye; Kratos seemed to shrug off his displeasure as he grudgingly sat beside me. Ha, it was his own fault for bringing it up.

He allowed me several seconds of silence before glaring impatiently. "Well?"

I fidgeted a little, suddenly very uncomfortable. Now I had his attention; there was no way I could leave. Okay...ugh, I really didn't want to talk about that stupid dream.

I took a deep breath, and opened my mouth to start.

"I...I was in a really dark place...an underground maze. There was dirty water up to my ankles."

My voice was shaking just a little, but I forced myself to continue. I told him every detail about the nightmare, except for the very beginning and Yggdrasill's presence at the end...

_Footsteps, sloshing through the water, coming from around the corner. The screech of metal on concrete._

_The tip of a large, pyramid shaped helmet appearing at the mouth of the passageway._

_A monster dragging a gore covered knife, hunting, chasing..._

_Something was protruding from my middle. Something metal...oh...I had been impaled._

_Kvar stood over me, chuckling._

_My friends, massacred._

_Blood coated the walls of our slaughterhouse..._

...And I finally finished, trembling helplessly. Once I'd begun to talk, I had found myself unable to stop. Now my mind was back in that dark place.

"Th...that's all," I said quietly when Kratos didn't respond. "I woke up right after. And I guess I screamed, but...but I don't remember."

The mercenary remained silent, his expression stony. I began to wonder if he'd just zoned out the entire time; it was impossible to tell what he was thinking. Unsure if he'd even reply and yet unwilling to get up and walk away, I remained where I was and waited. The cold wind hadn't died down and certainly didn't go unnoticed; I found myself wishing I had bought a cape of my own, glancing enviously at Kratos. Eventually I settled for tugging my long gloves up further, which did little to comfort my bare shoulders.

"Hm." He finally spoke, shifting a little. "You're nervous about our upcoming battle."

Thanks for that, Captain Obvious.

"Tell me something I don't know," I remarked, sullen.

He ignored me, and continued. "The monster in the labyrinth links to your feelings of being hunted by the Desians. The labyrinth itself, however, symbolizes feelings of being trapped and lost."

I looked at him, taken aback. Jeez, his head was like a dream dictionary.

"You're feeling inadequate and desperate to escape from your situation; you also feel that you lack in areas where the others do not." His eyes had narrowed slightly as he interpreted my nightmare.

My mouth had opened in a gawk, and I quickly attempted to regain my composure. I really hadn't expected him to immediately see all of my doubts like that. I'd actually been waiting him to just scoff and say something along the lines of "get over it." Dammit, I kept all of my negative feelings private for a reason!

Feeling suddenly defensive, I tried to shift the subject away from myself. "Um, were you a psychiatrist in a past life or something?"

"I have learned quite a bit in my travels."

"I never thought you knew so much about feelings." I smiled wryly, but he wasn't fooled.

"Your discomfort is understandable. Be that as it may, these dreams will not end until you face the problems they are stemming from." His red-brown eyes locked on mine, and my smile fell. That was great and all, except for the fact that I reeeeally didn't want to.

"But I...ugh." I fell on my back, at a loss of what to say.

Kratos didn't scold me for my reluctance; he simply got to his feet, turning to leave. "Hmph. If you wish to ignore it, feel free. Just remember that the situation can be remedied, should you be inclined to try."

I scowled. His tone was neutral, but his words definitely implied that I was being childish. I once again wondered if he thought I was weak.

The mercenary began to walk away, and I struggled to find a retort to his statement. After a second or two, I was forced to settle with a groan. "Dammit. Why the hell are you always right?"

He stopped, glancing over his shoulder at me as I sat up. Thankfully he knew it was a rhetorical question, because I was sure his answer would be something like "Because you suck" or "Because I'm a sparkly angel, teehee."

Okay, maybe not. The latter would be amusing, though. I shook my head a little to clear it, and continued to speak.

"Still, I'm always going to feel weak compared to the others. No matter how much I train, they'll always be more experienced."

"The very knowledge that you can accept that fact shows me that you have become stronger."

My eyes widened. "R...Really?"

"It's pointless to compare yourself to others. Continue to focus on your own skills, and perhaps you can lessen your feelings of incompetence." Kratos looked back at the path leading down the cliff, and I stood up to follow him.

"...Yeah. I'll do that." I said softly, but I knew his sensitive ears picked it up.

We walked down the pathway in relative silence as I mulled over all that he'd said to me. Man, he really did dish out some decent advice every now and then. Why couldn't there be more guys like him on Earth? I had never met anyone quite like Kratos before.

The mercenary suddenly frowned, and looked at me. "Don't tell me you still haven't made breakfast."

I tensed up, realizing how long we'd been up there. "Oh, crap!"

He sighed, a hand reaching up to his forehead in an irritated gesture. "Very well...I'll help, but only because you're going to waste more time if I don't."

"No, no, you don't get it." I shook my head, causing him to raise an eyebrow. "The Wonder Chef...I forgot all about him..."

"Brittany, the Wonder Chef doesn't exist." Now he was rubbing his temples, exasperated.

I frowned, giving him an annoyed look. "Whatever you say, Kratos."

----

**A/N: Ha, I love the Wonder Chef. He's such a weirdo. :D**

**Ooh! Idea! Next reviewer gets the WC's fork. (and Rattler20200 gets Kratos's sword, since they have dibs. XD) **

**Next time: He DOES exist! What will Kratters do?! ...and then, possibly on to the ranch. Because if Kratos is caught in any more humorous situations, he'll start vomiting rainbows and his head will implode.**


	13. Stealth Mission

**A/N: Gasp, it's chapter 13! Is it...unlucky, perhaps? -shifty eyes- ...well, they _do _make it back to the ranch in this chappie, so I guess that could count. XD **

**It's the moment you've all been waiting for...the Wonder Chef does exist! In your face, Kratos!**

**Disclaimer: I own only myself and the idea for this story.**

**----**

In a mere second, the room became dead silent. Kratos stood tense, his sword aimed at the man's throat. The unfortunate individual blinked, paling a few shades. I frantically tried to think of a way to fix this without anyone getting killed.

We had finally arrived back at the Hima inn, and Kratos had followed me to the kitchen. I hadn't expected the Wonder Chef to still be there, and I certainly hadn't expected him to jump out at the mercenary with a very clever shout of "Boo!"

Apparently Kratos hadn't seen it coming either, which explained why the chef was currently about to be speared on the tip of his sword.

The mercenary seemed to realize that the man before him posed no true threat, and lowered his blade. "Who are you?" He demanded.

"He certainly is an aggressive one, isn't he?" The chef pouted, looking at me, as if his near death experience had never happened. Kratos was not amused.

"Answer my question."

"Oh, don't mind him." I told the blonde, my voice apologetic. "That's just...how they shake hands in his country."

I attempted to ignore the look Kratos was giving me, as the Wonder Chef grinned.

"Ah! Is that so? In that case..." He whipped a short sword out of nowhere, beginning to point it at the mercenary. "How do you do, sir--augh!"

Kratos moved forward like lightning, bashing the chef in the face with the pommel of his sword. The Wonder Chef fell to the ground, clutching his bleeding nose, as I gaped.

"K-Kratos!"

The swordsman responded by gripping my arm painfully, glaring. His eyes were narrowed, demanding an explanation.

"I can't believe you hit the Wonder Chef..." I murmured. To be fair, the chef did have it coming, but still...

"...What?" Kratos stared at me like I had gone mad.

The chef winced, gingerly pulling a hand away from his face.

"Oh, wow...you broke his nose, too."

"The Wonder Chef--"

"--Is right there." I interrupted, pointing at him. "And you broke his friggin' nose. Way to go, Aurion."

The mercenary, who was beginning to look extremely irate, stepped forward and reached a hand out to the man's nose. A green light flashed; in the blink of an eye, the chef was healed.

"Happy?" Kratos looked back at me.

"Hey, thanks a lot!" The Wonder Chef smiled happily, hopping to his feet. "Say, would you like a tomato? I've got plenty--"

_**WHACK.**_

The pommel of Kratos's sword once again became acquainted with the chef's face, this time knocking him out cold.

----

Several awkward minutes later, we stood in the room Sheena and I shared. I continually cast furtive glances towards the mercenary, feeling dangerously close to laughing.

"...That went well," I finally said, staring down at the blonde on my bed. The chef had begun snoring loudly, despite the fact that he was unconscious.

"Hm." Kratos stared as well, looking the tiniest bit uncomfortable. Well, I guess I couldn't blame him. The guy had tomatoes! It was only self defense...right? Heh.

I couldn't hide my grin anymore. "So...are tomatoes your only weakness?"

He grunted, turning to leave. "He was suspicious and his movements unpredictable. He gave me no choice."

"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that." I replied, stifling a giggle.

"You will speak of this to no one." He glared, cutting my giggle short. "Understand?"

I gulped. "Y-yes, sir."

"Good." With that last word, he was out the door.

I forced myself to hold my breath for at least ten seconds after he left, before breaking down into fits of laughter. Poor, poor Kratos.

Wait, why was I feeling sorry for him? It was the Wonder Chef who got his nose broken...twice. At least he'd been healed both times, but still. I'd have to apologize when he came to...

I sighed, walking to the side of my bed and pulling the sheets up over the sleeping (unconscious?) chef. Really, it was weird seeing him here for so long...didn't he poof away after a few seconds in the game? Well, I guess that didn't make much sense...you couldn't learn a whole recipe that fast.

Recipe...wait, hadn't he been teaching me how to make an omelette? I'd only successfully made one before going to get Kratos. Which meant...I'd never finished breakfast! Uh-oh.

"Whoa!" Lloyd's voice cut off my thoughts, coming from the direction of the kitchen. I looked up curiously.

"Not bad." Genis sounded surprised.

"It looks really good!" Colette said cheerily.

"Hey, I thought she couldn't cook!" Sheena protested.

"Yes, she did seem a bit reluctant when Lloyd brought her over this morning..." Raine remarked. Wait a minute, she knew?! Dammit, they were all in on it!

"..." Yeah, that silence was definitely Kratos.

Standing up, I approached the doorway, only to stop short when I ran into something red.

"Brittany! Wow, nice job on breakfast!" Lloyd was grinning, completely oblivious to the caped man laying on the bed. "C'mon, we can't start eating without you!" He grabbed my arm, dragging me into the kitchen.

As soon as we entered, my mouth opened in a gawk. How had I not noticed that before? The table was set perfectly, a steaming omelette at every seat. The chef had also put out some toast (once again, where had he gotten that bread?) and muffins.

"You did all this?" Sheena gave me a disbelieving look. I attempted to straighten out my expression, and shrugged.

"Uh...yup! Omelettes are the only thing I can cook, so I did my best."

Kratos raised an eyebrow at me, but said nothing. We both had our reasons not to speak of what had transpired earlier.

We all seated ourselves, and dug in. Seriously, I'd have to thank the Wonder Chef later. Today was just made of awesome. Sadly, though, now that the bar was set, I'd have a difficult time living up to the others' breakfast standards...ah well, I'd figure that out when the time came.

----

"You ready for training? We'd better hurry, or Kratos will have a reason to push us off the cliff..." Lloyd grimaced.

"Yeah, just give me a sec--" I trailed off as we reached the door to my room. Eh?

My bed was empty. Disappointed, I walked up and lifted up the covers, as if he'd be hiding under them. Nope, the Wonder Chef was gone.

The sound of footsteps came from behind me as Lloyd walked up. I bent over, seeing a square shape nestled in the blankets. It was...

"...I think I'm in love..." I murmured, holding up the box of pocky I'd seen earlier. It didn't vanish this time.

"Huh?" The other teen gave me an incredulous look. "Uh, what is that?"

I shook my head, shoving the box into my bag with a grin. "Nothing."

He reached over me, trying to grab it. "Hey, I saw that! Is it something good? Gimmeee."

"Get off!" I tried to shove him, holding the bag away from him.

"Lemme see!"

"No, it's mine!"

"Give it!"

"Agh, never!"

_"Children!"_ The next shout caused us to go stock still, looking up at a certain auburn haired man standing in the doorway. He didn't look too pleased.

"Um..." Lloyd attempted to explain. "She started it."

"Act your age." Kratos frowned.

"But you just called us--" I started to protest, but he cut me off.

"Outside. Now."

The two of us stood to follow the purple mercenary; Lloyd grumbled, while I remained quiet. I had already put Kratos through enough today; I could tell his patience was wearing thin. I wasn't his kid, so...yeah, he probably would shove me off the cliff. It'd look like an accident. And if I died, Lloyd would get my pocky, dammit.

I made sure to kick my bag under the bed before we walked out.

----

Training went by very fast. Kratos was right; telling someone about the dream really helped. It was a complete load off my shoulders. Not only that, I was feeling reasonably cheered due to the Wonder Chef's help with breakfast. And the pocky, don't forget the pocky.

I was able to focus more now, and I didn't get discouraged so easily. It was impossible for me to stop comparing myself to the others, though, but the fact that Kratos believed I had gotten stronger had really bolstered my spirits. If I kept training like this, maybe I could eventually make a difference when it came down to it! Even if it was just a small difference, anything at all would be enough. I just hated feeling so useless and weak, especially when we faced people like Kvar.

And if the Desians were hunting me...I was terrified of getting captured again. What if I was taken to another ranch? I had to get stronger. I didn't want to go through all that a second time. Ugh, what if I ended up in Rodyle's ranch? Forcystus was cool and had a spiffy eye patch, but Rodyle...ew. I could escape from the Iselia Ranch, but there was no way I'd get away from one that was in the middle of the ocean.

Soon after we finished our training session, we packed up to leave. It had been a long morning, mostly because of all the time I wasted with breakfast, but no one was angry about that. Even Kratos didn't seem to mind; he wasn't exactly eager to go back to the ranch, either. Nonetheless, at around ten a.m., we found ourselves traveling down the sloped path out of Hima. The mercenary seemed to grow more agitated with every step we took. The others noticed this, and I walked a little ahead as a Z-skit I remembered distinctly began to play out.

"I'm not angry!" I heard Kratos growl menacingly, and turned to see everyone behind me flinch as it suddenly became very quiet. I sighed a little, feeling the cheer from earlier quickly dissipate. Kratos...

"...Forgive me." He murmured, looking mildly depressed. And if the normally stoic mercenary was letting even a little sadness show through, chances were he was dying inside. "I simply need some time alone."

The others complied, quickly distancing themselves from him. Their reactions varied significantly, I noticed; in the game they'd just looked all surprised, but here it was a lot different. After the initial shock, they all sort of...looked away, with their emotions plain on their faces. Sheena looked pretty nervous, and that was probably because she hadn't known him for that long. She was probably hoping he wouldn't go all psycho and kill us at the ranch or something. Genis and Raine were troubled, exchanging glances. Colette seemed sad, most likely wishing she could make Kratos feel better.

Lloyd...well, he looked worried. Had he established a bond with the mercenary already? Wait, I was worried too. That's right...Lloyd spent the most time with Kratos out of all of us, and I came after that. The three of us trained together every morning, for one thing. Lloyd and Kratos had all those father-son moments (although the poor kid was oblivious), and...didn't I always end up talking to the mercenary whenever I had a serious problem? I mean, he may have only been tolerating my presence at the time, but still...

Goddammit, I was worried as hell. I hated seeing Kratos this bothered. I just wanted to kill Kvar and get it over with.

We continued onward, getting ready to do just that.

----

There it was again. We were walking through the forest surrounding the ranch, and now its ominous form was visible over the treetops. Every time I came here, it seemed to get bigger and scarier. Maybe it was the worst this time because I knew we had to finish it. We weren't going to flee anymore; we had to win this or die. There was no other alternative, and if there were, it would only be delaying the inevitable. If we didn't stop Kvar now, we would seriously regret it later.

"...We're here," Raine said quietly, as we finally came to the clearing.

Kratos looked at me. "The hidden entrance?"

I nodded, looking around. "It's blocked by a boulder somewhere over here...ah. Right there." I pointed, having found it. The passage was a lot less obvious than in the game, but I guess that was to be expected. Kvar was a lot smarter than that; he wasn't the type to go "derr, they won't notice this giant weird looking rock sitting in plain view, right?"

...Still, I guess he could've done a better job hiding it. I probably would've overlooked it if I hadn't already known, but the fact that I could pick it out so quickly probably signified carelessness on the Desians' part.

No. Kvar wasn't stupid, he was just incredibly conceited. He probably thought our inferior minds would never be able to pick out the secret entrance. Well, we were about to prove the asshole wrong.

Lloyd moved forward to the boulder I'd pointed out, examining it. After a moment, he braced himself against it and pushed, hard. "...It's no good...ugh, it won't move."

"That's why we have this." I walked up beside him, pulling out the Desian Orb. He watched as I reached up, inserting the jewel into a small niche in the rock. There was an audible click as the lock released, and suddenly the boulder slid aside easily.

"Okay, let's go." Lloyd walked up to the revealed entrance, and I looked at him with a bit of surprise. I'd been expecting him to remark on how cool the rock's mechanism was, but I guess even he wasn't himself today.

The Professor, Genis and Colette followed Lloyd into the dark passageway, as I felt a sense of dread settle over me. Sheena went next; I realized how far back in the line I was getting, and tried willing my feet to move before I got left behind. Shit, I was freezing up...no matter how much I tried, my feet wouldn't budge. This was different than the game, things weren't going to happen the same, Kvar was going to kill me, oh God I was going to _DIE--_

Now Sheena had disappeared into the passage, and I felt a full blown panic attack coming on. I was going to start hyperventilating soon.

Suddenly a gloved hand grasped my arm, causing me to flinch. I looked up slowly, realizing that Kratos and I were the only ones left. The auburn haired man spared me a single glance before continuing forward, pulling me along. My feet shakily began to move, trying to catch up with his long strides. After a few seconds I managed to gather my bearings and began walking on my own.

"...Th-thanks." I uttered, barely a whisper. He nodded impassively and released my arm as we walked into the depths of the human ranch. This...was only the beginning.

----

With Lloyd leading up front and Kratos bringing up the rear, we trudged onward. I decided to leave the mercenary alone for once out of gratitude. I don't know what I would've done if someone had yelled at me to move back there, or left me behind. I probably would've frozen up more. Now that he'd snapped me out of it, I was beginning to feel a bit braver. Well, it was mostly from an adrenaline high, but that was better than nothing.

The corridor we were in gradually got brighter as we neared one of the main hallways. We would be running into Desians soon. Clenching my fists, I tried to focus on the reassuring weight of the sword on my back. Things were different now; I wasn't utterly defenseless. I just had to remember that.

"Do you think you can lead us to the control room again?" Raine asked me, and I nodded.

"Yeah. It's pretty close to this passage, we should be able to get there without too much trouble."

"Hey, Professor." Lloyd looked back at us. "What if Kvar can watch us like Magnius did, on that uh...that thing?"

"The projector?" She frowned. "...Yes, it's likely there is a surveillance system here as well. We were able to get in because of our disguise last time, but I doubt that will work again."

"But if he sees us, we'll be caught!" Genis pointed out.

My eyes narrowed a little. Crap...I remembered thinking about that when I was escaping from here with Pietro, but back then we were too panicked about Elena to form a decent plan anyway. There was a way around this, but it meant we wouldn't be able to launch a surprise attack against the Grand Cardinal.

I sighed. "We can't turn back now. Professor, do you think you could disable the cameras if we got to the control room? They'll still realize we're here, but at least then they can't track us."

"Yes, that does seem like the best option. We'll have to develop a plan quickly once we're in. This is going to be risky."

"It was risky enough to begin with..." Sheena remarked, pulling out a few cards. "You guys sure we can pull this off?"

"I know we can!" Colette said, remaining positive. "We've got you, Sheena!"

The ninja looked flustered for a moment, unable to think up a response to that. I smiled faintly at Colette's infallible optimism. We'd definitely need it in a place like this.

The light grew brighter still; we'd reached the end of the passage. Raine grabbed Lloyd by his ribbons, halting him before he could waltz out in plain view of the surveillance cameras. We all gathered together, shrinking back into the shadows as we briefly discussed what we were about to do. I told everyone which direction we would have to go, and where to turn to get to the control room.

"Okay, I got it. Can we go now?" Lloyd was getting antsy.

"There's one more thing." Kratos spoke up for the first time in a while, and we turned to him. "This is a stealth mission. Our positions must remain a secret, or disabling the security cameras would be pointless. That means you cannot go rushing in with your swords drawn, Lloyd."

The teen faltered, as if he had been planning to do just that. "But..."

"We've gotta keep Kvar guessing," I piped up, "or we'll end up cornered like last time."

"Yeah, and I don't have any more Guardians, so that means of escape is out." Sheena added.

Kratos nodded. "Avoid being seen, and kill any Desians you run into. Let's get moving."

Lloyd looked ahead of us, towards the next hallway. "...Yeah."

It was Kratos who led the group this time, with Lloyd in the back. I followed next in line after the mercenary, in case he didn't remember my directions(even though I was sure he'd been in here before and knew exactly where he was going). As we entered the new hallway, I looked around cautiously. There weren't any Desians in sight. My eyes drifted towards the ceiling and walls, and quickly spotted a camera; fortunately, it wasn't directed at us.

The Professor noticed the same thing, nodding a little. Kratos had already turned in the opposite direction of the device, towards where our destination should be. Raine motioned for Sheena and the others to follow as I caught up with the mercenary.

In less than a minute, we had arrived at the control room. By some miracle, the few Desian guards we ran into hadn't seen us. No alarm had been sounded; we'd managed to avoid the cameras as well. We were off to a decent start.

"Who the hell are you?!" Okay, maybe not. Two Desians stood before us, drawing their weapons.

Before our initial surprise had even faded, Kratos rushed forth and cut both of them down with a powerful swipe of his blade. He wiped his sword off on the corpses and sheathed it, kicking the bodies behind some machines in the corner. Now that...was a little scary. Of course, I'd seen him fight plenty of times, but I could never get used to how calmly he dealt with death.

Raine was the first to recover; she stepped forth, examining the computer in the center of the room. Sheena and I stood next to her, watching. The ninja seemed impressed that someone from Sylvarant was capable of operating machinery. I was impressed as well, but for another reason-- though the screen was more of a projector, the computer had a keyboard almost exactly like the ones I was familiar with. It even had a touchpad that served as a mouse. Man, Cruxis and the Renegades really were hogging all the technology. When the worlds were reunited, would this place become like Earth?

Urgh, this made me want my laptop back. I remembered the summer I'd spent working and saving for it, way back when I had just finished my Freshman year in high school. I'd been so proud of myself the day I got it, naming it Shiny and messing with it for hours...

"I'll bring up the ranch-wide map." Professor Sage cut off my thoughts, typing in a few things. Suddenly a 3-D map appeared on the projector, each of the rooms labeled in small text. It was similar to its in-game counterpart, but it was a lot less colorful and simplistic.

"Wow..." Lloyd remarked, staring. Yeah, the ranch was pretty damn big.

"This is where we are now," Raine said, pointing out the area labeled 'control room,' "and this is Kvar's office." She showed us a room that was on the other edge of the map. Great, getting there would probably be fun.

The Professor paused, frowning. "It appears that in order to get to the floor that Kvar is on, we'll have to deactivate the guard system."

"Guard...system?" Colette piped up.

"Here." Raine motioned to a room right in front of the one Kvar should be in. "If we don't deactivate this guard system, we can't get to Kvar."

"What are we supposed to do, then?" Lloyd asked, frustrated.

"Calm down. There should be a switch somewhere to deactivate it," Kratos said.

"...Here it is." Raine zoomed in on another room, split into two hallways. "See the two switches at the ends of this left-right passageway? Those are the deactivation switches."

"Okay, then, let's go deactivate it," Lloyd said.

"It won't be that easy, Lloyd." The Professor shook her head. "We still have to disable the cameras, remember? As soon as we do that, the Desians will be on alert."

"Huh? So what?"

"I get it. We won't have time to go all the way back and forth like that." Genis spoke up, studying the map. The deactivation switches were a floor below us, and Kvar was on the top floor and on the opposite side of the ranch.

"What's the plan, then?" Sheena asked.

"Hmm...it looks like we don't have a choice." Raine replied, "Let's split into two teams: one to deactivate the system and release the prisoners, and one to infiltrate Kvar's room."

"What?! We're going to split up?" Genis blanched.

"There seems to be no other way," Kratos said.

Raine turned to the Chosen. "Colette, please choose the groups for us."

"Ah, um..." The blonde hesitated, and looked at Lloyd. "I'll leave it to Lloyd."

"What? Me?"

"I know you'll do a good job of splitting us up." She smiled.

He sighed. "...All right. Well, I'm going after Kvar. I want to avenge Mom."

I frowned a little, realizing that I should probably pay attention. I'd been zoning out a bit since we got here; I had already heard most of this conversation. It was a little different, since we now had to worry about the surveillance system, but it looked like the plan was still the same. I was curious as to what the groups would be.

Lloyd stared all of us down for a second, before shifting uncomfortably. "Okay, this is hard. First of all, what would you guys prefer? Kratos?"

The mercenary crossed his arms. "I would like to be in the group that goes after Kvar."

"Me, too." Sheena said.

"I will be needed to deal with the computers involved in the deactivation process," the Professor stated.

Genis hesitated. "...I want to go with Raine."

"Um...I'd like to be with you, Lloyd. But if you need me in the other group, that's okay too." Colette said.

Lloyd's brow furrowed a little as he thought. Wow, he was really putting a lot of effort into this. I mean, he was _thinking_ for once.

"What about you, Brittany?" I looked up when I realized he was addressing me.

"Hm?"

"You haven't said anything yet."

"Uh..." Crap, what group did I want to be in? Gah, I should've been considering that instead of zoning out. The deactivation team would be safer, probably. But Kvar...did I want to fight Kvar? I hated his guts, sure, but that didn't mean I'd survive in a fight against him. "...I don't know. I'll go wherever you need me, I guess."

He nodded, and then went back to thinking.

"We don't have all day, Lloyd," Kratos said after a few seconds, causing the teenager to groan.

"Fine, fine. Hey, Brit, help me out here."

My eyebrows flew up. "What? Why me?"

"Well, you don't have a preference, so you can look at this abjectively."

I smacked my forehead. "You mean objectively?"

"Uh, yeah, that."

"...Okay, let me think for a minute." I said, running a hand through my bangs. Right, think back to the game...what had been my groups then? I usually went with Kratos and Raine for the infiltration. Kratos, because he was badass and he deserved it after the things Kvar had done, and Raine because I always felt paranoid when I didn't have the main healer in my fighting group. Thinking of it realistically, though, I guess that wasn't the best choice.

I began to voice my thoughts aloud, uncertain. "Hmm...well, we're going to have one group of three and a group of four, right? So the group of four should go after Kvar, since they'll need all the help they can get."

Lloyd nodded at me to go on, so I continued. "Um, I'm thinking Genis and Raine should go on the deactivation team. Since our group will be cut in half, we wouldn't be able to create a buffer zone for them when fighting Kvar. Kratos can be the main healer in the infiltration group." Not only that, Kvar would kill them if they didn't have Kratos. I knew that for sure.

The mercenary gave me a small nod, as Lloyd counted on his fingers.

"That would be the most logical way to go, yes." Raine commented.

"So..." Lloyd looked up at me. "What you're saying is, our short range fighters should go after Kvar, and the rest should do the deactivating."

"Hey, Lloyd actually gets it!" Genis cheered, only to be shoved by his friend.

"Shut it, Genis!"

"I think Sheena should be on the infiltration team. She's not an effective meat shield like you and Kratos--" Lloyd shoved me, too, "--but she's probably fast enough to dodge most of Kvar's attacks."

Sheena nodded. "Yeah, leave it to me."

Lloyd paused again. "...Okay...so me, Kratos, Sheena and you will go after Kvar."

"M-me?" I blinked.

"You're a meat shield too, you know." He grinned, and I realized he was pretty much right about that one. Then he saw me hesitate, and frowned. "...Is that okay with you?"

I looked around uneasily. Would I even stand a chance? Probably not. Did I want to fight him? ...Sort of, actually. If I went with the deactivation team, I would be worried as hell about Lloyd and the others. But as much as I hated him, I was terrified of Kvar...I kind of wanted to go where it was safest. I...I would probably get in the way otherwise, right? I was pretty damn weak...

_You're nervous about our upcoming battle._

_If you remain doubtful of yourself, you will become a burden._

_These dreams will not end until you face the problems they are stemming from._

_The situation can be remedied, should you be inclined to try._

Stop glaring at me like that. I wouldn't make a difference, anyway.

_You have become stronger._

_It's pointless to compare yourself to others._

...Ugh. You suck, Kratos.

"Yeah, it's fine. Let's kick the crap out of that bastard," I finally said, reluctant. The mercenary turned away, gazing at the door we would have to leave through.

Lloyd nodded, the smile returning. "It's decided, then. Is everyone rea--"

Suddenly an alarm sounded, causing us all to jump. Raine swore under her breath.

"They've detected my use of the main computer." She approached the computer again, quickly typing in some commands. A yellow light flashed briefly. "I've disabled the cameras," she explained, "we need to leave immediately."

"Let's go, then." Sheena had her cards out, and I approached the door where Kratos was standing.

"Okay. Good luck, you guys." Lloyd said to the others, jogging over to us.

"Be careful!" Colette called as her group moved to the opposite door. Kratos, Sheena and I nodded, before beginning to exit out our door.

"We will!" Lloyd paused to call back, and I grabbed his sleeve to tug him along before the door shut behind me.

Now the real work was about to begin...

----

**A/N: And so begins our newest adventures at the Asgard Ranch! Man, I'm sick of that place, can't wait for Raine to blow it up. XD **

**Back to the angst, yay! ....or not. Heh.**

**Next time: Into the heart of the Desian ranch...**


	14. Toute Seule

**A/N: Man, writer's block is evil. D: I know what I want to happen here, but it's connecting the events that's hard. Grrr. Anyway, this ranch adventure is gonna be a long one. Longer than I thought it would be, anyway. XD**

**Still trying to update regularly despite writer's block and school. You can't stop me, school! Uh...yeah. I guess I'll get on with the chapter. **

**Haha, random French chapter title. It means 'all alone'.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own ToS.**

**----**

As it turned out, during my previous weeks here I had only seen a very small portion of the ranch. This place was huge. I was grateful that I wouldn't have to go near where the prisoners were held, so I wouldn't have to see all the suffering, but...the path I'd chosen still had its setbacks.

Several alarms had gone off since Raine disabled the cameras, and we'd had to hide from squads of Desian soldiers that were searching different sectors of the ranch. As long as we avoided being seen, though, Kvar and his men were basically feeling their way through the dark for us.

"Hey..." I murmured to Kratos, suddenly having a thought. "You think Kvar will leave his office to search the ranch himself?"

"Hm. It's possible," came the reply, "but it will only make our job easier. If he were to leave, it is likely we would run into him."

Lloyd tensed up, eyes widening. "What if...what if he gets past us and finds Colette and the others?"

Oh shit, that would be bad. That group wouldn't last a second against the Grand Cardinal; Colette couldn't hold off Kvar long enough for Raine and Genis to cast spells. The blonde Chosen wasn't tough like the swordsmen, and she didn't make up for it with speed the way Sheena did. Colette was clumsy, and her clumsiness would get her killed.

The mercenary shook his head. "Kvar's main target is you, Lloyd."

"But if the others start releasing the prisoners..." Sheena spoke up, uneasy.

"They will deactivate the guard system first. We will have found him before they become a problem to him."

I sighed, a little relieved. So the only people the Grand Cardinal would try killing was us. Yay.

Right, focus on not dying...

I continued to follow behind Lloyd, his ribbons occasionally tickling me. We had been (stealthily) navigating the hallways of the ranch for some time now, and I had long ago lost track of where we were. Everything here looked the same; it all had that metallic, industrial look. We'd only had to kill a few Desians, but that only made me more anxious about the upcoming battle. It was too quiet, and I kept feeling like Kvar would be hiding around the next corner. The way my weird Silent Hill 2 dream had linked to the ranch didn't really help either, since in that game dead silence plus no enemies usually equalled Pyramid Head...

Wow, I'd be so dead if I had been sucked into that game instead. Hell, I'd take on all of Cruxis alone if it meant I could avoid the monsters of Silent Hill. Besides, being killed by Kratos was way cooler than getting devoured and/or raped to death.

Said mercenary glanced over at me, as if he'd somehow read my mind, before returning his gaze to the hallway ahead. I realized I probably would be killed by him later on at the Tower, and suppressed a shudder. Ah, well. I'd worry about that later, right now Kvar was the main problem.

Ugh, why couldn't I have been thrown into Nintendogs or something? I could be playing with puppies right now, dammit.

Everyone had drawn their weapons, so I automatically did the same. Uh-oh...something was moving ahead of us. Huh? Looked like machines...part of the security system? Oh! I knew what they were! It was those annoying raybits!

"What are those things?" Lloyd mumbled as they floated toward us. They probably had motion sensors, and it didn't look like they detected our presence yet.

"Have you seen them before?" Kratos questioned me, having noticed my look of recognition.

"Uh...yeah, once or twice," I lied. "They're called raybits. They can shoot beams of, er...lightning-charged mana, I think." I hoped I was right. Were their attacks lightning elemental or just light? Did they even have an element? Well, it was Kvar's ranch, so I'd just assumed lightning. But they were at the other ranches, too...Whatever, Kratty would take care of them either way. There were only two of them.

"They don't look all that strong," Sheena remarked. "Let's take them out before they raise an alarm or something."

"Piece of cake!" Lloyd grinned, running at one of them as Kratos sighed. I shrugged and decided to try fighting for once, running at the other.

I steered clear of the machine's weapon, dodging around the back of it to attack. Lloyd was using Tiger Blade on his. I wanted Tiger Blade...my techs pretty much sucked.

"Sonic Thrust!" I cried, using one of my least favorite attacks. Scratch that, I wanted freakin' Hell Pyre. Maybe Kratos would teach it to me someday.

Before long, both raybits had been destroyed. Lloyd and I began to high five in victory, but Kratos cut us off.

"Behind you!"

We turned to see at least ten more of the machines swarming towards us. There were several coming from the hall behind us as well. The four of us arranged ourselves in a rough circle(uh...or square?), standing back to back.

"This could be bad." I muttered, dismayed. Individually they were pretty weak, but in groups...

"Dammit!" Lloyd growled.

"What do we do?" Sheena scanned the area for an escape, summoning Corinne for some extra help. It was the first time I'd seen the little summon spirit, but I didn't have time to get excited about that now. He sure was cute, though.

"We'll have to cut through and run. Fighting these will take time that we do not have," Kratos said.

Several of the raybits shot at us, and we all brought up our respective shields. As I lifted my sword and used Guardian, I was suddenly glad the mercenary had drilled that tech into me. Ugh, stupid Kratos, why couldn't I be right for once?

_"Hmm. Okay, I'll give it a shot...Guardian! ...How's this?"_

_"Flimsy."_

_"Ow! What was that for?!"_

_"My sword would not have broken through had you focused more."_

_"Dammit, you're such a jerk! Demon Fang!"_

_"Guardian! ...You see the importance of such a technique. I am unharmed."_

_"You suck."_

_"Hmph. I remember a time when you obeyed me without complaint."_

_"I'm not afraid of you anymore, Kratters."_

_"..."_

_"Crap, did I say that out loud?"_

_"...Perhaps you should be. Hurricane Thrust!"_

_"Ahh! Guardian, Guardian!"_

...Yeah, that had been a good day. At least I had learned the tech in the end. I had almost never used it in the game, but now it was incredibly helpful.

"Lloyd." Kratos's voice broke me out of my thoughts. The mercenary exchanged a look with his son, and then glanced over to Sheena and I. "You two, bring up the rear. We will break through."

"Got it." Sheena replied, readying herself. I gripped Loki's hilt tighter, tense.

After dodging more attacks from the raybits, Lloyd and Kratos positioned themselves for an attack of their own. My eyes widened as I realized what they were about to do, and I couldn't stop a grin from breaking out on my face. Yes, one of my favorite unison attacks!

"Cross Thrust!" They shouted simultaneously. The two swordsmen shot forth, cutting through the group of machines in an X formation. They left nothing but debris behind them, and Sheena and I ran through the gap they had created.

I nodded to the ninja, and we turned to the remaining raybits, deciding to buy ourselves more time.

"Beast!" I yelled, swinging my sword and ramming into one of the machines with a shoulder. The mana I'd used formed into a blue lion's head, knocking back the crowd of raybits.

Sheena came next. She threw several of her cards into the fray and used Cyclone Seal, the powerful winds causing them to crash into each other. As the raybits slowly recovered from the blows, the ninja and I turned and fled, following after Kratos and Lloyd. Hopefully we could get far enough away that those things wouldn't find us again.

After passing through several more hallways, though, we heard a commotion behind us. Apparently a Desian had stumbled upon the raybit debris and warned the others...frick. At Kratos's signal, the four of us broke out in a run, attempting to leave that area behind. There was more shouting, and suddenly there was the pounding of feet behind us; our enemies were giving chase. Double frick. Kratos eventually grew annoyed, and stopped. By the time the rest of us had skidded to a halt as well, the four Desians that had been following us were dead and being shoved into a random closet by the ticked off mercenary.

"Let's move." He said quietly when he was done, and we set off again, Sheena looking a little disturbed. I guess I didn't blame her; Kratos hadn't exactly been going out of his way to make good first impressions on her. She knew him a little better now, but still probably wondered if he'd murder us all in our sleep later on.

I had no such thoughts. On the contrary, I felt extremely safe with Kratos, with the knowledge that he was the strongest fighter out of all of us. Not only that, he was an angel, so if worse came to worst he could knock us out and then fry all our enemies with Judgment. Although he was going to betray us later on...it was weird to think, but I trusted him. Sort of. I mean, I wasn't going to tell him anything Yggdrasill could use to his advantage, but I still trusted him with other things.

For now, at least, I trusted the asshole with my life. Seriously, what was wrong with me? He would probably kill us at the Tower...but I still believed he was goodhearted deep down, and while we were allies he would do his best to protect us. He had to be at least a little good; he was Lloyd's dad, after all.

Lloyd...yeah, he was definitely my favorite person out of the group. Lloyd, Kratos, then Sheena. Well, I guess it was a good thing I was with all my favorite characters...wait, had I subconsciously done that when helping Lloyd choose the groups? Huh...

Kratos glanced behind us, and I realized we were being followed again. The footsteps were less noticeable than before, which meant our enemies were finally trying to counteract stealth with stealth. Maybe they'd found the corpses from before, and realized we were a teensy bit dangerous.

As soon as we started running again, though, another alarm went off. We reached a four way intersection of hallways, and I felt a slight rumbling beneath my feet. Apparently I wasn't the only one; Sheena and Lloyd were looking around in alarm, while Kratos's eyes narrowed slightly. Desians began to catch up to us from behind, so we tried to ignore the rumbling in order to fight them off. We were gradually backed into the center of the intersection, when I realized what the rumbling was.

It reminded me of a certain scene from later on in the game, when Genis had been caught in that weird trap at the Tower of Salvation. Instead of closing in on us, though, there were huge metal doors descending from the ceiling on all sides. Each hallway was gradually being blocked off, and we'd be stuck in the center. Worst of all, we were still caught up in a fight with around twenty Desians, and there was no time to discuss our options.

Sheena and I were fighting together, having been separated from Lloyd and Kratos in the midst of battle. The two swordmen were on the other end of the "room" that was about to be created. I panicked and felt claustrophobia begin to set in as the doors continued to close.

"Sheena, we have to do something!" I hissed to her as we fought, and she nodded, panting.

"Let's head for the door behind us. I think we can make it." The ninja knocked back the Desians in front of us with a Pyre Seal, and we turned and ran. We didn't even have time to worry about Kratos and Lloyd; we just had to trust that they'd develop a similar plan of their own.

The door seemed to close even faster as we approached; I desperately dropped to the floor and slid when I reached it, managing to get to the other side. Sheena dove onto her stomach. I grabbed her hand to pull her the rest of the way through, when I suddenly met resistance. My eyes widened as hers did.

"Dammit! Let go of my leg!" She growled frantically, and I realized one of our attackers had caught her. Alarmed, I gave her hand a hard tug, trying to pull her out of the Desian's grasp. It didn't work; the asshole was determined to play a game of tug-of-war. And the door was getting even lower...

The Desian pulled viciously on her leg, and she yelled out in pain. The door was nearly touching her back now. I realized I had no other choice; I let go of her hand, allowing her to be dragged back to the other side before the door crushed her.

It finally closed, blocking out the sounds of the battle, causing the passageway to become dead silent.

"Sheena!" I cried in despair, clawing at the metal door. There was no way I could get to any of them now. Oh, God...what if she was killed? What if Lloyd and Kratos had escaped already, and she was stuck in that room with all the Desians? If she died, then...oh, screw the plotline! She was my friend, and I didn't want her to die! If she was all alone on the other side of that door--

Then it hit me.

I was alone now, completely alone. Sheena was a skilled fighter, a trained assassin. I hadn't even laid a finger on any sort of weapon until a few months ago. Sheena could probably take care of herself. I, however, didn't know what the hell I was doing.

Alone.

In the Asgard Ranch.

_Fuck._

Turning around, I leaned my back to the cold door. My heartbeat had suddenly skyrocketed, and I felt myself break out in a cold sweat. How was I going to do this? I didn't even know where I was! Shuddering violently, I picked Loki up from where I had dropped it.

Okay...deep breath. One thing at a time.

I looked to the hallway ahead and tried to calm myself. I had to keep it together. I needed a plan, here.

Nodding to myself, I bit my lip. Option one: go back the way I came. I turned to the metal door, looking it over, and sighed. Nope, that wouldn't work. It's not like I could break it down or something.

Option two: go on ahead. Well, that one seemed better, but...really, wouldn't I just get myself killed that way? I didn't know where in the ranch I was; I'd been trusting Kratos to remember its layout. Dammit. And I wasn't very good at fighting, so what would I do if I ran into a group of Desians?

All right, option three: stay here and wait for help. That would definitely get me killed...I was instantly cornered if an enemy showed up. Shit, speaking of which, shouldn't I get out of here?

Option two it is, then. I couldn't just sit around, tempting as it may be. My best bet was to try and regroup with some of the others...even if it was the deactivation team. Scratch that, I hoped I could find the deactivation team...I was sick of the whole infiltration thing. I changed my mind, I wanted the safe job. Augh, I should've known this would happen!

Another deep breath. I held up my sword, moving forward cautiously. If encountered a Desian, I should be able to defeat them. If I was outnumbered, though, I'd have to run and try to lose them.

Feeling better now that I at least had a half-assed plan, I proceeded a little faster.

----

My boots barely made any sound as I hastily strode down the hallway I was currently in. It had been about ten minutes, and I felt like I had gotten nowhere. This place still looked all the same to me, and I had a feeling I was pretty far away from the portion of it I actually recognized. I tried to remember the map the Professor had shown us. The control room had been someplace on the far right end of the ranch, and Kvar's room on the far left. So, if Kratos had been leading us to Kvar's room, then that meant...

...I was probably in the heart of the ranch. Great.

Ever since I'd continued on my own, I had been searching for a way to double back and meet with Colette and the others. Whatever, they could say I chickened out. I wasn't trying to deny that I was a coward. It was stupid of me to agree to this whole thing anyway. On second thought, maybe I would just wait this whole journey out in Luin. I could ask Lloyd about the sword after he saved the worlds, and then I wouldn't get in the way, and I wouldn't have to pretend to be brave anymore. I could help Pietro rebuild. Yeah, that sounded safe, and...

I clenched my fists, shaking my head. Who the hell was I trying to fool? I felt guilty enough at being almost completely useless to the people I journeyed with, never mind if I abandoned them for my own selfish wants. Even if they were totally okay with letting me stay behind, I'd beat myself up about it because I was just that stupid.

This place was ridiculously repetitive. Was I just going around in circles or something? If I tried to leave some sort of marker to check, I'd be caught...damn. I tried to find some other feature of the hall I was in to go by, but to no avail. Every light on the wall was set at a regular interval, the floors polished enough to show my reflection, the disabled cameras stationed at every corner. Everything was exactly the same. Fine, then. I'd just have to go in one direction for as long as possible, and then I'd have to get somewhere.

Hm, Kratos and Lloyd (and hopefully Sheena was with them, too) must have drawn a lot of attention to themselves. No alarms had gone off in this part of the ranch for a while, and as a result I'd only had to dodge a few Desians. I hoped they were okay, but I was thankful to the others for drawing attention away from myself, even if it was unintentional.

Another intersection was up ahead...I could turn left or right. I was right handed, so...I'd pick right. Heh, my reasoning made so much sense.

Wait. Voices? Yeah, those were voices up ahead, coming from the right. My pathetic reasoning would've gotten me killed. I ducked through a random door as the sounds came closer, tensing as it automatically hissed shut behind me.

Good, I had stepped into some sort of storage closet. A bunch of neglected looking equipment sat in the corner, the room illuminated with a single dim light. It was actually sort of dusty in here, I noted with surprise. Well, at least I had the comfort of knowing no one would come waltzing in anytime soon. Satisfied with my surroundings, I cautiously leaned closer to the door in an attempt to discern when it would be safe to leave.

I recognized the soft tapping of shoes coming closer. They'd pass by any second now, and soon after I could get out of this musty room. As I listened, the voice slowly became clearer, its smooth tone causing my insides to freeze.

Kvar was out there. He was _right there_, outside this door.

It didn't sound like anyone was walking with him, so he must've been speaking into an earpiece or something. Unless he had a cell phone and was chatting away with his girlfriends, which seemed highly unlikely. "idk, my bff Pronyma?" I think not.

Ugh, focus. Must avoid bastard Desian leader.

Leaning on the wall near the door, I listened as his footsteps gradually drew nearer. The seconds ticked by painfully slow, now that I knew just who was on the other side of that door. I just wanted him to go on his merry way so I could get the hell out of here and run in the opposite direction. This stupid room smelled so much like an unused attic, I half expected a bat to come flying down from the ceiling. The dust was really annoying--oh, crap.

No. I was not going to sneeze. I was _not _going to be indirectly killed by dust.

In that second, I tried everything: pinching my nose, rubbing it, sniffling; I even considered breaking it if it would shut me up, but I was way too much of a wuss, and the resulting scream would kind of defeat the purpose.

"Ah-ach--" I muffled the rest of the sneeze into my gloves, but a loud hiss still escaped.

The footsteps abruptly stopped. Shit.

Too scared to move, I waited where I was. He had to have heard me. He was going to open the door and then I'd be trapped, and he'd kill me, and I'd end up like all those other bodies Kratos had shoved into closets.

All was silent for a few seconds, and then the footsteps began again. He was continuing on his way. I breathed a quiet sigh of relief, thanking every god or deity I could think up at that moment. Man, that was a close call. Note to self: avoid dusty rooms from now on. Your nose will betray you.

Hell, who was I kidding? I probably would've coughed randomly if there hadn't been any dust. That always used to happen whenever we had lockdown drills back when I was still in school. Everyone would sit in their nifty hiding spot in the corner of the classroom, and I'd suddenly have that annoying tickle in my throat and start coughing my brains out. Or my stomach would growl. Or I'd have a cold, and be constantly sniffling. Seriously, if some kid had been on the rampage with an assault rifle, I would've gotten us all killed.

Hey, that was one good thing about this world. There were no guns, so no one had instant death at their fingertips. I mean, if the Desians were able to mow people down with machine guns, I'd have a face full of lead right now. Really, if Cruxis had guns, we'd be screwed. Yuan would make a cool James Bond, though. And I had a hunch Kratos was secretly Chuck Norris. He kicked way too much ass, even if he was a four thousand year-old seraph.

Yggdrasill? He'd make an excellent prison bitch. But that's just my opinion. Well, I guess I could give him the benefit of the doubt; maybe he looked more masculine in person. But I was pretty sure that he looked like Britney Spears. That guy was pretty much a win-win for bisexuals...looks like a chick, is actually a dude! No freakin' way!

I wish making fun of my enemies really covered up all the fear festering beneath the surface. If I had been joking aloud, my laughter would've been nervous. Regardless of what the Cruxis assholes looked like, I had a feeling I'd want to piss myself when I first saw them.

Finally remembering what I was supposed to be doing, I shook my head and leaned close to the door again. Nothing. Good, I'd been rambling in my head long enough for the coast to be clear.

Since Kvar had come from the right of that intersection, I'd go to the left...just in case he'd been coming from his office. I really didn't want to end up there on my own, no sir. Even though messing around on his computer sounded kind of fun. He probably had cheap pornography stored somewhere on there. I always knew Kvar was a perverted old bastard when it came down to it. Wait, we weren't on Earth, there was no internet to download that stuff off of. Awww. Okay, maybe he had love letters to Lloyd...nah, that sounded more like something Yuan would have. "You're mine, Lloyd!" Heh heh.

Right then, enough slacking. It was time for me to get going, and hopefully regroup with the others. Stepping forward, I pressed the 'open' button on the small control pad next to the door. It slid open instantly with a barely audible hiss, and I stepped out into the hall, turning in the direction I intended to go. Maybe if I hurried, I could get out of here before Raine blew the place up.

"I thought I heard something."

I froze, eyes going wide. No. I'd misheard, that wasn't him. He'd left already, hadn't he? Right?

There was no way to avoid it. My heart felt like it had stopped; I turned around slowly, and met the terrible eyes of Kvar. Had he been standing there the entire time, waiting for me to come out? Why did this always happen to me?! You'd think I would've learned the first time, back when I had been chased through the woods...

He was smirking, like always. I tried to make some sort of retort, but my voice failed me. I was alone. With Kvar.

Sure, this wasn't the first time I'd been on my own, but back then I had also been an ignorant amnesiac. And even when I had regained my memory, I hadn't seen the whole rib-breaking thing coming at all. Now I knew just how cruel this guy was, and I had seen people die because of him, and I knew this wasn't a goddamn video game anymore.

Oh God, oh God, oh God. I was going to die.

My knees went weak, and I actually felt dizzy with fear at the sight of this man. I suppressed the urge to throw up; although it would be awesome to blow chunks all over the front of Kvar's nasty Desian outfit, it probably wouldn't be worth the painful death that followed. Not that it would really make a difference. I was dead either way.

"K...Kvar." I said, my voice sounding mechanical. I held my sword weakly in front of me, barely maintaning my grip on it. The blade was the only thing between me and possibly the most cruel man I had ever met.

"It seems you have a knack for being in the wrong place at the wrong time..." His smirk grew as he began to approach me, electric currents running through his staff. "Now, perhaps you could be so kind as to tell me where your friends are."

He didn't know? Thank God, that meant Sheena had gotten out okay. But that didn't help me much...

I lifted my sword a little, gripping it with more force, hoping to look at least a little dangerous. Kvar continued forward, not hesitating in the least. He knew I was going to start backing away. And I did.

"Go to hell," I said, but the threatening note in my voice was lost when it came out just above a terrified whisper.

"Where is the boy? Tell me where Lloyd is, and I'll consider letting you go."

I remained silent, glaring at him, trying not to tremble.

"...I see. Of course, I could always obtain the information by force." His eyes had a cold gleam as they followed my movements. "I never did punish you for that...scratch you gave me."

Scratch? I was pretty sure it had been a moderately deep gash, but he could tell himself whatever he wanted. In any case, it had been a stupid move on my part; healing magic had obviously cleared it up, and now I just had a pissed off Kvar left to deal with.

In other words, oh shit.

The Grand Cardinal lifted his staff, and I knew he was going to cast. My mind flashed through all the spells I knew he was capable of using; he specialized in the lightning type, but he'd revealed that he was also capable of mid-level fire and wind types. There was only so much Guardian would do for me before I ran out of...TP, mana, whatever.

Doing the first thing that came to mind, I turned around and ran.

"Wrong move," I heard him say, and suddenly a bolt of concentrated lightning shot past my head, barely missing me. I winced as the heat from it burned my skin, and I could tell from the smell in the air that some of my hair had been singed as well.

Attempting to ignore the pain, I dashed towards the intersection ahead, turning left. There was the sound of footsteps behind me, but they were going at a slow, leisurely pace. Kvar apparently wasn't too worried about me escaping. Had I chosen the wrong way?

"Thunder Blade!" My thoughts were cut off as a giant sword appeared out of nowhere, blocking my path. It probably would've split me in two, if I hadn't known what was coming.

"Guardian!" I yelled desperately, trying to keep the shield up as I dodged around the sword. I managed to avoid the shockwave that followed the impact, and continued sprinting down the hall. If Kvar was too sure of himself to chase me, well, I'd have to take advantage of that.

It didn't last long. After a few hallways of this, I could tell he was getting irritated with my persistence. His footsteps sped up, and I frantically tried to increase my pace as well. I couldn't keep this up for long. A few months of travelling in Sylvarant had done me some good, but before I came here I was never much of a runner. I didn't know anything about how to pace myself correctly so I wouldn't get exhausted early on.

I took another left, and Kvar was outright running now. My eyes widened as a horrifying realization struck me.

Dead end.

My dream flashed through my head, and I wondered I should have tried harder to decipher it, if it had in fact been prophetic. This made no sense, though! The Desians wouldn't build a random dead end in the middle of their ranch!

My panicked thoughts came to an abrupt halt as I saw what was on the ground at the end of the hall. It was a circular device built into the floor, something I'd seen here many times before: a warp pad. Oh, thank God, it wasn't really a dead end.

I ran over to it with a final burst of strength, coming to stand on top of it, and turned to face Kvar. He had slowed down substantially, watching me with callous amusement. What had gone wrong now--!

Oh, no. I looked down at the pad benath my feet, and saw that all the lights on it were dark. It lacked its usual glow, which was why I hadn't seen it right away when I first turned down this hallway. It was turned off. I wasn't going anywhere.

"How sad," Kvar chuckled, "after all this, your efforts have been rendered futile. Do you see now why you should have cooperated in the beginning?"

I tried to glare at him, but found that I was too scared to meet his eyes for long. There was nowhere I could run. I was trapped; if I tried to go around him, I'd be caught.

Kvar continued to advance, preparing another spell. I wouldn't be able to dodge this time. "Now, then...tell me where my Exsphere is hiding."

I remained still, my lips sealed shut. Even if I told him everything I knew, I highly doubted he'd just let me go...

He didn't seem surprised at my lack of a response. "Still silent, hmm? Very well, I suppose we could try a little...shock therapy."

My hands clenched into fists, and I prepared myself for the worst. Kvar's lips twisted into a sadistic smile as he lifted his staff, and I could already feel the electrical charge in the air.

"Spark Wave!"

Just as I started to feel heat prickling on my skin, a light flashed below me. Kvar's eyes widened in disbelief, and I looked down to see that the warp had turned on. I was quickly teleported out of the area before Spark Wave had a chance to affect me.

I arrived in a new place, stepping off of the pad and attempting to recover from the strange sensation of being warped. Where was I now?

Never mind, that could wait. There were more important matters at hand--Kvar.

I swung around, doing the first thing that came to mind. Stepping forward, I drove my sword into the glass circle that made up the warp pad. It cracked, just as the ones in the game had done at the Tower. Now it was unuseable; I couldn't leave wherever I was, but thankfully Kvar couldn't follow me. For the time being, I was safe.

Sighing with relief, I slumped to the floor. My heart continued to beat rapidly, random muscles twitching in my legs. I was alive. Somehow, I had survived.

I shook my head. No, I couldn't celebrate just yet. It wasn't over; I was still in the ranch, and Kvar was still out there somewhere. Hell, we might run into each other again. I had to make sure that I was more prepared next time. If I kept going it alone like this, sooner or later I was going to get killed.

Okay. First of all, where had the warp taken me?

Reluctantly standing up, I walked forward to survey the room. My legs were on fire...how was I going to keep this whole thing up? Until now, I'd spent the entire time running like a madwoman from almost every enemy I encountered. The whole thing with Kvar had caused me to expend the last of my strength. The adrenaline that had previously fueled me was gone now.

Wait a minute. This room...seemed kinda familiar. There was a big important looking desk further in, and a projector was over to the left, along with a lot of shiny computers...

I groaned. So the left passageway had led to Kvar's office, after all. My sense of direction really sucked.

It made sense, though, now that I thought about it. The warp pad hadn't worked at first, because the security system hadn't been deactivated. Apparently I had perfect timing, and the others had pressed both switches not long after I stepped on to the pad. Great, now Kvar was probably really pissed. Not only had I evaded him again, I'd essentially locked him out of his own office.

Not knowing what to do, I walked further into the room, examining the different things in it. I was in Kvar's office and main control room; maybe I could find a way to use this to my advantage. It looked like there was another warp I could use to get out. It had probably been activated at the same time as the main one. Okay, so I had to move fast if I was going to do anything in this place. Kvar would be headed here or at least sending some soldiers here soon, without a doubt.

I might be able to hack into one of the computers and try to mess up some things...augh, if only they had internet here. I could've downloaded a bunch of viruses in less than a minute.

A faint beep coming from behind me caused me to tense. I swung around, only to see that the projector was turning on. Someone was trying to contact Kvar? Oh shit, it was Pronyma! She was the last person I wanted to chat with right now. I hastily ducked behind the desk, attempting to breathe as silently as possible.

There was a second, louder beep, and I could tell the machine had fully turned on now. If I had peeked over the side of the desk, I would've seen the image of Pronyma floating in the air.

"Kvar."

Whoa, was I wrong. That was Yuan's voice!

"...Not here? Hmph, the Cardinals are becoming less and less competent..."

Heh, that was Yuan, all right. But why was he contacting Kvar? I thought Pronyma was supposed to call him out on the whole conspiracy with Rodyle--ohhhhh. The Renegades were manipulating Rodyle to build the Mana Cannon, and Kvar was working with Rodyle, so...yeah. Awesome, it was nice knowing exactly what was going on.

"The chair is still moving, imbecile."

It took me a moment to realize Yuan was addressing me. My mouth opened in a gape, and I stared in alarm at Kvar's chair; it was still turning from when I'd nudged it in my rush to get behind the desk. Crap. Okay, calm down. Yuan couldn't hurt me. I just had to improvise.

I quickly stood up, revealing myself, and faced the Renegade leader. Neat, the projection made him all...projection-y. Wow, it was a good thing no one here could read my thoughts...

Yuan was watching me with his arms crossed--when didn't he have his arms crossed? Anyway, he was very attractive, I'd say on par with Kratos. How could a guy have such pretty hair? It wasn't fair!

"I wasn't hiding, I just dropped something." I spoke, locking eyes with him. He raised an eyebrow, but made no more comments on my idiocy.

"Where is Kvar?"

"Uh, he's not here right now. I can take a message if you like."

"Fool. How stupid do you think I am? You're clearly a human."

I cursed my short hair. If it had been longer, I might've been able to hide my ears and trick him.

"The offer still stands, though." I gave him a cheeky smile, unafraid. He couldn't hurt me via the projection, after all. "Kvar's not gonna be back for a while. He's sort of busy, y'know, being a bastard."

Yuan looked away for a minute, and I watched him, puzzled. He seemed to be looking at a computer that wasn't visible to me.

"A break in. I see." He said after a short moment, frowning thoughtfully. Whoa, he could check the status of all the ranches? I wondered if, say, Pronyma could do that from wherever her stronghold was. Why didn't aid ever come from the other ranches? Then again, all of the Grand Cardinals were in a constant power struggle. They probably wouldn't have cared if another ranch was being attacked.

The Renegade leader looked back up at me. "Lloyd is there as well, I presume?"

"Lloyd? Lloyd who?" I asked, feigning ignorance.

Apparently my act was pretty crappy, because Yuan took that as a yes. "Hm...I cannot allow him to die just yet." He muttered to himself, quietly enough that I probably wouldn't have heard him if I hadn't been paying careful attention.

"The warp to your right will only activate with a four digit passcode." Yuan told me, "It's changed daily for security reasons, but the current code can be found on Kvar's personal computer. I will open the file for you."

I watched him in shock; was Yuan actually helping me? "Wait a minute, why are you helping me? Who are you, anyway?"

"That's hardly something you need to know." He answered, becoming testy at my behavior. I couldn't blame him; could he tell I was only pretending to be utterly clueless?

"Be grateful that I'm helping you at all." He typed a few things into the computer I couldn't see, and suddenly Kvar's computer turned on. The cursor moved on its own, as if it were on autopilot, but I could tell Yuan was controlling it.

Oh, I understood now. He wanted me to mess up Kvar's plans so Lloyd would be okay. After all, if Lloyd died, Yuan's blackmail opportunity died as well. Fine, I'd go along with it.

A new window opened on the computer, and four large numbers appeared in red: 4428. All right, that was easy enough to remember.

"Exit the room through the warp and take the left passageway. That will take you away from most of Kvar's troops."

"How do I know I can trust you?" I asked, narrowing my eyes in fake suspicion. I had to keep up the act; any normal person would be at least a little wary.

Yuan turned away from me, but I could easily picture the irritated expression on his face. "Do you have any other choice? Get moving." The projection began to fade, but he looked over his shoulder at me just before he left. "There's an earpiece on the desk. I advise you to use it." With that, he was gone.

I watched the projector for a second or two, before snorting. "What a jerk." I grinned. Yuan had never gotten enough screentime in the game.

That settled it, Yuan was my new favorite character. He'd just totally saved my ass.

Hmm, what had he meant by using the earpiece? I examined the items on the desk, and immediately recognized the small device. Okay, so I could use that to communicate with Kvar. Yeah, like I really wanted to do that. I should've asked Yuan about it before he left...on second thought, he probably would've told me to figure it out myself. Damn.

Turning the earpiece over in my hands, I immediately began to grasp how it worked. It looked like there was a red button to turn it on and off, a little blue button to speak, and then two to adjust the volume. Simple enough...wait, I had an idea!

I put the earpiece to my ear, turning it on, and listened carefully. Sure enough, I was able to eavesdrop on several Desians. It seemed Kvar wasn't speaking right now, but it didn't matter; if he gave any orders, I would hear them. Oh, Yuan, I love you. Even if you're just using me, I still love you.

So I could use this little thing to navigate the ranch...if Kvar ordered his soldiers to go somewhere, I would avoid that area. And maybe I could get an idea of where the others were!

I stood up straighter, feeling like I'd gotten a second wind. Hell yeah, I could do this. I was gonna survive this.

Now I just had to get out of here before Desian troops showed up. Right, so I just had to enter the passcode. I found the panel in the wall next to the warp, and typed in the numbers Yuan had shown me. There was a beep, and a small light on the warp flashed green before it fully turned on. I stepped on to it, readying my sword in case there were enemies waiting for me on the other side.

----

**A/N: And thus ends the first half of the second trip to the Asgard Ranch...wow. I was really expecting to tackle the battle with Kvar in this chapter, but it ended up being really long. XD sooo, I'm thinking the big fight will happen towards the end of the next chapter. **

**YUAN RULES. :D I swear, he's gonna show up more in this than in the game. Even if he's kind of hard to write. He's just so sarcastic and awesome. XD**

**Next time: "Feel the pain of those inferior beings..."**


	15. Retribution

**A/N: Aghhh...so tired...2:30 in the morning....**

**Hahaha yeah, I think I'll go pass out the second I'm done with this. Point is, the Kvar battle was being a bitch so I wrote most of it in one sitting and ended up staying up way too late. XD Fight scenes are so hard to write. D:**

**Anyway, enjoy the newest chapter! :3**

**Disclaimer: I don't own ToS. If I did, Kvar would've been tortured and humiliated in unspeakable ways. :D**

----

When I stumbled off the warp pad, I was pleased to find that the hallway was completely empty. I clipped the earpiece to my ear and left it turned on, then followed Yuan's directions and turned right. Man, this would be so much easier if I just had a map.

Wait a second! I had another idea. I turned around and hurried back through the warp to Kvar's office, rushing up to the computer Yuan had hacked into. The Professor had pulled up a map on the control room computer, right? So I should be able to do it on this one, too. How had she done it?

Frowning, I went through a few of Kvar's stored files. The computers here were sort of weird; I was so used to the whole desktop setup, with the taskbar at the bottom and random icons scattered wherever you wanted them. The display on this computer was pretty boring in comparison. It didn't have an open background where you could put a picture. Then again, maybe that was better; I didn't want to think of what Kvar would set as his background. Probably a picture of himself, because he's just that conceited.

Aha! Here it was! I had found the file containing the ranch map. Grinning victoriously, I clicked on it, and began to study the picture that popped up carefully. This map actually looked normal, unlike the 3-D one the Professor had brought up earlier. My grin faded after a good two seconds; once again, this ranch was friggin' huge. I couldn't commit all this to memory...damn, wasn't there something I could do? Under normal circumstances I'd just print it out, but this was Sylvarant, and it didn't look like Kvar had a printer.

Determined, I grabbed a random piece of paper off the Grand Cardinal's desk, snatching a ballpoint pen as well. Wow, they had pens while the rest of the people in this world were probably writing with quills...focus, dammit.

There had to be some way I could make this work. I glanced up at the map on the screen, then back down at the paper. I wasn't really a bad artist, I could probably reproduce the map pretty well, but not when I was pressed for time. Okay...well, the entire place had the same general structure, sort of like the way a city is constructed on a grid. It was divided into...let's see, twelve sectors, four on each floor. Man, I was getting a headache already.

Kratos had remembered everything here perfectly well, hadn't he? I mean, the few times he'd been here, it had probably been back when Anna had been alive. Even he couldn't memorize a ranch this big in that short a time. Sure, he might've been forced to come here recently for Cruxis investigations or something, but still, he hadn't been here that much. And I highly doubted he'd just been leading the way earlier, with no clue of where he was going. Kratos just wasn't that type of guy.

My brow furrowed as I studied the map some more. The rooms really weren't important for me to know; I just needed to be aware of the location of Kvar's office and where the prisoners were held, as well as the entrances and exits to the ranch. The hallways were what had previously confused me. And since they were in such an obvious pattern, I could copy them down easily, and I wouldn't get lost again.

Awesome. Now I was getting somewhere. In about a minute or two, I had a basic sketch of each floor of the ranch done. Each of the places I needed to know were labeled, and so were the numbers of the different sectors. Right, it was time to get out of here.

----

After going through the warp a second time(I hated warps, they were so disorienting), I followed Yuan's directions once again. My makeshift map was folded up and shoved into my pocket. I had already memorized the route I had to take to get to my destination.

I had located the area on the map where Sheena, Lloyd, Kratos and I had all nearly been trapped. There were two other directions they could've gone when they escaped; I was pretty sure they wouldn't have gone back the way we'd come. First I was going to try a route to passageway number one, and later I'd check out number two. It was the only lead I had...maybe if I tried to retrace their steps, I'd run into them. It was worth a shot.

Left...right...left...left...

Navigation of the ranch became a montonous pattern, but the constant danger kept it from becoming boring. I had to hide from Desians more and more often as I progressed. Was that a positive sign, meaning I was getting closer to the others? I couldn't be sure. Kvar hadn't uttered a word over the earpiece since I'd put it on, but several higher rank Desians (I recognized the voice of the commander from before) had dished out orders. It had been so easy to evade them when I knew exactly when they would be coming.

I ducked into another room, clearing the hallway for the oncoming squad of soldiers. Hm, it looked like this time I'd entered some sort of lounge. It looked so out of place here, reminding me of Yuan's rooms at the Triet base. What the...was that a minibar?! Jesus, these Desians were freaking spoiled! This was so unfair.

Well, fine, then. I'd make it fair. I walked up to the minibar, deciding to steal some random drinks for myself. Damn, now that I thought about it, I was really thirsty. And sort of hungry.

I shook my head, sighing. Now really wasn't the time for that. No, what I should really have been doing was trying to find something useful here.

Grabbing a can of the most sugary looking drink (huh? It couldn't have been soda, right?), I proceeded to investigate the room I had entered.

It looked almost like a small apartment, minus the bedrooms. There was a living room area with several sofas and a coffee table between them, and there was a small kitchen with some basic appliances. I stared longingly at the modern looking bathroom, wishing I had time to take a hot shower. Alas, with my luck, that would be the very place where the Desians would catch me. And then I'd be screwed in every sense of the word.

There wasn't much here that would help me, besides the food and drinks. I'd might as well take advantage of that, anyway. I decided to grab some more stuff out of the minibar, so I could give it to the others later. After all that running, they must've been pretty thirsty. Well, probably not Kratos, but whatever. He was practically invincible anyway.

Coffee grinds? Ooh, I was definitely taking those. With the help of coffee, maybe I could actually be awake during our morning training sessions. Assuming I actually made it out of here. No, I _would_ make it out of here.

Enough stalling, then. It was time to move on. This time when I went to leave, I listened carefully at the door before peeking out to make sure. I wouldn't be caught off guard like that again; twice was enough.

The hallway was clear. Hell yeah, it was go time.

Contrary to my inner thoughts, I timidly stepped out into the passage, looking around again. According to the map, left was the way to go. After walking for a little while, I finally came to another intersection, and realized I'd finally reached passageway number one. There was a fifty percent chance this was the way the others had gone; hopefully luck was on my side.

_"Sven! It's been fifteen minutes. Your report?"_ The voice of the commander rang in my ear, and I listened in to yet another exchange.

_"Commander Agmund, sir! Lord Kvar's office is completely empty."_

Sven? Agmund? Weird names. Then again, half elves were an entirely different race. Raine, Genis, Yuan and Mithos weren't exactly mainstream either. Although Raine was a pretty cool name. Raaaaine.

_"What?! How has that stupid girl managed to leave undetected?!"_

Hey! I wasn't the one who wore the friggin' Desian Orb as a necklace and lost it, TWICE. I was surprised the bastard hadn't been demoted.

_"Sir, we haven't been able to find a trace of her. There's also evidence that Lord Kvar's personal computer has been accessed, as well."_

_"Impossible! How would she know the passcode?"_

_"It's a mystery, sir. She shouldn't have even been able to use either of the warps."_

_"Hmm. And what of the others?"_

_"Calder and Lyall and their squads have reported a few sightings to me...we have reason to believe their group has split up."_

_"A foolish mistake. We'll crush them like the insects they are."_

_"Yes, sir. The Chosen is in one group, and the boy with the Exsphere is in the other. Which one shall my squad go after?"_

_"No, no. I want you to find that idiotic girl. Hunt her down, dammit. She's becoming too much of a nuisance."_

_"...Yes, sir."_

The transmission ended with a quiet beep, and the earpiece went silent again. I frowned. So now I had some dude named Sven after me, with a squad of Desians. Great. Not that I wasn't in danger before, but now I actually had someone hunting me down personally, not just any of the intruders. Stupid commander.

I wondered how smart this Sven guy was--no. Not Sven. If I started thinking about him as a person and had to kill him later...ugh, just what kind of person was I becoming?

Never mind that. I just had more reason to hurry onward. If they'd only just investigated Kvar's office, I had a pretty decent head start on them. I was okay for now.

The drab gray hallway extended for several hundred feet, and then there was another turn. I walked at a moderate pace, alert and straining all of my senses. Reaching the turn, I stopped abruptly. Was that...blood?

Yeah, it was faint, but it was definitely blood. It looked like it might have been wiped up. Huh...hold on a second. I cracked open the nearest doorway, and felt something leaning against it, as if it had been shoved inside too small of a space. It was a storage area, and the smell indicated there was probably a corpse on the other side of the door. I eyed the blood again. That was most definitely Kratos's handiwork.

This discovery actually made me happy, which was kind of sick now that I thought about it, but still...Kratos! I closed the door again, and bent down to the floor, mopping up the faint bloodstain with the hem of my coat. He'd probably told one of the others to clean it up while he disposed of the body; otherwise, the job would've been flawless. I probably wouldn't be catching any more obvious signs of the group from now on, though. At least I knew I was on the right track.

I continued down the passage, straining my eyes for any indication of the others. The bloodstain I'd spotted remained the only clue. No footprints, no scraps of clothing, not even a hair was left behind. They were really being careful. I briefly wondered if I was taking the right precautions as well, or if Kratos would be scolding me right now. There really was no way to know, was there? Well, I had the advantage of the earpiece, and hopefully that would make up for it.

As if to prove my point, a voice I recognized as Sven's came out of the small device. It had been another fifteen minutes, I estimated; it looked like I'd be getting regular updates on where not to go and how close I was to being caught. Neat.

_"Commander, there's no sign of the girl!"_

_"What is your location?"_

_"Sector six, passage 3E."_

_"Very well. Head to 7D, and report to me in another fifteen minutes."_

_"Sir?"_

_"She probably met up with one of the groups by now. The boy is your new task."_

_"Understood."_

The transmission ended once again with a beep, and I frowned a little. So Sven was after Lloyd now, which meant we were after the same group. That only increased the chances of me running into his squad.

I got out my makeshift map, unfolding it carefully. The number-letter combination the hallways were labeled by had a pattern to it too, so I was able to find the places they'd been talking about with relative ease.

3E...That was a passage near the warp I'd taken out of Kvar's room. It was the hall Yuan had told me to take in order to avoid most of the Desians. Well, it was a good thing I hadn't taken my time.

7D? I froze. That was the hall I was in now. Right, time to get the hell out of this general area.

After breaking out into a run and taking several turns away from that place, I retreated into another room to rest and think some things through. Crap, it was another storage room. This one wasn't quite so dusty, though. That was good. The Desian corpses in the corner didn't really help, though.

My nose wrinkled, and I put a hand to my forehead as a wave of nausea swept over me. This was horrible; how could Kratos do stuff like this? Ugh.

I turned back toward the door, determined to have some sort of plan before I left this room. Sven was after Lloyd. The commander had ordered him to go to 7D. Did that mean he thought Lloyd was there? Had I really been that close?

What should I do, then? I'd definitely keep trying to find Lloyd and the others, but I really didn't want them to get killed or imprisoned before I could do that...okay, I'd use my advantage to throw off their pursuers. How was I going to do that, though?

I eyed the corpses again. Dear God, I was so going to hell...

----

Ten minutes later, I strolled down the halls of sector five, adjacent to the one I'd just been in. Several articles of bloody Desian clothing were shoved into my bag. I'd dropped a few at random, trying not to make it obvious that I was creating a false trail.

After doing so, I ran like hell to a new area before anyone could see me. The response to my actions was instant; I distracted several squads, including Sven's. Now I just had to try and find the real trail, and eventually the others.

_"Pieces of clothing?" _Commander Agmund growled from the earpiece, sounding frustrated._ "Where are the bodies?"_

_"We found Lyall and his wife in one of the storage units,"_ Sven answered gravely.

_"No! Those...those humans...!"_ A third voice, one I recognized as Calder's, spoke up. He sounded as if he were choking back a sob. The commander issued out more orders, sending the two to different areas, and the transmission ended.

Guilt and horror plagued me. Lyall and his...? Had those two been the bodies I'd stolen from? I had forced myself to look away from their faces, I hadn't even realized one of them was a woman...

I hated this so much. I just wanted to get out of here.

_"Agmund, it's been nearly an hour. I had thought this task should be simple enough for even you to handle, but I suppose I was wrong..."_ Kvar's voice drawled over the earpiece, the first time I'd heard him since putting it on. I tensed, listening carefully as I walked.

_"L-Lord Kvar! There have been...complications, sir--"_

_"Hm. I'm sure there have,"_ Kvar replied, patronizing even to his own men, _"but I'd rather you stop following false trails."_

_"The clothing...?"_

_"Merely a distraction. The fools are truly in sector six, headed for my office. I want you to block off all passages leading out of sector five; that girl is becoming extremely irritating."_

_"Yes, sir!"_ Beep. The connection was cut off, leaving me worried for the others. Of course, I'd forgotten...Kvar's room was where they would be going. They didn't know he'd left his office, and they certainly didn't know I'd broken the warp. What if they got stuck in that dead end like I almost had?

I wasn't too worried about myself; just because all the hallways were blocked off, that didn't mean I couldn't get out of the sector. There was another passage through one of the rooms that I could take. It wouldn't be guarded, because I wasn't supposed to know about it.

Shaking my head, I decided to try and catch up with the others so I could warn them. At this rate, they'd be trapped. I set off in the direction of the room I needed to go through.

----

The room I stepped into ended up being some sort of control room, illuminated by the many computer screens scattered on the walls. It was a pretty small area, and I gave the monitors a curious glance before moving on. It wasn't worth it; if I tried messing with them, the Desians would probably detect it the way they did with the Professor. It was best to just keep going.

I turned to the next door. According to the map, this would lead to a relatively large room, and then there would be another door leading out into the other sector. I shrugged, pressing the button to open the door. It slid open, and I stepped through.

The new room wasn't just large, it was _huge._ My eyes widened, and my stomach sank. Something about this place seemed familiar...

The door behind me shut on its own, the light above it changing from green to red. Had it locked itself? I turned and tried to open it, but it wouldn't budge. It looked like I had no choice but to keep moving...maybe it was just set to automatically lock.

I stepped forward a little, reluctantly surveying the giant chamber. There were a bunch of big glass cylinders lined up in rows, filled with a weird luminescent liquid. Hold on...some of them were filled with...

I came to a halt, feeling dizzy. There were hundreds of them. Humans were suspended in that liquid.

All I could think was how that could've been me. If I hadn't escaped...no, if I didn't escape now, I could very well end up in one of those things.

That was how I knew this place...this room was from a scene in the OVA. I remembered now; Lloyd gets lured in here by Kvar and then gets the shit beaten out of him.

"Agh..." A weak groan caught my attention, and the sinking feeling in my stomach worsened. Oh, God, of all the places for me to end up...

"So you've come." Kvar's voice rang out, echoing in the chamber. I forced down another wave of nausea, and walked forward into the open area ahead where the Grand Cardinal was waiting. He'd known I was coming? And hadn't he said Lloyd was with the others...?

Kvar's eyes came to rest on me the second I came into view, and he watched me with cold amusement as I approached. I stopped when I saw a body laying at my feet, and felt myself pale with alarm.

This was where that groan had come from. I knew what was supposed to happen to Lloyd here, but part of me had been hoping he wouldn't be in such bad shape. He was laying in a heap on the ground, a puddle of blood spreading around him from a deep wound on his side. Several of the cylinders over here had been smashed, and judging from the pieces of glass jutting out of Lloyd's skin, he'd been hurled into them. His clothes and skin were badly burnt, a likely aftereffect of powerful electric shocks.

The red clad boy squinted a little as my shadow fell over his form. He weakly looked up at me, eyes dazed. "Brittany...?"

I noticed that his Exsphere was still firmly planted in his hand, and nearly sighed with relief. At least Kvar hadn't won just yet.

The Grand Cardinal ignored Lloyd for the moment, tapping the butt of his staff lightly against the floor to catch my attention. The action sent a wave of static through the ground, and I felt the hairs on my neck stand on end. The earpiece sparked and burned my ear, causing me to yelp and rip it off.

"Ah. Just as I thought." Kvar eyed the device in my hand, smug. "Not a bad idea, but you evaded our forces a little too well, girl."

"You set this up..." I murmured, and his smirk confirmed my suspicions. My hands curled into fists. I had been so confident, thinking I had the advantage, when in actuality Kvar had been a step ahead the entire time. He'd caught on to my strategy, and purposely lied about the location of the others during his conversation with the commander. He knew I'd take this route, the only available way out of sector five.

"Correct. Now, stand aside...I'll deal with you after I'm done with the boy."

I shuddered a little, and stepped in front of Lloyd instead. Of course, I'd much rather run and hide, but there really was no way I could escape from this situation. All the doors were probably locked. Maybe I could hold him off until the others got here...I just had to protect Lloyd. Even though Lloyd was stronger than me and had gotten beaten up anyway. Even though I was so scared I could hardly breathe.

"No. You'll deal with me first." My voice sounded hollow, emotionless. I could only wish I felt that way. It was difficult to speak when my mouth was so dry.

His smirk fell a little, and he began to approach. "Stubborn wretch...have it your way."

I lifted my sword, bracing myself for the beating I was about to get. Lloyd stirred again behind me; I tried to focus on the ruthless bastard headed straight for me. Kvar was taking his time, but he could attack at any moment.

"Brittany...don't..." Lloyd coughed, reaching for my leg, as if he could stop me from moving forward. I stepped away and reached into my bag, hastily throwing him my only lemon gel.

"Don't die, Lloyd..." I quoted Kratos, my eyes still focused on Kvar. "...'cause I'm pretty sure I'm going to."

Unable to stand still anymore, I rushed forward before Kvar could get any closer to the teenager behind me. The Desian leader only paused, smirk growing, and watched me advance. Wasn't he going to move, or do something? I hesitated for a brief moment, enough to see something moving from the outskirts of my peripheral vision. Oh, no--could it be--?!

A bright light engulfed me, my entire body immediately going numb. I was able to catch a brief glance of three Energy Stones before my vision began to flicker in and out. Was this what it felt like to be electrocuted?

"Lightning Strike!" A shout from Kvar briefly caught my attention, sounding incredibly far away. The light intensified. My muscles locked up, and suddenly all the numbness turned into excruciating pain. I tried to gasp or scream, anything to distract myself from that feeling, but it felt like my lungs were frozen. The agony continued to worsen, a tingling so sharp it felt like billions of tiny needles stabbing into my skin. It hurt so much and oh God, why wouldn't it just end, _why couldn't I die--_

A cold, hard wall hit me, jarring me back into coherent thought. It took a moment for my disoriented mind to register that the wall was actually the floor. Realizing I could finally breathe again, I desperately took large gulps of lifesaving air.

Unpleasantly loud footsteps reminded me that I was not alone. From my position on the ground, I could see Kvar's boots coming closer and closer. I had to get up-- why wouldn't my arms or legs move?! I tried feebly to do something, but I found that I was completely immobilized. It looked like the shock had caused my nervous system to go haywire...

The boots were only a few feet away now. I gave up on my struggles, eyelids slipping half shut. Maybe I wouldn't feel the finishing blow. Maybe if I died, I would wake up in my bed on Earth, and everything would be all right...

Kvar was looking down at me, sneering. "....re......val.....let.....olent......og.....th....Ke.......res....ff."

What....what was he saying? His lips moved, but I couldn't...Oh. My mind finally seemed to catch up, and I understood his words with perfect clarity.

_Were you not valuable, I would let you die like the insolent dog you are._

Fuck you, Kvar.

_That petty Key Crest will have to come off._

He was bending over--

"No!!" I managed to shout, only to find that another stronger voice had joined mine. Kvar's image was replaced by a blur of red and silver: Lloyd, wielding his blades. The lemon gel had done him some good.

Unfortunately, it hadn't done quite enough. The Grand Cardinal promptly changed targets, dodging Lloyd's attacks and kicking him hard in the gut. The teenager cried out, the wound in his side swiftly tearing open again before it had a chance to heal. Now it was Lloyd on the floor with Kvar closing in. I twitched as the numbing pain in my muscles slowly ebbed away.

"My completed Exsphere has been perfectly preserved..." Kvar stopped, "Of course, there's no need for me to hesitate with you, boy."

I slowly pulled myself up into a kneeling position, acutely aware of the pain now focused on my right leg; I'd partially fallen on my sword. An alarming amount of blood was pouring out, and I wondered if an artery had been hit.

"You...b-bastard..." Lloyd reached up from the floor to grip the cloth of Kvar's pants, shaking. I recognized this; I knew what was going to happen next. The Desian leader's smirk dropped from his face, and he glared scornfully down at Lloyd before knocking him down on to his back.

Kvar hadn't noticed yet that I had gotten to my feet, managing to use my sword to stay upright. He lifted his staff, a sadistic smile spreading across his face.

"Die! You inferior insect!"

And now Kratos was going to appear, using a lightning spell to stop Kvar's attack.

Kvar plunged the butt of his staff downwards; the main door out of this room hadn't opened yet.

No. Where was Kratos? Where--

Oh, God, he wasn't going to come.

I ran forward desperately, not sure of what I was going to do, but positive that if Lloyd died I would never escape from this hell. Too weak to lift my sword, I let the blade drag on the cold metal floor; a loud screeching noise was produced, alerting Kvar to my advance. If he hadn't hesitated in that second, Lloyd would have been killed.

"Hunting Beast!" I cried, barely aware that I was using a new tech. I just needed something strong, something to stop him, _anything..._

I rammed into him with a shoulder, the blue lion appearing and knocking him backwards, and created a shockwave using my sword. The Grand Cardinal staggered backwards several feet, but used his staff to regain his balance. I grabbed Lloyd's hand, helping him to his feet while trying not to stumble myself. As soon as he was up, though, he ended up clutching my arm to steady me.

"Are you okay?" He looked at me with concern, his eyes much clearer than they had been moments ago.

"Hey, I should be asking you that." I pointed out, trying to pretend I was fine. The act was broken when my voice started to sound unsteady. And then there was that fountain of blood spewing out my leg, which Lloyd was beginning to notice.

Kvar was coming near once again, the Energy Stones circling around him. Lloyd frowned, snatching an apple gel out of my bag and shoving it into my hand. I got the message and hastily rubbed it on my leg, keeping a wary eye on the Desian leader as I did so. He didn't look too happy with me.

"We got some sort of plan, Lloyd?" I murmured, giving the boy next to me a sidelong glance. Kvar would be upon us in just a few seconds; we couldn't just run up and hack at him, obviously.

"I dunno..." He muttered back, frustrated. "Dammit, we can't take on those things, too..."

I looked up at the Energy Stones. That was definitely true. If I hadn't had my Exsphere, there was no way I would've survived that last shock. In any case, I didn't think I could pull it off again.

My normal strategy would be to take down the smaller enemies before the main boss, but in the game, electricity was unrealistic and only took away HP. It didn't cause temporary muscle paralysis and blindness. I hadn't been able to breathe...and wasn't the heart a muscle, too? If that was so much as briefly affected, it meant instant death.

No, we couldn't afford to turn our back on Kvar to destroy the Energy Stones.

"Let's just focus on their leader." I said reluctantly. If we killed Kvar, they'd probably stop attacking. But that was easier said than done.

"Thunder Blade!" Crap, he'd been casting! Lloyd and I dodged out of the way, simultaneously bringing up Guardian. Kvar smirked, having successfully separated us, and sent the Energy Stones after me while he pursued Lloyd.

I ran under the stones and evaded several bolts of lightning, attempting to reunite with Lloyd. We could hardly do this together, never mind alone. The second I turned away from the Energy Stones, I threw up a shield so I wouldn't be struck again.

Lloyd fought Kvar up ahead of me, barely able to keep up with the injuries he had. Kvar was fending off any and all attacks with ease. He brought up his staff and jabbed Lloyd hard in the stomach, causing the boy to fly backwards.

"Demon Fang!" I shouted, finally close enough to attack, but Kvar had already seen me coming; he stepped out of the way and swung the staff around, smashing me in the face. There was a sickening, audible crunch as my nose broke. I dropped my sword and reeled backwards, clutching my nose and letting out a choked cry. My vision blurred as tears began to form in my eyes. I hurriedly blinked them away, albeit with some difficulty; goddammit, it _hurt._ I could feel blood trickling down the back of my throat, making me want to throw up.

I remembered myself enough to dodge more lightning from the Energy Stones, but was still hit with another swipe from Kvar's staff. This time I fell to the floor beside Lloyd, who had barely gotten to his knees.

"Enough nonsense." Kvar was right in front of us. There was no time; Lloyd and I stared up at him, bracing ourselves for whatever was coming. "I'm going to finish this."

Oh, no, he was casting. And his strongest electrical attack was...

"Spark Wa--?!" Kvar suddenly jumped out of the way of what looked like Air Thrust, glaring behind us with slitted eyes. "You!"

Kratos, I love you. I take back all my insults and grumbled complaints.

Relief flooded through me as the mercenary rushed in front of us, beating Kvar back with Hell Pyre. Just as the Grand Cardinal recovered, he had a Cyclone Seal shoved in his face, courtesy of Sheena. The winds knocked the Energy Stones together, damaging them the same way it had damaged the raybits earlier.

"Healing Wind." Kratos was now at our side, having noticed the bad shape Lloyd and I were in. After a nice, healthy dose of healing magic, Lloyd was on his feet and running at Kvar with a newfound determination.

I, however, wasn't so lucky. My nose had been fixed up, but my leg continued to bleed. The mercenary frowned down at the wound, examining it.

"How long have you had this?"

"I don't know..." I answered weakly, "a few minutes, maybe."

He muttered a First Aid, one gloved hand hovering over the gash. "Don't let it reopen," he warned sternly, "you'll die if you lose any more blood."

"That's comforting." I remarked, but he ignored me and stood up. Right, we had a battle to fight, and Lloyd and Sheena were already getting beaten down. I managed to get to my feet once again, feeling substantially better from the healing spells.

Sheena had run up to use a Pyre Seal on Kvar, but balked when a bolt of lightning headed her way. Lloyd pulled her out of its path, looking puzzled when she shuddered and continued her attack. It looked like this battle was taking her on a little stroll down memory lane...if she was having trouble now, I couldn't imagine what it would be like when we actually fought Volt.

"Double Demon Fang!" Kratos joined the fray, only to be thrown back with a Lightning Strike by Kvar. The mercenary did one of those awesome midair flips, landing neatly on his feet before running forward to attack a second time. How the hell did he do that? It was physically impossible to just shrug off lightning...well, then again, he was an angel.

I shook my head and ran up to join the others, well aware of the Energy Stones that were finally recovering. If we didn't kill Kvar soon, this battle would get exponentially harder.

Screw it, I was spamming techs.

"Hunting Beast!" I yelled, catching the Desian in the back with my most powerful tech. I had incidentally knocked him within range of Kratos and Lloyd, who unleashed a Cross Thrust on him.

Despite all this, Kvar still recovered from the blow, hitting Lloyd with Lightning. This pissed Kratos off, and both he and Sheena lunged forward to attack while Lloyd recovered.

"Hey! Look out!" I called with alarm, spotting the Energy Stones behind them. It was too late; with a bright flash, they sent a bolt of concentrated lightning at the two. Kratos was thrown back and landed on his feet again, staggering a little this time. Sheena, however, lay motionless on the ground.

"Sheena!" Lloyd cried, getting up and running at Kvar in a blind rage. Kratos swiftly moved to back him up before he got killed.

Sheena's still form on the ground sparked an intense fear and worry in me. Was she dead? We could really die here. Oh my God, it was really possible.

"Beast!" I used another tech, but noticed with dismay that it was much weaker than normal. Not only that, using it made me instantly feel even more exhausted than I already was. Damn, I must've run out of TP...and I didn't have any Orange Gels.

It didn't matter. Kratos and Lloyd had seen my intentions, and timed their attacks to mine once again; just as Kvar fell forward, two Demon Fangs hit him in the stomach, cutting deep into him. The Grand Cardinal collapsed to the floor, unmoving. A puddle of blood slowly began to pool around his corpse.

"Is it...over?" Lloyd panted, watching Kvar's body with wide eyes.

Kratos sheathed his sword, giving a small nod. As if to prove his point, the three Energy Stones crashed to the ground as well, with nothing left to control them.

"Good riddance." I remarked, feeling so relieved I could cry.

"Mom..." Lloyd sighed, gazing at the Exsphere embedded in his hand. "You've been avenged."

"Sheena!" I gasped, suddenly remembering.

"She's fine." Kratos said, looking over at her. I looked too, and realized she was slowly stirring. Oh thank God, she'd only been immobilized the same way I had.

"Are you sure?" Lloyd looked over at the ninja, concerned.

"Don't...worry about me." Sheena lifted her head, smiling weakly.

"Kratos, can you heal her?" Lloyd asked anyway, and received a nod.

As the mercenary cast First Aid, I checked my own wounds. It looked like Kratos had gotten nearly all of them. My nose didn't feel crooked or anything, thankfully. I had a newfound respect for the Wonder Chef; he'd gone through that twice, without crying his eyes out or anything! I still had some painful cuts, bruises and burns, but for the most part I was in decent shape.

"Here." Lloyd held an apple gel out to me. "You're burned pretty badly."

I hesitated, staring longingly at it, but shook my head. "Nah. I'll live; save it for when we really need it."

He shrugged, but put it away. "Sheena told us what happened. We were really worried."

"So was I." I laughed, trying to ignore a nagging feeling at the back of my mind. What was I missing? "I wasn't exactly ready to go solo."

"What happened? How'd you make it all the way here?" Lloyd was eager for information. I opened my mouth to answer, ready to tell him of my brilliant escapades through the ranch(preferably leaving out the running and hiding parts), but the purple clad mercenary promptly cut me off.

"We don't have time for that." Oh, Kratos, sympathetic as always. "The others have arranged to meet us in Kvar's office. We should be heading there as soon as possible." Though his eyes were still focused on Sheena's wounds, his tone was firm.

"Yeah, I hope they're all okay--" Lloyd started to reply, but froze, staring. Was there something on my face? Wait, no...he was looking over my shoulder!

"Behind you!" He shouted, and I was already whipping around.

My mouth dropped open in utter shock; a bloodied, very much alive Kvar stood before me. How could I have forgotten?! Kvar was never really dead the first time you took him down.

The Grand Cardinal didn't seem to care about how valuable I was anymore. He had murder in his eyes. Before I could even react, he lunged forth and drove the pointed head of his staff directly into the wound on my leg, reopening it and then some. I screamed as I felt it scrape against bone, and fell to the floor.

"You bastard!" Lloyd roared, charging, but Kvar sidestepped and hit him with Lightning Strike. The teen was knocked backwards into me, and the extra weight on my wounded leg caused searing pain. I wanted to pass out. I just wanted to sleep...

A choked gasp from Kvar caused my eyes to snap wide open. Kratos was standing directly in front of him, sword thrust through his middle. Blood dripped steadily to the floor, the minute sound a confirmation of Kvar's inevitable fate.

"Kratos..." The Desian growled, "You pathetic inferior being!"

Kratos's eyes narrowed with hate. He pulled out his blade, slicing it in a wide arc across Kvar's chest.

"Feel the pain..." Another thrust, into a spot directly above the previous wound.

"...of those inferior beings..." Giving the sword a hard twist, he viciously ripped it out again. Kvar crumpled to the floor.

"...as you burn in hell."

Kratos sheathed his sword, staring down at Kvar's corpse with disgust. It was finally over.

----

**A/N: And thus the chapter ends, with Kratty saying possibly the greatest line in the game. :D **

**On another note, WOOHOO! Finally done with the evil ranch of doom! ...Well, not completely, gotta blow it up and all, but still! The whole thing was so hard to write. D: I mean really, Desian ranches are basically all monotonous hallways and fighting and blahhh. I'm kinda glad I didn't have to do the Palmacosta ranch. **

**Hopefully the fight wasn't utter crap. I tried. XD And I'm half dead right now. It's all Kvar's fault, drawing out the whole scene because he freaking REFUSES to die.**

**Review, and I'll let you draw a mustache and/or monocle on Kvar's dead body! XD**

**Next time: Ranch go boom! ...and other adventures!**


	16. Time is Running Out

**A/N: Whew, this chapter was tough. Not because of writer's block or anything, it was just hard to find the time. o_o I've been stressed out over a big project for English class, that's all. Just finished it today, so at least that's over with. :D Now I can focus more on writing this.**

**Sky Mabile/Dinosoid Warchief: I'm guessing you're the same person...? Your reviews essentially said the same thing, so yeah. Anyway, I'm sorry, but it sounds like the character you want is a Mary Sue. I'm being realistic, here; my character isn't going to gain powers right before death and kick the crap out of Kvar. That's extremely cliché. Perhaps you should write your own fanfiction; that way you can make the main character into what you want, because I'm not going to change mine. And on another note, if you want an author to rewrite or improve something, maybe you shouldn't resort to degrading and insulting them. It's not very encouraging.**

**If you want to discuss this further, maybe you should give a signed review instead of an anonymous one? I'd rather not have my author's notes be too long...**

**/rant**

**Ugh. Lol, anyway, thanks to the others who reviewed and didn't resort to swearing and OMGCAPSLOCK. Time to get on with the chapter, then.**

**Yes, the chapter title is a Papa Roach song. They're referenced in the second sentence. XD**

**Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue.**

**----**

_I stepped out of the steamy bathroom, depositing my uniform in the hamper across the hall. Ah, showers felt so nice after an eight hour workday. I now wore a faded Papa Roach t-shirt and comfortable bellbottom jeans, my curly brown hair let down so it could air dry._

_Stretching contentedly, I made my way to the living room, where the voice of an announcer seemed to be coming from. My dad and sister were seated on the couch, watching a Red Sox game. My sister was sipping from an iced latte; after working at Dunkin' Donuts for so long, coffee had pretty much become a staple of our diet. I frowned, already craving some._

_"What's the score?" I asked, picking up my purse and slinging the strap over a shoulder._

_"Five to nothing, Red Sox. You going somewhere?" Ashley looked over, having noticed what I was doing._

_"Just getting some quick groceries. My fridge is almost empty, all I've got left is--" I stopped, looking at my dad, who was chowing down my last cup of yogurt._

_"What?" He asked innocently, and started laughing at the look on my face._

_"Okay, as of now it's completely empty. Anything you want me to get?"_

_"Nah, I'm good." Ash answered._

_"Mmffllmm." Dad replied through a mouthful of yogurt; I made a face and turned away, my sister calling him a weirdo. Yep, he was the epitome of dorkiness._

_"Hey, Dad, I'm stealing the Eclipse."_

_"Don't crash it." He said, having finally swallowed the food._

_I grabbed his key and a CD off the counter, grinning. "Don't worry, I won't."_

_"Hey!" He called, and I paused, looking around. "Take...luck! Take luck and care."_

_I rolled my eyes, laughing, and headed out the door. We'd just watched Brian Regan the other night. As I walked out, he kept talking, his voice fading only when I started to close the door._

_"Take...care of the luck! Good luck taking care of the, the luck that you might have. If you have luck, take it, and care for it. Take-luck-care-of-in-it..."_

_"You too!!" I shouted, and left just as my sister burst out laughing. Oh man, we were probably getting some very odd looks from the neighbors._

_Ahh, hello, shiny Mitsubishi. Maybe I'd stop by the beach on my way home, and wave to hot guys while pretending I owned the car. Heh heh._

_I pressed the button to lower the roof of the convertible, and inserted the CD I'd grabbed into the player. "Nothin' but a Good Time" by Poison began to play. It was late spring, the sun was shining, and my seasonal depression had finally lifted. God, I loved being out of high school. For the first time in a while, I felt like I was moving forward with my life._

_Oh! I wanted my latte. Dunkin' Donuts, here I come. I'd have to drop by Amato's for some pasta and pazzo bread, too. Yum._

_I pulled out of the apartment building's parking lot, and suddenly slammed on the breaks when I felt a sharp pain in my leg. What the...damn, I must've pulled a muscle or something when I went running with Ash yesterday. I should've stretched beforehand._

_Wetness? Horrified, I looked down, but only saw the denim of my jeans. Why was I feeling so exhausted all of a sudden...?_

_"...you okay?"_

_"...head injury......amnesia....."_

_".....gelus Project......see to it...."_

_"...inferior....."_

_What was going on?! My head hurt. What were all these voices?_

_"....trust you.......friends, aren't we?"_

_"...took adult responsibility.......you owe them..."_

_"...Colette....journey? ....end of the road...."_

_"...valuable....insolent dog...."_

_"...as you burn in hell."_

My eyes opened.

With my eyelids only cracked open slightly, I could hardly see a thing. My body felt completely drained, in contrast to how I had felt just a few seconds ago. Wait...I didn't remember closing my eyes. It sounded like the weird voices had gone away, but...where was the Eclipse? Dad would kill me if anything happened to it, and I'd want to kill myself, since I was hoping to inherit it someday when he needed a new vehicle.

Ugh...everything just hurt. Maybe I'd backed out of the parking lot too fast, and hit another car or something. Shit...now I'd have to find a way to pay for the damages, and the whole hospital stay would suck too, they'd probably stick me with needles. And at this rate, I was going to miss the end of the Sox game. The day had seemed so perfect, too. Reality sucks.

My senses slowly returned to me, and I realized I was being carried, piggyback style. Wasn't I at a hospital? I thought they were supposed to use stretchers. Maybe the guy I'd crashed into was carrying me to the hospital. Aww, that was so nice, especially considering how pissed off most people would be at my carelessness. It'd probably be safer if he just waited for the ambulance, but still, it's the thought that counts.

"Look, she's waking up." A female voice came. I thought I knew who it was, but couldn't really match the voice to a face.

"Brit? Brit, how're you feeling?" Now I heard a boy's voice, and forced my eyes to crack open a little more. My cheek was leaned against something, probably the shoulder of the person carrying me.

Red was the first color I saw, and then gradually the world came into focus. A brunette boy in a red coat was walking alongside me, his brown eyes concerned.

"...Lloyd?" I spoke quietly, my lips forming the name before I even had time to think. Lloyd? Hold on a minute, Lloyd Irving? I was going insane.

The worry left his eyes at my response, and he gave me a bright but tired smile. "Hey."

I blinked. I knew that smile...and I knew those eyes. And it wasn't just from looking at pictures of him.

That's right, I was in Sylvarant. The walls of the Desian ranch around me and Lloyd's friendly face brought back all of the memories, good and bad. After Kvar was killed, I must've passed out and had another dream about Earth...

"What happened?" I asked, lifting my head up a little.

"You fell unconscious after the battle." Kratos's voice joined the conversation, startling me a little. I realized for the first time that he was the one carrying me. "Kvar is dead. We're meeting up with the others."

"Dead? You're positive this time?"

"I'm quite sure," he answered dryly, and I felt a smile tug at my lips.

"I don't think anyone could've survived that." Sheena remarked, glancing over at the mercenary.

No kidding...still, though, Kvar had deserved it after all he'd done.

I was unable to summon up much emotion at this point; my mind was only half focused on the conversation. What about that dream? What had it meant? I didn't know how much more I could take...this dream had been the most realistic one yet. It felt like it had really happened.

...But it had, hadn't it? My eyes widened slightly. I remembered now...I remembered what had happened during work that day, how I'd slept in late that morning and skipped breakfast. The Red Sox had been playing the Yankees; while I normally would've watched with my dad and sister, I left to buy groceries because I was starving.

Aside from the very end of the dream, I'd just been reliving a memory. After backing out of the parking lot, I'd gone on ahead to the Amato's in Wells, pigging out on Italian food. And then came my latte...but what happened after that? I couldn't remember. And when had that day been?

It must've been the day it all happened, I realized with shock. That was the day I'd been sucked into this world. But it wasn't different from any other day...other than me splurging a little on my diet, it was normal enough. Maybe I ran over a gamecube, and it exacted its revenge on me? Nah.

Naturally, I still couldn't remember the whole process of me actually getting here. Great. And now I was craving coffee and bread sticks.

I lifted my head up fully, looking over at Sheena. The ninja's fatigue was evident in her stride, but otherwise she seemed all right. Lloyd was okay, too. Obviously Kratos was fine, or he wouldn't have been able to carry me like this.

Speaking of which, it felt really strange to be in such close contact with the mercenary when we weren't training. He smelled kind of nice...despite the fact that he'd spent much of his life on Derris-Kharlan, he had a woodsy scent, that of a true traveler.

Ew, that was disturbing. Note to self: stop smelling Lloyd's dad. But dammit, he was so hot...

Okay, I needed to get down from here. Being carried was too weird. I shifted a bit in an attempt to readjust my position, and had to bite my lip to prevent a small scream from escaping. The pain I felt in my leg now was actually worse than the pain I felt when Kvar had rammed his staff into the wound. Instead of an agonizing, stinging feeling focused on the injury, there was a terrible ache spread throughout my upper leg. I looked down and saw that bandages were wrapped around the wound.

"Don't move," Kratos said, gripping my legs tighter. He turned his head to look at me, eyes narrowed a little in a warning.

I tried to replace my grimace of pain with an annoyed frown. "Couldn't you just use First Aid?"

"He used up a lot of his mana to fight the Desians and Kvar," Sheena pointed out, and Kratos nodded.

"Any healing spells I perform at this point will be of little help. It would be best if you were to see Miss Sage."

Kratos, out of mana? That was difficult to believe, but I couldn't think of any reason for him to lie...he must've been going through hell to protect Lloyd and Sheena after we were separated. They had been the main ones being hunted, after all. And then there was the battle with Kvar, as well as all the injuries he'd healed then...damn. Did that mean the only thing holding my wound shut were those bandages? I suddenly felt sick.

"We used another apple gel on it, I think it'll hold till we find the Professor. Just don't move around too much, okay?" Lloyd said, and I nodded weakly, leaning my head down again and pressing my forehead to Kratos's shoulder.

"Kratos, is my leg going to be all right?" I asked quietly, feeling it throb with every step he took.

"Yes. Don't worry about it."

"Okay."

I fell silent, listening to the sound of our footsteps. Within seconds, I found that there was nothing to distract me from the pain. Nobody made conversation. I couldn't really think of anything to say that didn't sound stupid, but decided to talk anyway.

"Kratos?"

"Hm."

"You smell pretty." I heard Lloyd try to cover up a snort.

"...Perhaps I was wrong. We may need to amputate that leg."

Lloyd blanched, looking over with a worried expression, and Sheena did the same. They didn't seem to realize Kratos was joking, probably because he'd said the whole thing with a straight face. Not that I could blame him; I was beginning to think he was physically incapable of smiling.

"You're hilarious, Kratos. You should be a comedian." I said in a flat voice, trying to mimic him.

"Hmph. And step away from the pampered life of a mercenary?" He replied, still stoic.

"You're not really going to cut her leg off, are you?" Lloyd interjected nervously. I grinned happily at him.

"Don't worry, Lloyd, I'll just grow a new one."

"People can do that?!"

"..." Kratos sighed.

"Kratos? Why are you giving me that look again?"

I failed in my attempt to stifle my giggles. Lloyd could be so entertaining sometimes...

----

"Ugh, are we there yet?"

"No, Lloyd."

"What about now?"

"No."

"Now?"

"Lloyd, for the love of--" I tried to interrupt before a certain ninja punched him, but the mercenary cut me off.

"We're here."

"Eh?" Lloyd looked around eagerly, and Kratos pointed down the next hallway. A warp pad was at the end of it.

"About time. I was getting a headache." Sheena winced, glaring at Lloyd. I noticed that she was trying to lower her fist as inconspicuously as possible.

Phew, I could finally get some decent treatment for my leg. We just had to go through the warp and--aw, crap. I knew this hallway.

Kratos began to walk forward, but faltered. I could sense his frown; he'd noticed that the lights on the pad were off.

"What is it now?" Sheena noticed his look, and followed his gaze. "Oh...it's off?! Didn't the others deactivate the security system? Unless something happened..." Her eyes grew worried, and Lloyd tensed.

"Wait," I said quickly before they jumped to conclusions. "they did deactivate it. I just, uh, forgot to tell you..."

The mercenary looked over his shoulder at me, unamused. "Explain."

"Well, you see, I ran into Kvar while I was on my own. He sorta chased me here, and I went through the warp and broke it from the other side so he couldn't follow..." I rambled, hoping I was making sense.

Lloyd groaned. "Does that mean we can't meet up with the others?"

"If we can't get in there, what makes you think the others will?" Sheena rolled her eyes.

"Oh, yeah...I knew that."

"It is of little consequence. They will take the same route to reach Kvar's office; we'll meet with them here." Kratos said calmly.

"Sounds good to me," I replied, relieved. I'd half expected Kratos to be more angry with me for breaking the warp. "Hey, can you put me down now?"

In response, Kratos crouched down, lowering me to the ground before releasing my legs. I let go of him and leaned back against the cool wall, sighing. It felt good to stretch out my legs. The pain was still there, but at least this was a much more comfortable position.

Sheena and Lloyd followed my example, putting away their weapons and sitting down. Kratos, of course, remained standing and kept his sword out. Party pooper.

"Corrine." The ninja called, and the small summon spirit appeared in a puff of smoke. It did a cute little flip, before running up to her.

"Can you keep watch for us? Just let us know if you see any Desians coming." Sheena said, and Corrine nodded.

"Leave it to me!"

I did an inner squeal. Corrine sighting number two! Gawd, he was so adorable, he had the little jingly bell and everything. And that tail! He looked like a freaking pokémon. I bet he'd evolve into something badass.

The small animal turned and looked at me for a moment, as if he'd read my mind. I saw his nose wrinkle a little in distaste, and he huffed before trotting off to the mouth of the passage and disappearing around the corner.

I frowned, a bit disappointed. "I don't think Corrine likes me."

Sheena shrugged. "Ah, don't worry. It's probably just because you've got Kratos's scent on you. He hates Kratos."

"He does?" I gave the mercenary an amused look. "Aw, you must be heartbroken."

Kratos ignored me as usual, and Lloyd grinned.

"Maybe he just doesn't like the way Kratos smells." The teen suggested, and earned a glare from his father.

"But Kratos smells really good!" I protested, hearing an exasperated (and probably mildly disturbed) sigh.

"So we've heard," the mercenary remarked quietly.

"Oh, I know! Corrine doesn't like purple!" Lloyd exlaimed. Sheena cleared her throat, and his face fell. "Wait, no..."

I rolled my eyes. "Jeez, Lloyd. It's obviously because Kratos is old, and Corrine hates old people."

"I'm twenty-eight."

"See? He's already going senile. Poor guy thinks he's still in his twenties..." I shook my head sadly, and Lloyd started snickering. The mercenary just frowned, probably considering the fact that he really was much older than he looked.

Lloyd opened his mouth to make another comment, but Corrine's high pitched voice cut him off.

"Sheena!"

"That was quick." I murmured, the others tensing.

"Corrine?" Sheena jumped to her feet, but faltered; Corrine didn't look alert or agitated, as if he'd seen an enemy. "...What is it?"

In reply, the summon spirit turned his head to the side. We all paused, listening to the echo of oncoming footsteps. What really caught our attention, though, were the voices accompanying the noise. At first I wasn't sure if it really was Colette I was hearing, until I heard the telltale thud of her falling to the floor.

"I'm okay, really! Sorry for slowing you down so much."

"Cut it out, Colette! You're not slowing us down at all." I could picture Genis rolling his eyes.

"Hehe, sorry."

Someone sighed, probably Raine. Lloyd sprang forward, running around the corner to meet them.

"Colette! Genis! Professor!"

"Lloyd!"

I resisted the urge to start shouting out random names just for the hell of it, settling with a stupid grin instead. Finally, we were all back together again. Although it couldn't have been more than a few hours, the period I'd spent alone had felt like an eternity. And by some miracle, we'd all made it out alive.

Sheena began to walk down the hall to meet the others, looking visibly relieved. Kratos sheathed his sword and crossed his arms, remaining near me. Stop it, Kratos. You're starting to look like Yuan.

Mmm, such pretty hair...I missed the half elf already. He could be a model for one of those Herbal Essences commercials.

I heard the sounds of a discussion, and forced myself to try and pay attention. Lloyd was talking animatedly to Raine, pointing at me. That's rude, Lloydie.

"Hm, I see...Is she really in such a bad state, Kratos?"

"So it seems."

"I'm right here, you know." I pointed out, looking up at them. It occurred to me that I was the only one still sitting, mostly because of the fact that I couldn't even dream of standing up at this point. My leg would probably fall off if I tried to move it.

...Okay, maybe that was an exaggeration, but still. Ouch.

"Well, you can still talk. I suppose that's a good sign." Professor Sage knelt down next to me, and I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. She hadn't smacked me yet since I met her, but I had the feeling she wouldn't hesitate to now.

"I'm all right, Professor. Just a little dizzy, that's all."

"Regardless of how you feel, I'll need to fix up your leg." She replied, reaching down and tugging off the bandages, which had grown loose while I was being carried. I saw Colette and Genis cringe at the sight of the injury, and had to refrain from doing so myself. It looked even worse than it felt; now that it was free of bandages, the wound gaped open, blood flowing freely once more. If I had been back home, this would have needed plenty of stitches in the emergency room. I shuddered at the very thought.

Raine examined the wound, gripping her staff tightly. After a moment, she closed her eyes in concentration. I noticed now that she looked very tired. What had she, Colette and Genis gone through in the past few hours? How many times had she used her healing powers since we entered this ranch? Even Kratos, with several millennia of experience, wouldn't be able to match her skill by the end of this journey.

Finally, her eyes opened once again. "Nurse."

A bright green light emitted from her staff, spilling out on to my injury. The gash gradually sealed itself, and the pain ebbed away. By the time she was done, I felt as if I'd gotten a second wind.

"I love you, Professor." I said, beaming. She ignored me, standing up.

"Now, let's head for Kvar's office. There's something more we need to do."

I stumbled to my feet, grabbing Lloyd for support. "Y'know, she can be as cold as Kratos sometimes..." I remarked. Lloyd grinned.

"...Hmph." Kratos walked on ahead, indifferent.

"Don't strain yourself." Raine ordered me, without looking back at us. Suddenly, she paused. "Kratos, wait. Isn't the warp..."

"It's broken." He replied curtly, causing her to frown with annoyance.

"And how did that happen?"

"Perhaps you should try asking Brittany." His answer caused the three newcomers to turn to me.

I blinked. "Sure, blame the poor, crippled girl. Let's all gang up on Brittany 'cause she can't defend herself. I may never walk again, you know. Kratos said my leg needed to be amputated, and then he'll have to give me piggyback rides for the rest of my life, and..."

"We don't have time for your rambling. Explain why you broke the warp pad." Kratos cut in quickly, the look in his eyes telling me to shut up. Maybe it was just me, but I could've sworn I saw him pale a shade at my last statement.

"You broke it?" Genis asked incredulously.

I nodded sagely. "You see, it's a long story, although it's actually kind of a short one--"

"Kvar was chasing her and she broke it from the other side." Lloyd said before Kratos mauled me.

"You're a horrible storyteller, Lloyd."

He rolled his eyes. "It wasn't really a story, you dork."

I found myself laughing for the first time in a while. We were really alive. The crisis was over, and I could afford to joke again.

Professor Sage was frowning, considering the new development. "Hm...this might be a problem. We can't destroy this ranch the same way we destroyed the Palmacosta ranch."

"Huh? We can't blow it up?" Lloyd looked extremely disappointed.

"Blow it up?" Sheena blanched. "That's sort of extreme, don't you think?"

Kratos sighed. "There is another warp. Otherwise one of us would not be standing here."

"That's me!" I piped up, grinning. The mercenary gave me another look, and I tried to be more serious. "...Anyway, yeah, he's right. I can lead you to it if you want."

"Please do." Raine answered, and I nodded, walking to the front of the group. Thanks to the map I'd made, I had most of this sector memorized. I led them down several different hallways, but halted when Kratos ran forth with his sword drawn.

Shit. Just because we'd beaten Kvar didn't mean all of the Desians in here were gone too. We had ten of them coming at us, aiming to kill. I quickly drew my sword, ready to do battle, but Kratos stopped me.

"You're in no condition to fight. Stay out of the way."

I frowned a little at his gruff command, but willingly complied. It wasn't like I wanted to fight.

Lloyd ran up beside Kratos, while Sheena stood back and threw cards rather than diving into the fray. Lloyd shouldn't really have been fighting either, but he was too stubborn to listen anyway. At least Sheena seemed to know her limits.

Genis, Colette and Raine seemed in pretty good shape, although they were a little tired. Within a minute or two, all of the enemies were defeated. It amazed me how strong we could be when we were together. Well, Kratos still did most of the work, but whatever.

Lloyd grinned, trying to hide the fact that he was utterly exhausted. He turned to me, raising a hand up for another high five. He didn't see the Desian that had been hiding around the corner. Neither did any of us, for that matter.

"Lloyd, look out!" Colette cried, pointing behind him. My eyes widened as the Desian decided to pull a Kvar, running forward to stab the brunette in the back. Colette got there first, taking the blow. Blood spattered across the metal floor; some belonged to the blonde Chosen, while the majority belonged to the Desian guard. Kratos had lunged forth to impale the man on his blade a split second after Colette had been hurt.

Lloyd turned around, shocked. The Desian slumped to the floor just as Colette slumped into Lloyd's arms.

"Colette?!"

Everyone crowded around the two teenagers, as I eyed the blonde with concern. She was bleeding everywhere, but there was no indication of pain in her expression. If the wound had been concealed somehow, I wouldn't have even known she was hurt. Was this what she had been going through the past few months? How terrible...

"Lloyd..." Colette looked up at her friend. "...are you okay?"

"Yeah. But you're..."

"I'm fine, really." She smiled a little.

Raine looked at her, her expression worried. "Colette, that wound..."

"Thanks for worrying about me, but I'm really okay. For some reason, it doesn't hurt. Hehe, strange, huh?"

"That's...!" I started to protest, unable to believe how casually she handled it.

"You certainly are not okay!" Sheena said, and turned to the Professor. "Raine, you can use healing arts, right?"

"Yes, but..." She bit her lip, about to say more, but Lloyd spoke up.

"Colette." He paused, looking pained, and shook his head. "I can't keep it a secret any longer! Everyone, listen to what I have to say. Colette can no longer feel anything."

"What?" Genis asked, confused. "What do you mean?"

"Colette is growing closer to becoming an angel. Now she can't sleep or feel hot or cold or anything! She can't even cry! Becoming an angel means losing her humanity!"

It was more than just that, Lloyd...Not for the first time, I felt a horrible burden on my shoulders: my knowledge of the future. I hated being in this position, knowing what was to come and yet still being subjected to the pain of the present.

"Lloyd, it's okay." Colette said, trying to sound reassuring. "I'm okay, so...Right now, we need to do something about this ranch. Right, Lloyd?"

He looked down, frowning, but then nodded. "Yeah. Let's destroy it like last time." He looked up at me. "Brit, can you lead the way again?"

"Yeah. No problem." I replied, surprised at the lump in my throat. I was getting way too attached to these people...what was the point of it, when I'd have to leave them all in the end?

"We'll need to heal Colette first. Whether or not you can feel the wound doesn't matter; you'll bleed to death either way." Raine said, finally seeming certain of what she was doing again. Colette obeyed the Professor's orders and revealed the wound so it could be healed. I walked to the front of the group again, waiting for everyone to be ready.

Soon enough, we were on our way.

----

I was able to find the warp with relative ease. We turned down another hall, and there it was. It was turned off, but I knew it would be fully functioning once I typed in the numbers--

Oh, right...explaining how I knew the passcode was another matter entirely.

As I punched in the correct numbers on small keypad next to the warp, I was met with disbelieving looks. I tried to act casual, as if I had nothing to hide; I couldn't tell them of my encounter with Yuan, but maybe I could whip up some sort of excuse. Okay, time to consider my options again.

Excuse number one: I watched a Desian type in the code during my time as a prisoner here. That sounded...plausible, but Kratos would still be suspicious because he probably knew the code was changed daily. And he was already suspicious of me.

Excuse number two: I went through Kvar's files and found the code. No, that wasn't very good...if the code was changed daily, why would it be listed in his files? That would be a waste of paper. Not only that, Kvar had tons of files in his office. It was unlikely that I'd be able to find the correct one, even if the code was in there somewhere.

Excuse number three: Uh, I guessed? No. Just...no.

Raine came to stand beside me as I activated the warp, a quizzical expression on her face. "How did you learn the code?" She asked, voicing the very question I'd been anticipating.

I opened my mouth, deciding to wing it, and the answer that came out sounded completely reasonable. "I stole an earpiece off Kvar's desk, and overheard the Desians talking about it. The code's changed every day, and I guess one of them had forgotten it."

"Earpiece?" Lloyd piped up. "Hey, was that that weird thing Kvar zapped off your ear?"

"Uh, yeah," I replied, rubbing the small burn on my ear, "he broke it so I couldn't use it anymore."

Everyone else seemed to accept the explanation I'd come up with, but Kratos and Raine were naturally skeptical. They said nothing, though, and we moved on ahead into Kvar's office.

----

Everyone looked around curiously as we entered the office, save for Kratos and I. It did have a lot of complex looking things, but it was nothing compared to Earth.

"Hey, Professor." Lloyd said, troubled, "Did you ask the prisoners? Were you able to figure out where Chocolat was taken?"

She nodded. "She was brought to the Iselia ranch."

Lloyd's face fell. "Iselia..."

"Don't worry, Lloyd!" Colette smiled, still optimistic. "Once the world is regenerated, Chocolat will be freed."

Her words had little effect, mainly because Lloyd knew what the angel transformation was doing to her. The prospect of world regeneration wasn't as bright as it had seemed once before. I looked away, not wanting to hear any more of Colette's faked giggles, her silent suffering.

I concentrated on the fact that soon we would be out of this place, and we wouldn't have to deal with the Desians again for a while. And I'd never have to see Kvar's inhuman eyes staring me down again.

Although I'd accepted the need to kill as an inevitability of this journey, I still didn't like it. With Kvar, though...when he died, I felt nothing. No pain, no sorrow...nothing. I shook my head a little and turned to examine the rest of the room.

It was just as I'd left it, the papers on Kvar's desk unorganized from my search for sufficient mapmaking materials. Ah, and there was that ballpoint pen. As the Professor discussed our next move with the others, I silently contemplated snatching it. Hell, I'd already pretty much looted that minibar back in that lounge...

"...ten minutes. That should give us enough time to escape through the hidden entrance." I caught the end of Raine's sentence, looking up. She was typing something in to Kvar's personal computer; she must've been setting the self-destruct detonation time. Crap, I hated scenarios like this. If something went wrong, we'd be stuck in here and we'd be blown up, too.

A red light flashed in the room, and Raine turned away from the computer. "It's set. Let's go."

----

Kratos took over the lead, plowing through any Desians we encountered on our way to the exit. We moved quickly, feeling the pressure of the clock ticking. I kept wishing I had my cell phone so I could check the time.

Heh, shows how technologically advanced Earth has gotten...everyone checks their cell phone, not their watch.

That was off topic. Now was not the time to let my mind wander...I really didn't want this place to become my graveyard. Kratos turned down another corridor; we followed him, and suddenly found that the lights were dimmer. Hey, this was the exit passage!

None of us spoke, instead picking up the pace. My fast steps nearly matched Kratos's long strides; I was anxious to get the hell out of here. The light at the end of the hall gradually grew brighter and brighter, until we were abruptly immersed in it.

I squinted, shielding my eyes, and realized that we were finally outside. I slowed down a little, amazed. I could see blue sky, the grass, trees all around. As our time slowly diminished, the others began to run. Kratos jerked me back into reality by grabbing my arm and tugging me forward, the same thing he had done hours ago when we were moving in the opposite direction. I went much more willingly this time, sprinting on ahead.

I felt an exhilarating freedom, just as I had felt when I first escaped from here. I didn't look back; I never wanted to see the color grey again. Grey was the color of death. Of Hell.

"H-hey, wait up!" Lloyd called, "Kratos says he's not carrying you again if you trip!"

I reluctantly slowed, jogging alongside Lloyd and the others. We continued onward for what felt like an hour but was probably only ten minutes, until suddenly we felt a rumble behind us. Then there was the deafening roar of an explosion; I looked behind us, mouth open in a gawk. The ranch was consumed in an inferno, and I felt like I was in an action movie.

Now that we were a safe distance from the ranch, we stopped to observe the explosion. I saw the crowd of prisoners Raine's group had freed, standing a ways away from us. They were all watching as well. Their eyes were grave, shining with the light of the fire, as they contemplated the nightmarish chapter of their lives that had recently ended.

----

**A/N: So...good? Bad? This time, reviewers get some of Kratos's hair gel! (Aurion family recipe, lol)**

**Man, I thought I'd at least make it out of the ranch halfway through the chapter...it's like the place doesn't want me to leave. XD ah, well, it's in rubble now. Bye bye, Kvar.**

**Next time: tedious sidequest of doom!**


	17. Remorse and Relaxation

**A/N: Aw. Short-ish, filler-ish chapter, and sorry for the delayed-ish update...ish. XD Anyway, last week was spring break for me, and I was out of state and working for most of it. The week before that, I had tons of homework and projects to finish before I left for break. So yeah, I hardly had any time to write; this entire chapter was pretty much written in the last three days, lol. I didn't want to go too long without updating, so here's a shorter one. I'm pretty sure the next chapter will be longer and more eventful. :3**

**Mmhmm, this one is mostly interaction between characters and all that. Enjoy! :D**

**Disclaimer: I don't own ToS.**

**----**

Given the fact that we had arrived at the ranch around noon, it was safe to assume that we left at about three or four p.m. It was strange to think we still had the rest of the day ahead of us; so much had happened, I felt like it should've been nighttime. Regardless of how exhausted we all were, Kratos made us do a good deal of travelling before he let us rest. He spewed a bunch of crap about the possibilities of small groups of Desians surviving or something. Personally, I think he was just trying to be his old grumpy self.

Don't get me wrong, walking now seemed a lot more appealing compared to the ordeals we'd just been through. I really wouldn't have minded so much if I didn't have, y'know, a healing stab wound in my leg. And since Colette had been shanked by that Desian earlier and she had the sparkly angel sickness, her health took priority over mine. Therefore, she got to ride on Noishe even though she couldn't feel anything and it really didn't make a difference to her. We were going to Luin so Colette could "rest," despite the fact that no matter how much she sat around, the illness would progress either way.

Ugh, stop being selfish, Brittany. It's not Colette's fault the others are completely ignorant. Well, except for Kratos. I could resent him all I wanted.

"Kraaatoooos," I whined, "Carry me."

"You're perfectly capable of walking on your own."

"But it hurts..."

"You'll live." He replied, his tone dismissive.

I sighed, before giving his son a pouty look. "Lloyd?"

"Hey, don't look at me. I'm exhausted."

"You both suck." I scowled, more annoyed than I was letting on. If I was at a hospital back home, they'd be pushing me around in a wheelchair, dammit. This travelling was torture.

Not that I could've ridden on Noishe, anyway...the protozoan probably would've tried to shake me off. He didn't like me very much...it was probably just because I was a stranger. Technically I wasn't really one anymore, but I hadn't interacted much with him since our first meeting. I usually tended to avoid the oversized "dog." He growled at me sometimes when I got too close, and even though Lloyd said he was harmless, I really didn't want to get my hand bitten off.

Man...it looked like I would really have to walk on my own this time. If only we had a bigger group, maybe then I could've found someone to carry me...I mean, Raine or Sheena would've just been awkward, and Genis was only twelve. Now, Regal, on the other hand, I bet he would've helped me. He could probably lift just about anything with those muscles. Oh, and Zelos, too. I had boobs, after all, so he would've been very hospitable to me. Heh.

Fantasizing about all the 'what if's wasn't going to ease the pain...I had to stop it. As much as I wanted to meet the other group members, that wasn't going to happen for a long while. Gotta focus on the present. Just make it to Luin.

The group of prisoners had been following shortly behind us, probably because they were mostly former residents of Luin. I had recognized some of them earlier, but I was too ashamed to even approach them. Sure, I was part of the group that had rescued them, but I was also part of the reason they'd been captured in the first place. What did they think of me? Did they hate me? Some of them looked like the ranch had broken them...and some hadn't returned at all.

My mouth had eased from a pout into a thin line, my true emotions beginning to show through. I always did this, didn't I? I joked to hide the fact that I was really upset. Whatever; everyone here had a reason to feel unhappy, so me looking serious for once wouldn't come as much of a surprise. I didn't even really want to talk. Luin was two days away...I just wanted to get it over with.

"Colette? How are you feeling?" Genis asked, still worried.

"Oh, I'm all right." She replied, coughing a little and causing his frown to deepen.

Sheena bit her lip. "I wish Asgard was closer...Luin's in shambles right now."

"Unfortunately, it's the best we can do," Raine remarked. "We'll have to stay there for a few days until Colette is able to walk again. Perhaps we can find shelter amongst the ruins."

"I do not recall seeing any houses left standing." Kratos spoke up.

"Neither do I..." I said.

"There are a few near the mayor's house on the southern edge of town." Another voice entered the conversation, and my eyes lit up at the new arrival.

"Lucian!" Sheena and I chorused, and I ran forth to give him a hug before I could stop myself. He stumbled a little, laughing, but the grin on my face quickly fell. He had always been a large man, well-muscled and tall. My hug shouldn't have even made him flinch. And why did he feel so much skinnier?

I pulled away to get a good look at him, and my mouth fell open. He was wearing dirty prisoner's garb speckled with dried blood, his face gaunt. An Exsphere was embedded in the flesh of his left hand.

"You...in Luin, you were..."

His smile faded a little. "When we were separated near daybreak, I was surrounded and overwhelmed."

"What happened to your arm?" Sheena asked, her eyes wide. I finally noticed what the source of the blood was; his right arm was bandaged up, but more blood was beginning to seep through. It looked like whatever wounds he had were pretty bad.

Lucian lifted it, giving it a sorrowful look, and shook his head. He opened his mouth to explain, but the Professor beat him to it.

"He had stolen a sword from one of the Desians we encountered, and he was aiding us in our escape. During one of the battles, we were outnumbered and barely survived; they cut the tendons in his arm to prevent him from wielding his blade."

"But he's okay now, right?" I asked desperately, but Raine only looked at me sadly.

Lucian gave me a thin smile, patting me on the shoulder. "I'll have to learn a new fighting style, that's all. It looks like I won't be able to use any swords with this arm anymore."

I looked down, absorbing the information, and hating myself. "Lucian..."

"If you apologize, I'll teach you a lesson with my good arm." He said jokingly, and I looked back up at him. He was taking this surprisingly well. The swordsman's face grew more serious when he saw the look I was giving him.

"It's not the end of the world, Brittany. I could have run that day, but I chose to fight. Don't blame yourself."

I nodded, secretly blaming myself anyway. "Yeah..."

"We all survived, didn't we? And now the people of Luin never have to worry about the ranch again." Lloyd said, optimistic as usual. Just hearing him speak cheered me up a little; how the hell did he do that? Maybe when I went back to Earth, I'd kidnap Lloyd. Oh, but then I'd have to take Kratos, too...and Sebastian. Just because having a butler would be so awesome.

As I wondered how big a net I would need to capture the mercenary, Lucian decided to speak to him.

"Ah, you must be the infamous Kratos. Brittany has told me plenty of stories about you, many involving abuse." His eyes danced with laughter, just as Kratos turned to give me another look. I smiled sheepishly and waved.

"She exaggerates."

"He lies!" I protested.

"Might I ask how the three of you came to know each other?" Raine interjected, looking hardly in the mood. Sheena, Lucian and I all looked over at her, as Kratos went back to ignoring us again.

"He's the guy that helped you train while you were staying in Luin, right?" Lloyd piped up, and I nodded.

"It was sort of a chance meeting, really..." As I explained how we all met, trees started popping up around us; eventually we were surrounded by a dense forest. It looked like these were the same woods Pietro and I had stumbled upon during our escape. Kratos finally stopped, announcing that we would stay here for the night. I gratefully collapsed on the soft grass underfoot, sighing contentedly. Many of the former prisoners did the same.

I closed my eyes as I rested there, listening to a gentle breeze whisper through the trees. The day had been so exhausting; I could hear my own heart beating, feel the blood pumping through my veins. My leg muscles throbbed, particularly around the healing injury.

"Are you tired, Noishe? Thanks for carrying me all day." Colette's voice met my ears, sounding apologetic. Noishe whined in reply, and I heard the sound of him settling down on the grass as well. There was a rustling noise of clothes shifting, and I assumed Colette sat next to him.

I tensed and relaxed my muscles a few times, feeling the stress of the day finally begin to fade. The throbbing slowed.

"We're going to the Tower of Mana next, aren't we? I can't wait!" Lloyd said from somewhere behind me, sounding eager.

"You're just going to get bored again halfway through..." Genis sighed.

"Hey, shut up!"

"I'm just glad we're out of that ranch," Sheena remarked.

"...Yeah..." Lloyd suddenly sounded pensive.

I inhaled deeply, focusing on my breathing. Their voices gradually blended in with the rest of the background noise.

In...one, two, three...

I remembered all the relaxation CDs I'd listened to, how much better I'd felt afterwards. One time we'd listened to one during gym at school, only the guy's voice sounded ridiculous and no one could stop giggling...Agh. Breathing, focus on the breathing.

Out...one, two, three....

"...Rations....enough...everyone..." Raine's voice came to my ears in a murmur, and I quickly pushed it away.

"Hm..." Kratos's short reply was easy to ignore.

In...one, two, three...

...Out, one, two, three.

Leaves stirred amongst the trees. A bird sang in the distance.

Inhale...

The sounds of nature didn't vary between the worlds. That was the call of a red-winged blackbird...they'd always bullied other birds and pilfered seeds by the beakful from my mom's bird feeder.

I'd always hated them, but now they gave me a sense of comfort. They were a connection to Earth.

Exhale...

A connection...

Nature was nature. If I kept my eyes closed, I was home.

Inhale...

I was deep within the wilderness of northern Maine, far beyond the influence of mankind.

Exhale...

No killing, no blood, no death. Peaceful woods. I could lay here all day.

Inhale...

If I wanted to, I could travel south and catch a ride home. But I chose to stay here, listening to the blackbirds, the chickadees, the soft cooing of mourning doves flying far overhead.

Exhale...

"...she asleep?" A voice I couldn't name. Ignore it...I was the only one out here.

Inhale...

"...up." Another voice. This one was deeper. What was it saying? ...No, it didn't matter.

Exhale...

"Get up, Brittany." It was Kratos; now that he'd briefly distracted me, his voice was suddenly more significant than all the other sounds. I heard him perfectly, but hurriedly tried to ignore him again. I didn't want to lose the peaceful feeling I'd finally attained.

Inhale...

The small amount of light filtering through my eyelids suddenly disappeared as his shadow passed over me. No; he wasn't there, he couldn't possibly be. I was deep in a New England forest, all alone. But wait, weren't there bears up there? And mosquitoes? No, dammit!

Exhale. One, two, three.

An impatient sigh.

Inhale...

I'm sleeping, Kratos. Leave me alone.

Exhale...

A peaceful, bear-less forest. Fluffy bunnies. I needed to find that happy place again...

Inhale...

"People do not practice meditative breathing while asleep. Get up."

Sharp exhale. I experimentally opened one eye, feeling drowsy.

"What the hell, Kratos." I muttered, irritated. I almost never managed to get to that relaxed state, and I had really needed it after today.

He frowned down at me. "We don't have nearly enough rations to feed ourselves as well as the citizens of Luin."

"Are you saying we have to hunt for food or something?" I asked, finally giving him an incredulous look.

"This area has an abundance of wild game."

I closed my eyes again, turning my head to the side so his shadow wouldn't bother me. "Huh. Well, sounds like something you'd be good at. I think I'll stay here, though; I'd just get in your way."

"Brittany." His voice held a warning this time, but I failed to acknowledge it.

"Leave me be, Aurion." I mumbled, calmly shifting a little in the grass. He didn't give a response, but he didn't walk away, either. Maybe he was staring out into the distance the way all those wistful characters do.

Just as I figured I was off the hook, I felt a hand roughly grab my arm. I winced as I was suddenly wrenched up to my feet, opening my eyes to find myself staring at Kratos's purple chest. His fingers clutched my arm with a bruising force. When I saw that his entire body was stiffened, I felt myself freeze up.

I reluctantly looked up, staring into narrowed reddish-brown eyes. Yeah, he was angry. Not annoyed or aggravated, this time he was outright pissed.

"My patience with you is wearing incredibly thin," he hissed. "You are an adult, and yet you insist on acting as stubborn as a child. I've tolerated this for long enough."

I blinked, tentatively opening my mouth to speak, but he wouldn't let me get a word in.

"Ignoring your problems will not cause them to disappear. I understand that you are in pain, but your physical condition is much better than that of these people. Stop being selfish. You are not the only one here who has suffered." He finally released my arm, turning away from me. "I won't force you to come. However, you will be the one going hungry tonight if there is not enough food."

"W-wait," I said quickly as he started to walk away, "I'm coming."

I grabbed my sword, jogging to catch up with him. My leg started to throb again; it was in better condition than it was earlier, after several treatments from Raine, but it was still painful.

Kratos didn't make any indication that he'd heard me, but I made sure to follow close behind. I watched his back as I walked, feeling numb.

It wasn't the good kind of numbness, though. It was the shitty kind where you feel so horrible that it kind of dulls everything around you.

I wasn't angry at Kratos for yelling at me. I wasn't going to get all defensive about it, because I knew he was right. He was always right. I hadn't meant to come off as an immature bitch, but I really had. I had already let down the people of Luin once, and now here I was only thinking of my own problems.

Christ. They had been so kind to me, and I had immediately refused to return the favor. What was wrong with me?

"Lloyd is waiting for us up ahead." Kratos stated, finally acknowledging my existence.

"...Okay."

He hadn't turned his head to look at me when he spoke. He was probably still mad. God, I felt so terrible...I just wanted to crawl under a rock somewhere and lie there for a few days.

While normally I would just get incredibly quiet when I felt this ashamed, I forced myself to speak. Even if he didn't answer, I had to say something. It was just so hard to form the right words.

"I'm sorry, Kratos." I said, looking down at my feet as I walked. That was all I had intended to say, but suddenly more words started rushing out before I could stop them.

"That was stupid of me. I wasn't thinking." I bit my lip. "You've been a lot more patient with me than most people, and I didn't mean to take advantage of that. I didn't mean to be so inconsiderate, either. I didn't mean to, but I did...and I'm sorry."

I finished, and finally looked back up at him; he remained silent, and we walked on. I sighed. Well, it looked like I'd just screwed over whatever friendship I'd had with Kratos. Way to go, Brittany.

I hadn't even realized till now how much of a mentor he had become to me. I didn't want him to hate me...

"Keep that apology in mind, and perhaps you won't have to repeat it." Kratos said abruptly, his back still turned to me as he walked. I hesitated a little, uncertain; did that mean he forgave me? I really couldn't be sure with this guy.

"...I will." I finally said, sighing a little.

I had learned my lesson. I couldn't get too comfortable here; if I did, I'd start thinking of it all as a video game again. I knew I wasn't a bad person, deep down. I wasn't selfish, I just kept forgetting exactly where I was...

But my continued attempts to convince myself that this was all a dream were the only things that kept me going. During my time here, I'd only been through a single ranch. That one ordeal had pushed me to my limits, and I'd still nearly been killed. I didn't even want to think about the events that lay ahead, because I knew there was no possible way I could ever survive.

It was easier just to look away, to pretend none of this was real. I knew everything around me truly existed, but if I had to face the fact that I was completely alone in a foreign world, I would probably go insane.

So when I went to sleep tonight, I would kindle the false hope that I'd awaken at home in my own bed. When I looked up at the stars, I would try to find constellations that were familiar to me. And every now and then when I closed my eyes, I would dream of Earth.

----

Although Kratos and I walked in complete silence for what seemed like hours, eventually he relented and began speaking to me again. This was mostly thanks to Lloyd, who kept giving me weird looks when he saw that I wasn't attempting to make conversation for once. The brunette ended up brightening my mood again, and I think he even cheered Kratos up a bit too. Trying to amuse myself as we walked, I resumed my plots to kidnap the both of them. My mood elevated even more.

We didn't catch an incredible amount of food, but combined with the large clusters of berries in the surrounding bushes, it was enough to get by until we made it to Luin. None of us would have a lot to eat, but at least no one would go hungry. To make up for my stupidity earlier, I relinquished most of my food to the former inmates, pretending I had a stomachache. Kratos was right; they needed it more than I did.

Luin was in ruins, but at least there would most definitely be food there. We had received this news from the several groups of travelers we'd passed; small amounts of people had been gathering in the town as of late, observing the damage and attempting to clear out some of the debris. Even if those people didn't have enough to feed all of us, at least they could help us out a little. It seemed Luin wasn't as deserted as we'd thought earlier today.

After thinking about all the problems we'd faced today due to the bad physical condition of the prisoners, I began to wonder how the hell Pietro and I had made it all the way to Luin with only a handful of berries in our stomachs. It was a miracle, that much was certain.

Night had fallen not long after we ate. Leaning against the thick trunk of a tree behind me, I watched Kratos light a fire with a piece of flint he'd pulled from a wing pack in his pocket. I knew it was a wing pack, because there was no way he could possibly fit anything else in that skin tight clothing of his without it being immediately noticeable. Strange how no one else had noticed the interesting tricks he pulled.

"Is something wrong, Miss Furness?" He looked up at me, having noticed my stares. Crap, he was using formalities now? I guess he was still mad. Miss Furness...ew. It sounded weird when he said it.

"Not at all, mister." I replied jokingly, seeing him twitch as I gave him a taste of his own medicine. Then I shrugged, frowning a little. "I've just never lit a fire that way, that's all. I'm bored and it's kind of fun to watch."

He sighed. "Your staring is bothersome. Come here and I'll show you how."

I frowned a little. Eh, what the hell, it was useful knowledge. I began to walk over to him, when a shout suddenly cut me short.

"Fireball!" The spell flew right past me, immediately starting the fire before Kratos had the chance. The two of us looked over to see Genis standing there with his kendama, a victorious smirk on his face. He examined the flame he'd created for a short moment, before quickly turning away.

"No need to thank me, Kratos!" He said over his shoulder, obviously thinking he had just done the mercenary a favor. The boy ran off down the path a little, where the others were. We heard him calling out to Lloyd as he ran.

"See, Lloyd? I lit them all and it's only been ten seconds! I win!"

"Aw, c'mon, Genis! I meant with those rock things, the way Kratos was doing it!" Lloyd whined, obviously upset at having lost whatever bet they'd made.

Kratos gave an irritated sigh, pocketing the flint again. I beamed at him as he stood up, before turning to follow the twelve-year-old.

"Genis, wait!" I shouted. "I love you!"

He didn't hear me, which was sort of a good thing because otherwise it might've been a bit awkward. I ran after him, interested in finding out what the bet had been, and not wanting to be left alone with the annoyed mercenary. He was already ticked off with me, I didn't want to make things any worse.

Kratos remained where he was, probably inspecting the blaze that had been created. He could've just as easily lit it with his own magic, but I assumed he'd chosen not to because he wanted to conserve energy. He was the night watch tonight, after all.

I slowed to a walk when I finally approached the others, eyeing the several other campfires that had been lit. Most of the people from Luin had fallen asleep; Sheena had as well. Colette was conversing quietly with Lucian; judging by the smile on his face, he found her repeated apologies pretty amusing.

Lloyd was attempting to give Genis a noogie now, to get out of paying up for losing the bet. I blinked, quickly turning away when I saw Genis pull out his kendama again. Never mind, I wasn't going to get involved in that.

Oh, Raine was still awake, flipping through a book. Maybe I could bother her.

I walked up and sat near her, sighing quietly as I did so. It felt so good just to sit again.

"Man, it's been a long day." I thought aloud, leaning against the tree behind me.

"Indeed it has..." Raine replied gravely, looking up from her book. "How is your wound?"

I subconciously placed a hand on my upper leg, where the healing gash was. "It's...better. A lot better than it was earlier, at least. It doesn't hurt that much anymore unless I strain it."

"That's good. You should be fine by the time we reach Luin."

Seriously? Wow. That was like...two days from now. I'd be all better in just two days? I wish Earth had healing magic. Screw it, I was kidnapping Raine, too.

"I've asked Kratos to leave you out of the training sessions until then," she added.

"Thanks, Professor," I said gratefully, "but I can't imagine him letting me sleep in, even if both my legs were broken."

"You know him well," she said, giving me a scrutinizing look. Then her eyes gained an alarming gleam to them, causing me to shrink back a little without realizing it. "He asked me to give you educational lessons in place of the physical training."

"W-what?!" I blanched, not liking where this was going.

"I've been meaning to ask you, Brittany. Have you remembered anything of your previous schooling?"

I quickly nodded. "Yes, yes! I don't need to be taught any more!" It was true enough, but she quickly picked out the nervous edge to my voice.

"Wonderful. I suppose you won't need the lessons, then." She said, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

"However, just to be sure..." My sigh was cut short, and I looked up at her with horror. She was holding a packet in her hand, a four page quiz. Jesus, did she just carry those around in her pocket?

"But I--" I unwillingly took the papers she placed in my hands, staring at them with wide eyes.

"Take your time," she said evilly.

----

**A/N: Ohoho, insane Raine. That rhymes! Uh....yeah.**

**Reviewers get their very own jar of peanut butter! (ha, random.)**

**Next time: Quiz-o-doom (tm) and the Tower of Mana!**


	18. Rain and Raine

**A/N: Belated update, again. o_o well, I tried. At least this one is long! :D**

**On another note, happy Mother's Day! Make sure you let your mommy know she's loved. :3**

**And for those of you who haven't noticed, I started posting this story's status on my profile. If you're ever curious as to how the next chapter is going, just take a look. I'll post a current word count on the chapter I'm working on, as well as when I think I'll be able to update. (that way you at least know I haven't disappeared off the face of the earth if I haven't updated in a while, lol.)**

**Anyone have a deviantart account? Feel free to hit me up, I get bored over there. :D**

**Right, off topic. Anyway, enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I own Tales of Symphonia......not. (ohoho, had you going there for a minute, didn't I?)**

**----**

I groaned, grudgingly picking up the pencil she handed me. Kratos walked into the vicinity just as I set the papers in my lap; I gave him a reproachful glare, but he only ignored me and sat down. Some of the former prisoners went to sit by the fire Genis had set for him.

Okay, okay. All I had to do was pass this, and then I'd get out of Raine's lessons. I just had to prove I had graduated high school, right? This should be easy, since I used to be a straight A student, and I never got test anxiety.

Question one: Explain why the region of Triet is geographically hot and arid.

Ha, easy. Efreet resided in the Triet ruins, and his influence caused the region to become a desert. All right, on to the next one.

Question two: What was the name of the holy ground in which Mithos the Hero brought about the end of the Ancient War?

Hero? Psh. In any case, the war ended in the Holy Ground of Kharlan. Hey, I was gonna ace this!

Question three: Solve the following:

In reaching her destination, a traveler walks with an average velocity of 1.34 m/s, due west. This average velocity results because she walks for 6.44 km with an average velocity of 2.68m/s, due west, turns around, and walks with an average velocity of 0.447 m/s, due east. How far east did she walk?

Um...what? Looks like I spoke too soon. Crap, I hadn't even taken physics in high school, I'd heard it was way too hard. We did learn some in eighth grade, but that was so long ago that I hardly remembered anything. I guess I was skipping this one.

Question four:

In an isosceles triangle, two equal sides measure 26 meters, and they include an angle of 30 degrees. Find the area of the isosceles triangle, to the nearest square meter.

Oh God, not math...I had been in advanced math, but my last year of it I had barely passed. It just got to a point where it was way too hard to absorb all the information. After high school, I'd just let my brain vomit it all out, to make room for more useful knowledge. Like swordfighting and how not to die.

Hmm...isosceles triangle...equal sides...I drew a picture, staring at it for a moment. Wasn't the area of a triangle 1/2 base times height? Then why would they give me an angle...? Oh! It must've been that other formula I learned...uh...what was it...

Aha, K equals 1/2 ab sin C. Okay, I could do it now...wait a minute, how was I supposed to figure out the sine of something without a calculator? Dammit. I knew how to do it, too!

Frustrated, I moved on to the next question, leaving the current one unfinished.

Question five: Why does the speed of some chemical reactions increase when the surface area of the reactant is increased?

Uh, because? Hm. Okay, because there were more particles, more could make contact and collide with the reactant? I think. Ugh, I didn't remember much from chemistry, either.

Question six: Name the last three successful Chosen and state the dates at which they ascended to heaven.

...Ack, next question.

Question seven: What were the two major turning points of the Ancient War?

Oh crap, Raine was going to hurt me...

Question eight: There are four Desian ranches in the world. Name the locations of each and the extent of their influence.

Phew, here was an easy-ish one. Four ranches, though? Two had been blown up...it looked like Raine hadn't updated this quiz in a while.

Okay, let's see...Iselia, Palmacosta, Asgard and uh...the ocean. Go Rodyle, he influenced water!

Question nine: Describe the governments of the world's three largest cities.

No clue. What were Sylvarant's largest cities, anyway? I knew Palmacosta was one, but what about the others...? Yup, skipping this one too.

Hey, I had finished the first page! Only...six out of nine were left blank. Frick on a stick.

I continued on, struggling hard with almost every question the quiz threw at me. Most of them were about Sylvarant; while I knew some, a lot of the questions had to do with stuff that wasn't revealed in the game. I mean, gamers wouldn't be too interested in Palmacosta's main imports and exports, never mind the name and marital status of Dorr's great-grandfather.

What the hell? How was that vital knowledge, anyway? Raine was one hardass teacher...then again, I had asked myself the very same question nearly every day in high school. I didn't need to know the quadratic formula to survive either, but I had still been forced to learn it.

Dammit, I really didn't want to start lessons again...I'd already had enough textbooks shoved down my throat.

Alas, the questions only got harder with every page I turned. By the time I reached the back of the packet, not only was I reading questions about Sylvarant's history, I was trying to solve complex calculus problems. I didn't even know calculus existed in Sylvarant. How was it even possible to solve any of this without a calculator? I hadn't even taken pre calc in school; I was thoroughly sick of math by then and I had jumped at the chance to leave it out of my schedule in senior year.

Stupid Sylvarant...Stupid school...Stupid Kratos. He always got me into crap like this.

It's not like I did anything to deserve it--well, yeah, I did, but...he was stupid anyway.

At long last, I finished the quiz and looked it over carefully. Sadly enough, there really wasn't much to look over. Out of the forty questions asked, I had answered about twenty-five...and some of those I had guessed on just so I'd have something to put down. Maybe I should just hand in the quiz and make a run for it.

Filled with apprehension, I forked it over to Raine.

"Finished?" She asked, a knowing look in her eyes.

"Uh, yeah." I got up, but she quickly stopped me.

"And where do you think you're going?"

"I gotta pee." I lied, and Kratos facepalmed from his place on the other side of the fire.

"I'm sure it can wait until I'm finished grading this." Raine said, her tone firm. I sighed and sat down again, refraining from hitting my head repeatedly on the tree behind me.

I hated this. She was going to think I was on Lloyd's level or something, when I knew I was smart. I couldn't stand it when people misjudged me, especially when it came to intelligence. I wasn't the most athletic person in the world, I was insecure, and pretty awkward half the time. I could accept my faults, but when people started belittling the few parts of me I was actually proud of, I got pretty upset.

We sat in silence, Raine grading the paper while I fidgeted. Kratos started cleaning his sword, rubbing it down with a cloth.

Agh! Kratos rubbing down his sword...I worded that wrong...oh God, the horrible images...

I bit my tongue so a perverted joke wouldn't come out of my mouth, knowing neither of the abusive adults would appreciate it very much. Part of me couldn't wait to meet Zelos, simply because I needed someone to whisper "that's what she said" to without fear of getting smacked. Man, I missed my buddies from home...

"Hmm." The Professor was staring at the quiz, frowning a little; it looked like she'd finished grading. She looked a little perplexed.

I heaved a sigh. "I know I didn't pass, Professor...you can go ahead and break the bad news. I won't cry or anything."

"Yes, you did terrible..." She replied distractedly, and I nearly smacked my forehead. Well, it looked like she wasn't worried about hurting my feelings, anyway. Why was she so confused looking, then?

"...Strange." Raine murmured. "Your answers and explanations were high level, well thought out and detailed..."

"I have a brain! Who woulda thunk it?" I remarked sarcastically, but luckily she was too preoccupied to hit me. I was more than a little annoyed at her confusion. Did I really seem that stupid?

"...And yet," She continued, "you were incapable of answering some of the easiest questions. How is it that you can solve advanced math problems, while not knowing the name of Colette's most recent predecessor?"

Crap, crap, crap. This might be a cause for suspicion...yup, her comments had definitely caught Kratos's attention. So I didn't know the questions on Sylvarant...he probably thought I was from Tethe'alla now.

"Uh..." My mind went blank for a second. "...Selective learning?"

Naturally, I uttered the single worst thing to say to a dedicated teacher. Raine rolled the quiz into a tube and whacked me hard on the head with it. Kratty didn't move, but I bet he was inwardly cheering her on.

"Ow." I winced, even though it hadn't hurt all that much.

Professor Sage straightened her posture, looking at me with...oh God, not that look again. That insane teacher, ruin-mode look.

"By the time I'm through with you, you'll be able to finish this quiz with ease," she said, smiling.

"B-but I--" I stuttered, too alarmed to speak properly.

"A new student! MARVELOUS!"

I stared at her, wide eyed. What had I just gotten myself into?

Seeing movement from the corner of my vision, I turned my head to see Lloyd walking by. He seemed not to notice the crisis occurring to his left, too busy lamenting over his lost bet.

"Lloyd!" I cried, reaching out to him, "Save me!"

The brunette turned, ready to come to my aid, but took one look at the Professor and started backing away slowly.

"Ah, Lloyd. There you are." Raine said, sounding relatively calm again. We weren't fooled.

He froze, staring at her like a deer caught in headlights.

She stood up, brushing herself off and picking up some papers she'd left on the ground. "Would you mind familiarizing Brittany with my rules and expectations? Unfortunately, I have other business to attend to."

"Uh..."

"Good." She took this as a yes, turning to head to a different part of the campsite. Before she left, though, she looked over her shoulder at him. "And Lloyd?"

"Yeah, Professor?"

"Do your homework." With that, she left.

Lloyd groaned, falling to the ground beside me. "I didn't even know I had homework..."

I couldn't resist giggling at this. Poor Lloydie and his short attention span.

"Hey, what're you laughing about?" He grinned. "Now you're stuck in school too."

I frowned. "It's all Kratos's fault..." I muttered, turning to glare at the mercenary, only to find that he'd left. Lloyd and I were pretty much alone in this part of the camp. "Him and his stupid, dumb head..."

"Dork."

"I know you are." I replied, wishing I knew some comebacks that weren't so lame. "...So, aren't you gonna lecture me on all of the class rules?"

Lloyd paused, brow furrowed. "Um..."

"You slept through the first day of class, didn't you?" I laughed.

"It's not that! I was just...really late. Colette filled me in later, but I don't think I was listening..."

Well, that wasn't too surprising. I shrugged. "I doubt it matters, anyway. I've been through enough school to know what's expected of me."

"If you've gone to school so much, how come you failed this quiz?" Lloyd asked, picking the packet up off the ground where Raine had left it. He stared at it for a second. "Wait, I don't get any of this either..."

"It's kind of a long story. Well, not really, but it has to do with where I'm from."

He opened his mouth, hesitated, and closed it again. After thinking for a second, he spoke. "Hey. I know I can't ask you about your hometown, but can I ask you other things?"

"Depends on what you want to ask, I guess."

Lloyd laid back on the grass, hands behind his head. The stars were visible in this particular clearing. I followed suit, lying next to him and staring at the invisible comet above. Where was Yggdrasill today...

"Do you have any family?" He asked abruptly, and I nodded. Of course I did, they were just...worlds away. I suddenly realized that out of all the people in our group, I was pretty much the only one with my entire family intact. Hell, I was the only person here that had a living mother...one that wasn't insane, anyway. Even though they were impossible to reach, at least they were still alive..

"I've got a mom, dad, sister, and brother." I replied.

"You think they're looking for you?"

"By now, they probably think I'm dead." I said quietly.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to--"

"No, don't worry about it. I came to terms with all this crap a while ago."

He looked over at me. "C'mon, can't you explain everything now?"

"Nope," I said. I hadn't even thought it over since that night by the lake...dammit, I really needed to find some time to think it all through.

Lloyd sighed. "I just feel like I know you, but I don't. Y'know?"

"My name's Brittany, I enjoy long walks on the beach, iced coffee, and making fun of purple clad mercenaries." I grinned, and he made a face.

"Ew, coffee is gross."

I managed to tear the palm of my hand away from my face before he looked over at me. "I beg to differ, Lloydie."

Everything got quiet for a moment, and we stared at the stars, lost in our own thoughts. The stars...they looked so real. The illusion was pretty amazing. Was the sky we were looking at an exact copy of the real sky that was being blocked by Derris- Kharlan? It had to have been. People would've been weirded out if the constellations in the sky suddenly changed.

They'd feel sort of like I felt now...I reached up a hand, trying to trace out something familar. It was useless; I couldn't even find the Big Dipper, never mind the North Star. Those two had always been some of the easier things to spot back home.

"What're you doing?" Lloyd questioned, and I dropped my hand back into the grass.

"The stars are all different here..." I remarked sadly.

He paused for a moment. "I get it...you're homesick."

When I didn't reply, he grabbed the hand I'd dropped, lifting it up. Holding his hand over my own, he began to trace something out in the sky. It was a large, obvious constellation, now that he pointed it out; the picture the stars formed slowly began to take shape.

"That one's the Great Tree." He said, finally letting go of me. I stared up at it for a second, mildly confused.

"You mean...the Kharlan tree?" I asked. Why was it suddenly a constellation?

Lloyd nodded. "I guess the legend goes that after the tree died in the Ancient War, all these new stars showed up in the sky." He shrugged. "I just think it's cool looking."

"It is." I said, smiling a little. "You like looking at the stars, Lloyd?"

Another shrug. "I always have. Dad even built me a balcony outside of my room because I kept trying to go outside at night when I was a kid." Lloyd laughed, reminiscing. Then he paused for a second, puzzled. "Weird thing is, I don't remember Dad ever teaching me that constellation...was it Mom, then? Huh..."

I listened to his monologue quietly, interested. Ooh, Kratos was always looking at the stars...had he been the one to teach Lloyd? Poor kid didn't even remember.

The tree, huh...that constellation was the symbol of the only hope for the two worlds. I felt...strange, now that I knew. The stars weren't so unfamilar anymore; now that I at least recognized something, I felt a little more at home here. Now whenever I looked up at the night sky, I wouldn't be reminded of how far away from home I was. I'd be reminded of Lloyd, awkwardly trying to comfort me. Heh, it was better than nothing.

He yawned, stretching a little in the grass. "So you really must be from far away, huh? Professor Sage says the stars are different depending on where you are in the world."

"They also change based on the time of year," I added, unwilling to proceed with the subject of where I was from.

"I can't believe no one's ever shown you the Great Tree..."

"Look, a firefly." I pointed, and the small insect landed on my finger. C'mon, Lloyd, get distracted. This bug has a shiny ass.

"Its guts'll glow if you squish it," he remarked.

I made a face. "That's nasty, Lloyd."

"Heh..."

The firefly fluttered its wings, the light in its small torso blinking on and off. Light...

"I wonder what the Tower of Mana is like," I thought aloud.

"It's...probably huge..." Lloyd yawned again.

"Yeah...the Professor gets excited every time we bring it up." Yup, we'd be getting a healthy dose of ruin-mode as soon as we got there. I paused thoughtfully for a minute. After the whole releasing the seal thing, we'd have to cure Pietro. Did the others know about the unicorn at Lake Umacy yet? Damn...I didn't want to wander around forever as they tried to figure it out.

"Where are we going after the Tower, anyway?" I asked. No reply came. "...Lloyd?"

When I looked over at him, I could see that his eyes were closed. He was breathing slowly, sound asleep. A stray lock of hair had fallen loosely over his face.

"Awwww." I laughed quietly, deciding not to wake him. It had been one hell of a day.

Rolling over on my side, I stared wearily into the fire. And now...I was alone.

My entire body still ached. I don't think I could've gotten up even if I wanted to. Could I really take this, day in and day out?

No...I could. I had to. I had survived the fight with Kvar, hadn't I? Against all odds, I had lived through it. And before, I even escaped his ranch with no help from Lloyd and the others. I had to stay positive...because I didn't have anyone else to lean on for support. I had to believe that I could do this. Trying was better than giving up.

What exactly was I going to say to Lloyd later on, after the Tower of Salvation? Once he held up his part of the deal, I pretty much had no choice but to tell him about Earth. Otherwise he'd probably be pretty pissed at me, and I really didn't want that. Especially when I needed the Eternal Sword...

Christ, what if he didn't believe me? He could say all the corny things he wanted, but when it came down to it, did he honestly trust me?

But that wasn't the real question. No, I needed to know if I trusted him. I had to trust that he'd believe me. I had to place my faith in him. I looked over at the sleeping brunette beside me, frowning. I really didn't have a choice, did I? It's not like there was any other way to get out of this place. I needed Lloyd's help and the Eternal Sword; if he thought I was crazy, I was screwed. It was as simple as that. He'd either believe me or not believe me, and I'd just have to find out when the time came.

Damn. I really didn't like the thoughts of that...

I sighed, my eyes closing subconsciously. There was no sense in worrying about it if there was nothing I could do...

I'd just...focus on the present.

My last bleary thoughts slipped away as I sank into a deep sleep.

----

The next morning I rose early, as did several of the others; while Kratos and Lloyd practiced swordfighting, Professor Sage lectured me on the Tower of Mana's history. For the first time since I came here, I found myself longing to train. Anything was better than school -- even getting beaten up by a grumpy mercenary. History lessons weren't going to help me survive, after all.

"Brittany! Pay attention." Raine's voice caused me to go stiff, turning back over to her. She'd caught me staring at the swordsmen again. "I expect you to recite all of this when we arrive at the tower, understand?"

"Uh...yes, ma'am." Yeah, like that was going to happen. When we split into groups, I was going to avoid the one with Raine in it.

But wait, that meant if I got hurt, the main healer would be...crap. Maybe I could just stick with Kratos again? Oh no, what if Kratos went in the same group as Raine?! I'd be done for! No, no, I wouldn't let that happen...

Something else caught my attention this time -- a small tug on one of the strings hanging off my glove. I looked over to see Colette give me a small smile, before focusing on the Professor again. She was trying to keep me from getting caught zoning out again. I smiled back at her and tried to listen to what the teacher was saying.

Colette really was made of awesome. I hadn't really paid much attention to her in the game...on the contrary, she had sort of annoyed me at times, being the goody-two-shoes damsel in distress. And she was always saying sorry and acting like she had no backbone whatsoever. But it was different in real life...well, not really, but the way I thought about her was different. It's one thing when you're watching some computer generated character on the other side of a TV screen; it's so unrealistic that you can easily find faults with the character, make fun of them, get irritated by them. When they're right in front of you, though, giving you the most genuine smile you've ever seen in your life...well, it changes some things.

She was just...so nice. Unbelievably nice. Whenever I met someone who smiled that much on Earth, they were either a complete weirdo, or entirely fake. Colette was neither. This entire morning, she had been sitting with me and enduring the Professor's lessons of her own free will. When I quietly asked her why, she said she thought I might've wanted some company.

She was right, though; it was so much better with her there. Who else would keep me paying attention? If she hadn't been looking out for me, the Professor would've caught me daydreaming at least twenty times.

"Brittany!" ...Okay, twenty-one.

----

After many hours of walking, at long last we reached Luin. Lucian took the lead from there, leading us to a part of the town that hadn't been hit as hard by the fire. A few of the houses were still standing; after Kratos investigated to make sure they were safe, we went inside.

Yeah, I volunteered him to do it. My excuse was something along the lines of "eh, he's old...if it collapses, well, he had a good run."

And that was followed by a "you'll pay for that, bitch" glare from Kratos, and I began to realize that I should really keep my mouth shut sometimes. Especially when he was still ticked off at me.

Anyway, he did end up doing it since no one else was willing...well, Colette volunteered, but she wasn't in the greatest condition, not to mention she'd probably find a way to make all the houses collapse like dominoes.

Speaking of the blonde Chosen...our group was currently sitting in a spacious bedroom, Colette sleeping in one of the beds. Lucian had somehow managed to find some blankets that weren't destroyed, so everything worked out pretty nicely.

Huh, something seemed weird about this scene...oh! That's right, in the game everyone went to Asgard after destroying the ranch. We were supposed to be at the inn there. But that was kind of pointless, wasn't it? Sure, Luin was almost completely destroyed, but Asgard such a long walk away that Colette's wounds would be healed by the time we got there. Hey, and where the hell had the prisoners gone in the game, anyway? The deactivation group had pretty much said "yeah, get the hell out" to them and went on with their business. Man, video games didn't make any sense at all...

"Is she all right, Professor? She still looks kind of pale." Lloyd spoke up, giving the sleeping Chosen a concerned look.

"Yes, she'll be fine. Her wounds are healing steadily."

Although she'd been awake for some periods of time, Colette had slept (or, well, pretended to) through the majority of our journey here, laying on Noishe's back. Now that she was finally in a proper bed, we were hopeful that she'd be able to recover faster. We hadn't brought up the topic of her Angel Toxicosis since Lloyd's confession at the ranch. Everyone else was either trying to stay cheerful until we got here, or being all emo and pensive; I could've said something, but I didn't want to screw up the plot.

After an awkward silence, Sheena shifted uneasily and decided to point out the elephant in the room. Heh, elephant...I love that phrase. Oh, right, Sheena was talking.

"...So each time Colette releases a seal and takes a step closer to becoming an angel, she loses a part of what makes her human?"

Everyone gained pained looks on their faces, and Genis stood up to protest.

"That's terrible! Then, what's going to happen to her in the end?"

Lloyd looked up, brow furrowed; apparently this wasn't something he'd considered yet. "...What is going to happen to her in the end?"

I couldn't believe none of them put it together. I mean Lloyd wasn't the sharpest tack in the box, but Genis was supposed to be smart, wasn't he? C'mon, kid...what's the very last thing she'll have to give? People become angels after they die...even I knew that. Who ever heard of a living angel?

Sheena bit her lip as Genis looked around, seemingly wishing that someone would provide an answer. Maybe they knew, but they were in denial. Denial...that was the first stage of grief, wasn't it? But Colette wasn't dead, yet...she wasn't...dammit, why didn't anyone say something?!

"I don't like it." I said, my voice sounding especially loud as it cut through the thick silence. Kratos and Raine were staying very quiet, but the others were too worried about Colette to notice. As horrible as it was, I had to derail their train of thought before they actually came to a conclusion; we'd never end the regeneration cycle if they stopped Colette's journey here.

I shook my head somberly, trying to think of some thoughtful input so they'd be distracted. "Losing your humanity, bit by bit? Even if Colette's becoming an angel, no one should have to suffer like that..."

The Professor had been about to speak, but now she hesitated. She was good at hiding her emotions most of the time, but for a split second I was able to see the burden of her guilt and sorrow reflected in her eyes. Then she looked away, her bangs quickly shielding them from view.

Kratos remained impassive, and I couldn't stop myself from feeling a little resentful. He was goodhearted on the inside, right? He was just acting like an asshole to keep up apperances...right? It was during emotional moments like these that he scared me the most; his eyes were always so cold and hard, even when he could see Colette suffering right in front of him. Would he have that same look on his face when he fought us at the Tower of Salvation? Would he feel any remorse when he killed me?

That thought caused me to hurriedly wrench my gaze away from the mercenary, trying to calm myself. It wouldn't do me any good to worry about that here. Sure, there wasn't much left to do before we released the final seal, but it was still a long time from now. After all that traveling, to the water seal and back...yeah, I wouldn't have to think about any of that for a while.

"Not only that," Genis piped up, "but after she regenerates the world, Colette will be all alone as the only angel! That's too cruel..."

"Ah...that's..." Raine finally spoke, but Colette's soft voice cut her off.

"Professor, it's okay."

"Colette..."

The Chosen sat up in bed, hands resting on the blanket bunched up in her lap. She smiled apologetically, looking around at all of us. "I'm sorry to worry everyone. Things are a little difficult right now, but once I become a full angel, it might be a lot easier. So don't worry, it's okay."

Sheena shook her head. "No, it's too hard on you! If you're tired, you want to sleep, don't you? Don't you miss the taste of the foods you like? And you can't even feel the warmth of someone when you hold their hand...You should just stop this crazy world regeneration!"

My thoughts exactly. Dammit, this wasn't supposed to be so depressing.

"Thank you, Sheena." Colette smiled again, but I knew she was scared of what lay ahead. "But if I quit now, all of the people suffering throughout the world won't be saved. I was born for the sake of the world regeneration, so I'm going to make sure I do my job. Okay?"

No, that wasn't okay! That wasn't fair!

"Yes..." Kratos murmured, "That is the fate of the Chosen."

Oh, God, I wanted to punch him. He knew what was going to happen and he...he didn't even look guilty...was he secretly feeling guilty? How could he just accept this?

I quickly softened my gaze and looked away from him, but I wasn't fast enough; I could tell he had seen my glare. To the others, his remark had probably seemed like a somber observation, when it was actually a subtle prod in the correct direction. His eyes narrowed just a little at me, but then he seemed to shrug it off. Knowing Kratos, though, that little slipup was going to bite me in the ass later.

"Can't we find another way?" Lloyd frowned. "A way where Colette doesn't have to become an angel?"

"The world will be regenerated when the Chosen becomes an angel. It's always been like that...and it probably always will be. So..." Colette trailed off, and another wave of revulsion at Cruxis and this system washed over me.

"So you're really okay with this? You're okay with giving up your humanity?" I asked, wishing she'd tell us her true feelings for once. Lloyd hesitated and closed his mouth, and I wondered if I'd stolen one of his lines.

She nodded, and my wishes were not fulfilled. "...Yes. I'm going to become an angel, for everyone's sake."

"...All right. But Colette, the path you've chosen is not going to be easy, you know." Raine said, though I was sure Colette knew very well what she was getting herself into.

"Yes, Professor."

Lloyd shook his head, fists clenched. "I won't accept this...there's got to be another way."

I wished I could comfort him...but depite my knowledge of the future, I still felt uneasy. Anything could go wrong...

----

It wasn't long before Colette dozed off again, and everyone went about their business as we let her rest. Kratos and Lloyd were training (again), with the excuse that the seal guardian at the Tower of Mana was much stronger than the last few. The mercenary said the key to the tower was kept somewhere in this city, so we sent Raine to search for it before she offered to cook dinner. Thankfully, Genis took up that job. I wondered if he ever got tired of us making him cook...ah well, soon enough we'd have Regal, the Iron Chef.

The weather was beautiful, and I was perfectly content in watching the swordsmen train from the sidelines. Unfortunately, Kratos seemed to notice halfway through that my leg had healed, and made me get up and join them.

"...Hey," I said as I drew my sword, "does this mean I don't have to take lessons with the Professor anymore?" My eyes lit up at the very thought. No more school!

"Hmph...I believe that is up to Miss Sage."

My face fell. "What? But you said--that wasn't part of the deal!"

I thought I saw a flicker of amusement in his eyes. "I don't recall making a deal with you, Brittany."

Well, he was calling me by my first name again; at least we were back on relatively good terms. Lloyd gave me a pitying look, and I made a face. Lessons for the rest of the journey? Damn it all!

"Argh! Fierce Demon Fang!"

Kratos dodged out of the way easily as I tried out the new tech, lifting his own blade and coming at me. Somehow I managed to recover fast enough to clash swords with him.

"Keep a cool head in battle. Anger will only impair your judgment." He admonished, quickly gaining the upper hand and overpowering me. Within seconds I was disarmed, Kratos's sword hovering inches away from my throat.

As usual, the rest of that training session consisted of Lloyd and I getting beaten down multiple times. Instead of taking turns, though, Kratos decided to instruct us on teamwork and have us both come at him at once. Needless to say, it didn't make much of a difference. The mercenary was just too goddamn strong.

When Lloyd offered to teach me Cross Thrust, though, I suddenly became a lot less pouty. Kratos let his son take over the teacher's position (my existence was probably giving him a headache), and watched with a bored expression as we accidentally stabbed each other over and over while trying to perform the attack. At least he healed us afterwards.

----

"Hey, don't worry about it. You'll get it sooner or later." Lloyd said, standing in the doorway behind me. I turned to face him and shook my head sadly, before falling backwards into one of the beds.

"It's useless, Lloydie. I fail at life."

"No you don't--"

"I do, I do. Oh, woe is me..." I sighed dramatically, and he rolled his eyes.

"Cut it out, you weirdo."

I stuck my tongue out at him, watching him out of the corner of my eye as he crossed the room. Lloyd seemed to become distracted with something else, so I closed my eyes and tried to let the aches of training fade away. It was only when I heard him rummaging through something that I opened them again. Hey, wait a minute. That was my--

"What the hell are you doing? Lloooyyd!" He was shamelessly going through my bag, and held it away from me when I tried to grab it back.

"Ha! Found it." He grinned, pulling something rectangular out. Eh?

I leaned closer to see what it was, and frowned. "Oh, come on!" I quickly reached out to snatch it, but he was taller than me and just held it over his head. It was the box of pocky the Wonder Chef had given me. After the whole thing with Kvar, I'd forgotten all about it.

"Give it already!" I whined, trying hard to get it back, but to no avail. Lloyd just laughed, reading the box as he held it up; my hands clawed in vain at his arm.

"Pokey?" He stared at the box in slight confusion. "What's that?"

I snorted. "Pocky, Lloyd. It's called pocky."

"I still don't know what it is." He finally stopped playing his game of keep away, sitting down on the bed and examining the item in his hands. I sat next to him, pushing away the urge to grab the box and make a run for it. Stupid Lloyd was probably a faster runner than me, too. I really didn't want to get tackled, even if he was just joking around.

"It's just food. See?" I opened the box, handing him some. Surprisingly enough, the sticks hadn't been crushed in my bag. When he eyed it skeptically, I popped some in my mouth to show it wasn't going to explode or anything.

Oh my God, pocky...how I'd missed eating real food. Of course, I would've chosen a good ol' American cheeseburger over this, but I was pretty much grateful for anything Earth related.

Lloyd finally relented, trying some himself. "Hey...that's pretty good."

"It is, isn't it?" I smiled. There had to be some way I could repay the Wonder Chef for his awesomeness...

Wow. You know you're an otaku when you find yourself eating pocky with Lloyd Irving. Now all we needed were some mangas and a Domo plushie, and we'd be set.

He examined the box curiously, turning it over in his hands. "Wegmans?" He read the price sticker, and I cringed. Uh oh, he was starting to notice the un-Sylvarant-like aspects to it.

"It's, um, a store." I replied dumbly.

"I've never seen this stuff before..." Lloyd frowned, puzzled. He looked at the nutrition info, and couldn't make sense of that, either. "And what's all this weird writing?" He indicated the ingredient list, printed in Japanese.

"Uh..." Crap, what was I supposed to say?

The sound of the front door opening cut us off, and I jumped up to see who it was. Lloyd seemed to hesitate, but got up as well. The Professor and Lucian trudged in, soaking wet; I realized it had begun to pour outside. Lucian pulled a blanket off a spare bed, placing it around her shoulders to serve as a towel. She was shivering, her skin nearly as pale as her hair.

"Professor!" Lloyd gasped, alarmed. "What happened to you?"

"I'm fine, Lloyd." She answered, her voice barely steady. Kratos was sitting next to Noishe in front of the fireplace; he looked up, an eyebrow slightly raised.

"Er, Professor, you don't really look fine..." I pointed out.

Lucian sighed. "I found her digging through debris near the town chapel.

Raine looked away. "It's flooding outside...I had to find the key before it was washed away. If it was lost...think about it! The interior of the tower, lost forever...all of those lovely books...so much to study..." She began to ramble, her voice shuddering. Her body was rocked with a powerful sneeze; Lucian grabbed her shoulders to steady her.

"Raine!" Genis cried, running out of the kitchen after hearing the commotion. Upon seeing the condition she was in, he looked downright terrified. I had to admire the amount of love he had for his sister; it probably wasn't anything serious, and yet he just about dragged her to bed. Immediately afterwards, he set about making some hot soup to help her feel better. Dinner was postponed for the rest of us, but we didn't really care.

----

"...Oh, no...Is she going to be all right?" Colette asked in a whisper. She had recently woken up, just as the Professor fell asleep.

"Looks like she'll be okay. It's just a cold, I think." Sheena replied.

"Such a careless thing to do..." Kratos murmured with a sigh, earning a defensive glare from Genis. I decided to say something before the mercenary had tiny fists of fury coming at him.

"Y'know, she did manage to get the key. We would've been screwed if she hadn't."

"Her condition may slow us down. It would have been best to wait until morning."

I frowned, realizing the futility of trying to argue with Kratos. He always managed to seem right, even if he was wrong. "...Eh. What's done is done, anyway."

"Here it is, then." Lucian reached into his pocket, pulling out a large key and setting at the foot of the bed. He then turned towards the door, looking over his shoulder at us. "I know some merchants in the area that may be willing to sell me some medicinal herbs. Perhaps an herbal tea will make her feel better."

"Thank you." Genis said gratefully, and we watched the swordsman leave. The sound of Raine's quiet breathing filled the room once more.

I stared at her sleeping form, a frown tugging at my lips. Well, this was unexpected...not only was she not supposed to get sick, but we were also supposed to get the key over in Hima. Hmm...so maybe Clara hadn't stolen it while she was here after all? Maybe she had just wanted to go on a lovely stroll through Luin, that was all. No key stealing involved.

There it was again, that weird nagging feeling at the back of my head...had my presence here altered that little part of the plot? Well, it's not like it was really important or anything...it just bugged me. I mean, what if all the little things snowballed and became one big thing? That would be kind of bad, wouldn't it?

Eventually everyone seemed to calm down, filing out of the room. At Genis's request, Kratos cast a First Aid for good measure. I was a bit surprised he hadn't considered that a waste of energy; maybe it was his way of apologizing for his remarks about Raine being careless. Or maybe Kratos was just really confusing.

Oh crap, I was alone in the room with him. Must escape, must escape...

I stretched, yawning loudly. "Well, I suppose it's about time I hit that old dusty trail..." I quoted Peter Griffin, and Kratos just ignored me. Sweet, that meant I was in the clear. I headed for the door.

"You will be resuming the daily training from now on. We're meeting in front of the town fountain tomorrow morning; don't be late." Kratos said, and I groaned.

"I knew you were going to say something like that..." Sighing, I just shook my head. "Fine. Night, Kratos."

"Hm."

Okay, maybe that was Kratos-language for "Good night, Brittany." I couldn't be too sure; usually his grunts meant that he was sort of listening, but didn't really give a rat's ass about whatever you were saying. Oh, Kratos, such a loveable man.

That night, I dreamt it was raining pocky...only Raine was allergic. Wow.

----

Several days later, we found ourselves trudging through slick, waterlogged grass on our way to the Tower of Mana. It had rained for at least two or three days, and now all of us had mud up to our knees. With the exception of Genis, of course -- he was short, so he seemed to be a little dirtier and a little more irritated. He was also wearing shorts, so uh...yeah. I wasn't going to ask...but I had a sneaking suspicion he had some mud in them, too.

"Look on the bright side, Genis," I said, only receiving a glare in return.

"What bright side? There is no bright side!"

"Well, mud is really good for your skin, so...you'll have beautiful legs after this!" I grinned, and Lloyd immediately started to snicker.

"Hey, shut up, Lloyd!" Genis said, pouting.

"Wow! I never thought of that!" Colette said cheerfully. "I bet you'll look really good when it washes off, Genis!"

"Er...thanks, Colette." More snickers from Lloyd; this time I started to join in.

Our laughter abruptly stopped when Colette tripped, doing a faceplant straight into a muddy puddle.

"Oops..." She finally said when she sat up, her entire front covered in mud. As she attempted to wipe some of it off her face, she giggled a little. The second we heard her, everyone burst out laughing -- with the exception of Kratos and Raine, who were busy shaking their heads.

"Colette, you look ridiculous!" Lloyd managed to say, and she laughed, too.

"I do, don't I?"

"But you'll be even prettier than Genis!" I declared, causing another bout of giggles.

"Oh, Colette..." Raine sighed. "I suppose we'll have to find a way to wash those clothes..."

"Are you done?" Kratos asked us, his voice loud and firm. We abruptly stopped, and nodded quietly.

"Hm. Let's get going, then." He said, and we followed after him.

"...Psh." I said quietly, "Party pooper."

----

The Tower of Mana had loomed over the horizon for a while now, but we were finally getting close. It actually turned out to be a lot taller than I'd anticipated. It was tiny in comparison to the Tower of Salvation, but up close...yeah, it was big.

And, as expected, the Professor spazzed out as soon as we reached it. She ran up the stone steps, muttering hysterically to herself about the fantastic architecture, as we all sort of stood off to the side.

I had to admit though, it was pretty cool looking. I wasn't used to seeing buildings this tall that weren't skyscrapers. And there were these neat magical runes on the door...what did they mean? I would've asked Raine, if she weren't practically foaming at the mouth.

"Kratos." She finally seemed to realize we were still there, and turned to the mercenary. "The key?"

He crossed his arms, shaking his head. "It's late. We'll camp out here and head in tomorrow morning."

"But--" She started to protest, looking longingly at the door.

"He's right, Professor." Lloyd yawned. "I'm tired."

"And besides, Raine, you're sick!" Genis added. "You need your rest."

Oh Genis, your brotherly love is showing...

She started to protest, saying she felt fine, but then sneezed three times. That pretty much decided it; I gratefully settled down on the grass near the front steps.

My gaze fell on the upper part of the tower, stretching high above us. Man, it was going to suck fighting up there...I was afraid of heights.

It was strange to think that this was the first seal I was going to see Colette break. I was going to see Remiel for the first time, and Colette was going to lose her voice. The next time we saw her "father" after this, we would be fighting him. And Colette would be...

I sighed. Focus on the present situation -- one ordeal at a time.

Ugh. And we weren't even halfway through the game yet.

----

**A/N: Once again, it took longer than anticipated to get where I intended to. XD I had actually wanted to at least enter the tower by this chapter, but noooo, other random things wanted to be written. Heh...well, then, until next time!**

**Review...you know you want toooo~ ;D**

**hmm, what should I bribe reviewers with this time...uhh....uhhh...brain fart. Oh! Look, a stick! Review and you get this fantastic...piece of wood? Wait, that didn't come out right.**

**Next time: When teddy bears attack!**


	19. Infernal Tower

**A/N: Writer's block hurts my brainnn. D: The Tower of Mana does not want to be written. But I will conquer it! **

**Anyway, yeah. Brain fart. Can't think of what to say here, so I'm just gonna get on with it!**

**Disclaimer: If I owned ToS, I would make Yggdrasill drop the act and come out of the damn closet. **

**----**

The blue sky darkened in hue as the sun began to sink below the horizon. Now that we'd settled in, everyone went about their own activities as usual. Kratos went off somewhere to be all mysterious (reporting to a certain Cruxis angel, perhaps?), and Lloyd was out on a walk with Colette. Raine still insisted upon drooling all over the Tower, despite her sickness. Sheena was sitting on the stone steps to the large structure, reorganizing the different cards and seals she carried with her. I was tempted to ask her about them, but then I remembered they were Mizuho secrets, and if she told me she'd have to marry me.

The ninja gave me an odd look when she saw me stifle a laugh. "What's so funny?"

"You really don't want to know," I replied, shaking my head. Okay, maybe it'd be best to leave her alone before she started thinking I was weird. I stood up from my seat on the grass, wandering elsewhere and wondering what to do.

Oh, it looked like Genis was cooking dinner again. We didn't even have to make him this time; ever since Raine had come down with that cold, he'd taken over all cooking duties to ensure her fast recovery. Hmm...I felt an idea setting on. I hadn't really talked to him much since that day back in Asgard, after all.

"Hey, Genis." I called to him as I walked up, sitting down near the fire he was cooking with. "Guess what?"

The twelve-year-old briefly looked up at me, before turning back to the ingredients he was setting out. It looked like he was boiling water in a pot...wait, where the hell had that come from? Which one of us was carrying a cooking pot around all day?

"What?" Genis asked, derailing my random train of thought. I grinned, remembering what I was going to say.

"You should teach me how to cook something."

"Huh?" Now I'd caught his attention. He looked at me again, surprised.

"C'mon, you heard me. Pretty please?"

Genis's surprise wore off, and he gave me a skeptical look. "Aren't you supposed to be the omelette master?"

I blinked, then quickly shook my head. "Uh, no--I mean, that's pretty much the only thing I can cook, so...so I think I need to learn more! What are you making?" I changed the subject, leaning forward to peer at the ingredients he'd placed in front of him.

"Meat stew." He replied, shifting the pot over the fire a little. "Okay, you can help, and I'll tell you how to make it. Just don't screw up too horribly, okay?"

"Yes sir, I'll try." I replied, amused at how little faith he placed in my abilities. Not only that, Genis seemed a tiny bit smug; he was twelve, and ordering an eighteen-year-old around. Not many kids his age got to do that every day.

The mage pulled out some kelp and placed it in the pot of boiling water, with the air of a master at work. Normally I would've cringed--the idea of any sort of seaweed in my food made me nauseous--but I trusted that he'd make it taste delicious either way. Genis could make anything taste good.

Now he pulled out some pasta, and I grinned. I'd been getting sick of all the plain stew, but it looked like Genis was gonna kick it up a notch tonight. I resisted the urge to yell out "BAM!" when he threw the noodles in.

"You have to boil dried pasta in order to soften it," the boy remarked, and I facepalmed.

"C'mon Genis, you don't think I'm that stupid, do you?"

Genis gave me a look. "Well, you do hang around Lloyd a lot..."

"So do you, Genis. That means you should be as dumb as me." I said, smiling a little. My smile fell, though, when I saw that the boy was looking down into the fire. He had a troubled expression on his face.

"Just how close are you two, anyway?" Genis suddenly asked, looking at me. I faltered, taken aback.

"Wh-what? We're...I mean, uh, he's just--" I stopped, flustered. Me and Lloyd?! That was...I didn't...! No, no way.

Then I realized that Genis's question was completely innocent; he wasn't implying we had some sort of intimate relationship, he was wondering how close of friends we had become. I looked into Genis's cool blue eyes, and saw the insecurity in them. He was still just a kid, after all.

I rolled my eyes, more annoyed at myself than anyone else, and laid back on the grass. "Gimme a break, Genis. We might talk a lot, but I'm not nearly as close to him as you are. You guys are childhood friends; I've only known Lloyd for a few months."

"...Yeah...." Genis said after a moment, and sighed. "Sorry. It's just..." He fidgeted a little, uncomfortable. "After Colette becomes an angel, it'll be just me and Lloyd. But now you're here, and Sheena, and Kratos, and...I just don't want to get left behind."

I frowned knowingly. Genis was just used to the original trio: him, Colette, and Lloyd. Now that there were so many new group members, he wasn't used to Lloyd's attention being so divided. Then there was Colette's Angel Toxicosis...and not only that...

"It sucks being the youngest, doesn't it?" I said, gazing over at him as he stirred the softening pasta. By the look on his face, it seemed like I'd hit home.

"Yeah, it does." He replied. That was part of it, wasn't it? People changed when they got older. He didn't want Lloyd to grow up and forget about him, or to ditch him for friends of his own age group. Not that Lloyd would ever, ever do something like that.

The boy picked up a little more pasta, snapping the noodles in half and throwing them in. "Who're you to talk, though? You couldn't understand."

I snorted. "I was twelve once, too, you know."

"But you don't remember being twelve!" Genis shot back, and I hesitated. Whoops, that was quite the slipup on my part.

"Yeah, you're right, I don't..." I finally backed down, knowing there was really nothing more I could say. Genis stared at me for a second, before shaking his head and turning back to his cooking. I sat up again, sighing and trying to focus on what he was doing.

"Is Raine still up at the Tower's entrance? You were just over there, right?" Genis asked, changing the subject before the silence became too awkward.

"Hm? Yeah...last I checked, she was trying to decipher all the ancient runes on the door." There had been hundreds of them, all over its surface.

The young mage groaned. "She's just going to make herself more sick at this rate...Can you watch this for a second? I'm going to go check on her."

"Sure," I answered, taking his place as he stood up and left. I kept that pot under close surveillance, well aware of my notoriously bad luck. Perhaps a bomb shelter would be needed; this place wasn't safe from aerial attacks. A meteor might come crashing down.

I stirred the boiling water occasionally, knowing that the pasta was probably almost soft enough by now. Hopefully Genis wouldn't spend too much time chatting with his sister.

When I heard footsteps approaching, I temporarily looked away from the pot. Ah, it looked like Kratos had finally returned.

"Where were you?" I asked offhandedly, stretching a bit.

"Hm. I went for a walk," he replied.

"All by your lonesome?"

"Do I seem like the type to crave company?"

"I bet you do, deep down." I speculated, nodding to myself.

Kratos raised an eyebrow, and I realized he was looking at the pot in front of me--the one I had just neglected for a second too long.

"Oh, crap!" I exclaimed as it started to boil over. I attempted to stir it to clear the foam, but to no avail. "Ack! Abort, abort!"

I heard the mercenary sigh; he walked over, picked up a bottle of oil that was sitting next to me, and poured some into the pot. The foam died down instantly, and I felt incredibly stupid.

"Um..." I smiled sheepishly. "I was going to do that. I was just testing you."

"I'm sure you were." He replied, going to sit down nearby, and uh...supervise my supervision of the food. Maybe Genis was right in putting so little faith in me.

----

Even after we ate, it was still a bit too early to go to bed; at least, it was early to me. Several of the others thought so as well, and Kratos and Raine occupied their time by glaring at us like upset parents. They said we'd need the sleep, but my reasoning was that too much sleep was just as bad as not getting enough. Surprisingly enough, that explanation got everyone off the hook for an hour or so.

Genis had been all for staying up late, but dozed off mere minutes after we won the argument. I couldn't help but snicker at that; he was such a kid. I missed being twelve...after all, eighteen wasn't really all it was cracked up to be.

Realizing it had been a while since I last snuck off, I stood and decided to go on a walk of my own. The Tower of Mana was near the ocean, right? I hadn't seen the ocean in forever...

Thankfully, there was a path through the woods that led directly to where I wanted to go. After a relatively short walk, I was able to smell the saltwater; there was even a raised pathway through the marsh I encountered, so I didn't have to put too much effort into getting to the beach. Before I knew it, I was walking through pale sands that glistened faintly in the light of the rising moon.

I looked both ways--the beach was completely empty. A grin crept its way on to my face, and I flung my boots off, feeling the sand between my toes. A seagull cried faintly overhead, probably finding its way back to its nest.

Sylvarant had extremely outdated technology, but I couldn't deny that it was beautiful here. Nature was left completely untouched.

I spotted a large rock jutting partway out of the sand, and I went to sit on it, letting the water gently lap my feet. It was unusually warm for a place so far north, I noted. The beaches in Maine were freezing even in the summer, and yet the water here was comfortable despite being comparatively further north. Then again, Sylvarant didn't have glaciers at its north pole, either...supposedly because Celsius didn't reside there. It made no sense.

"Brittany?"

I started a little at the voice, turning around to see Colette standing behind me.

"Sorry if I scared you." She smiled apologetically, clasping her hands in front of her. I smiled back.

"Don't worry about it. What is it, Colette?"

"Well, the Professor just wanted to make sure you hadn't wandered too far. She was going to send Lloyd, but I volunteered instead..." The blonde paused for a second, and then seemed to remember something. "Oh! And she wanted me to ask you if you did your homework."

I rolled my eyes, laughing a little. "Yeah, actually, I did." Raine had assigned me some annoying reading from a history book, and questions to go along with it. I'd intentionally finished it all early so I could make Lloyd carry the book, since he had to do the assignment too.

"Okay! I guess that's it, then. Sorry for bothering you." She said, turning. I hesitated for a second, but spoke up.

"Wait, Colette." She stopped, looking over her shoulder at me. "C'mon, sit with me for a sec. I'm bored," I lied.

Actually, I'd realized that this could quite possibly be our last chance to talk for a very long time. Hell, I probably wouldn't even survive until the day she got her voice back, so...I really wanted to have our last conversation imprinted in my memory. We were going to split up in the morning shortly after we entered the tower, and there was no guarantee I'd be in Colette's group. This was the only chance we had for a final conversation.

"All right," Colette replied, walking back over to sit next to me. "I'm sure the Professor won't mind."

"Thanks."

After a moment of companionable silence, she spoke. "So...what did you want to talk about?" She didn't sound impatient or annoyed in any way, and for that I was grateful. Then again, I really didn't think Colette was capable of showing impatience or irritation. She was just too nice.

"Hm, I dunno...I didn't really have anything planned, actually." I rubbed the back of my neck, a nervous gesture. If I wasn't going to be hearing her voice for a while, I wanted our last conversation to be at least a little interesting, but I really wasn't sure what to say...

"Oh! I have an idea!" Colette said, and I looked over at her.

"Huh? What is it?"

"I'll list random conversation topics until we find one we like!" She explained, and I stifled a giggle. Colette was just so...Colette.

"Okay, shoot," I finally said. The Chosen smiled happily.

"Um...Sheena!" I paused, raising an eyebrow slightly, and waited for her to continue.

"...Lloyd!" Another pause.

"Kratos!"

I laughed. "Colette, you're just listing people."

Her smile faltered a little. "Oh...but they're all really interesting, don't you think?"

"Yeah, they are," I confirmed, while trying to think of what else to say. I looked over at Colette, and noticed something strange. Did she think I couldn't see her expression in the dark?

Because...for a moment, I was able to see all of the stress and fear of these past few months displayed in her hesitant smile. As soon as she saw my scrutinizing look, though, it was gone.

"Hey, Colette..." I looked out at the ocean, watching the waves crash into the sand.

"Yeah?"

"Aren't you afraid? Of tomorrow, I mean."

She gave me a puzzled look. "Well, I heard the monsters in the tower are sort of scary--"

I shook my head. "No, not that." Although she was right, and I really didn't want to face the evil teddy bears, but that was beside the point. "You're going to release another seal...and..."

"And I'll be closer to becoming an angel?" Colette paused. "...Well, I guess I am a little scared. But it's okay, 'cause in the end I'll be able to regenerate the world and save everyone!"

"But--" I cut myself off, knowing I couldn't say what I really wanted to.

_--you won't be saving everyone._

After a moment, I just sighed. "Look...if you're ever feeling shitty, or you just need someone to talk to...I'm here, okay?"

I just wanted to support her somehow, because I knew inside she was probably terrified. If I had been in her shoes, I would've killed myself a while ago. Yeah, suicide is wrong, but...given how screwed up "heaven" was in this world, hell couldn't be much worse.

Colette just smiled. "Thanks, but you don't need to worry about me." Damn, she was a good actor.

I shrugged. "If you say so."

Aaaand...cue awkward silence. Why did I have to suck so much at making conversation? Thankfully, though, the blonde Chosen broke the silence again.

"Wait! You've never been to a seal with us before! That means you get to see Remiel! He's really nice," she said cheerfully, and I nearly gaped at her. Right, so one thing I really didn't want to talk about was sparkly angels, especially not assholes like Colette's "father."

"Um..." I smiled a little, unsure of how to respond. "Lloyd told me about him once. I...I guess it'll be cool to see a full angel up close..." Not really, but I couldn't exactly tell her what I honestly thought of Remiel. Besides, she had just totally lied to me about what she thought. Really nice? Yeah, sure, Colette. More like complete douchebag.

"I bet it'll be a lot easier to release the seal with you helping!" Colette said optimistically. I failed to stifle a snort.

"Uh...okay, Colette." By the look on her face, she honestly hadn't noticed how useless I was. I guess I looked really professional flailing my sword around like a maniac. I was about to say more, but she stood up.

"It's getting really late, I think the others might get worried..." She frowned, looking honestly guilty. "I'm sorry...maybe we can talk more in the morning?"

I smiled. "Don't worry about it. Tell them I'll be back soon, too."

She nodded, turning to go.

"And Colette?"

"Hm?" She looked over her shoulder, and I put on my best serious face.

"...Remember what I said, okay? I mean, I'm not going anywhere."

My hopes of helping her out were broken when she gave me the most fake smile I'd seen yet.

"Yeah! Hehe, I won't forget!"

Dammit, Colette.

----

After the sound of her footsteps faded off into the distance, I continued to focus on the sound of the waves, the feel of the sand beneath my feet. It was so soothing. I wished we could hear the waves from where we'd camped, but...we were too far away.

I leaned back on the palms of my hands, closing my eyes and just listening. I took another deep breath of the ocean air. Y'know...this place sorta looked like Wells beach, near where my dad lived. Well, it didn't have all those overpriced beach houses and beachside restaurants, but those would've been behind me, anyway. If I kept my eyes closed, it was just like any other beach I'd visited.

It had been spring break, two years ago...the weather was just like this, and it was this exact time of day. My dad, brother, sister and I all went for a walk on the beach. It was a little too chilly to go in the water, but just being there was enough. I was anxious for summer vacation so I could have more walks like these.

Weird...it was so easy to remember all the details when I was in such a similar setting.

My sister and I were wearing our sunglasses even though it was too dark to be wearing them. There had been a group of teenagers out to the side of us, most of them on their cell phones, probably taking the beach for granted since they visited it all the time. I remember being anxious about work the next day, because I hadn't worked since the summer before. My sister was busy making fun of the manager, who acted a lot like Zelos (subtract the hotness, add the creepiness). She said she'd love me forever if the first three words out of my mouth when I met him were "I hate you."

I smiled slightly. It was weird to think of all the things I used to worry about; they seemed so trivial now. It wasn't like I'd die if the first day at work didn't go well. Why had I been so nervous? Ashley had been there to help...

I opened my eyes, staring numbly into my lap. Ashley...Goddammit, I missed my sister. I missed hanging out with her. I missed going to rock concerts with her and stopping at Denny's at midnight to get some post-concert loaded fries. She was supposed to take me on a beer run to Canada when I turned nineteen. So much for that.

I missed my dad, too...and my brother, and my mom. Even before I came here, it had been nearly six months since I last saw my mother. I seriously regretted not taking the long drive to see her. Augh. My dad's stupid jokes, my brother's awkwardness, my mom's Maine accent...Moving away from them was one thing; at least then I'd know I could go see them whenever. But to be separated from my family and not know if I'd ever get to hear their voices again? This sucked.

Even though I had told Lloyd I'd already come to terms with all this...that didn't mean I wasn't going to get all angsty over it every now and then. It only got harder to handle over time; in the beginning of the journey, I hadn't remembered anything at all...and when I did remember, my Exsphere had been dulling all my emotions. But now that I had a Key Crest, everything just hurt like hell.

The sound of footsteps approaching derailed my train of thought; when I heard an impatient sigh, I knew it was Kratos standing behind me. He always seemed to get stuck with the job of bringing me back to camp, so I guess I couldn't blame him.

"Brittany."

I nodded. "I know, I know. Time to go back."

"You should have gone back with the Chosen. How were you planning to find your way on your own?" I could sense his frown.

"Uh..." Crap, hadn't thought of that. The woods were probably pitch dark right now.

"Never make a decision without considering the possible consequences," he said firmly. I only nodded, standing up and facing him.

"Yeah...you're right. Sorry."

He raised an eyebrow at how meek I was suddenly being, but made no comment on it. I followed him down the path to camp, just wanting to go to bed. Even poking fun at the mercenary wasn't going to cheer me up too much right now; I didn't bother.

"Stay close to me or you'll get lost," Kratos cautioned when we reached the forest. I frowned a little.

"Can't you just take out your--Didn't you bring a lantern?" I caught myself just in time; I'd been just about to ask him if he'd bring his wings out! I really needed to be more careful.

Through the darkness, I saw him shake his head. "The path is short and we can't afford to waste oil. I'm over here," he said when he caught me looking the other way. I hurried to catch up, keeping the tails of his cape within view. I kind of wanted to grab one of them, but I had a feeling Kratos wouldn't like that very much. And I wasn't about to suggest we hold hands, even if his expression would probably be priceless when I did so. All right, I'd just keep him talking so I could follow the sound of his voice.

"Hey, Kratos?"

He turned his head slightly to indicate that he'd heard me. Okay, maybe getting him to talk was easier said than done. I frowned, suddenly thinking of something Colette had said earlier.

"...Colette said she heard the monsters in the tower are creepy."

"Are you afraid?"

I quickly became defensive, shaking my head. "I never said that!"

He sighed. "The tower has been closed for many years. It is likely that the monsters sealed inside have become accustomed to the darkness."

That made me uneasy. RPGs always had the random ghost or phantom monsters, but they were pretty much just another target to hack at. In real life, though...I didn't really want to encounter one. Besides, how the hell was I supposed to kill a floating sword?

...Whatever. I was losing sight of the mercenary again; I had to keep him talking.

"Wasn't the tower sealed because of the monsters that started appearing inside?" I asked suddenly. "That doesn't make sense, things don't just appear out of thin air..."

I saw him give me another of his looks, but he answered nonetheless. "The world is in a dangerous state. When mana is depleted to this extent, living and dead organisms can be corrupted, resulting in the formation of monsters."

"Living...and dead?" I paled.

"Phantoms, spectres, animated skeletons..." He elaborated, and I was grateful that the darkness concealed my shudder.

"Okay, I get it. Pretty much what's in the tower, right?"

"Correct. Magic is most effective against the undead. I would suggest that you leave most of the fighting tomorrow to our magic users, as well as the Chosen."

"Hey, you can use magic. You'll be my meat shield, okay, Kratos?" I grinned.

"Hmph...If you can keep up, then I will allow you to cower behind me."

I scowled. "Never mind. You're too mobile to be a good shield. I think I should hire my own bodyguard...one that's big, tall, and really muscular. Oh, and rich, so I don't have to pay him. And a really good chef. Yeah, that sounds good." The grin came back as I described Regal. He was one person I was really looking forward to meeting. He'd be like a mentor to everyone--he was older, wiser, and stronger. Like Kratos, minus the grumpiness.

Speaking of which, the mercenary was giving me a really weird look right about now. My ranting probably made no sense at all to him. Heh.

He looked like he had the strong urge to facepalm, but he seemed to resist it. "I highly doubt you will find anyone of the sort during our travels."

"Oh, I don't know about that..." I said innocently, shrugging.

If I made it to the end of the journey, I was so rubbing this in his face.

----

The next morning, we rose early to head inside the Tower of Mana. The Professor seemed to have recovered from her sickness for the most part, and resumed drooling all over the building. I swear, she nearly had a heart attack when she saw the amount of books that were inside. I nearly did, too; how were we supposed to find Boltzman's book amongst all those?!

Nonetheless, it looked like we were going to ignore that aspect of our task for now. Lloyd pointed out the oracle stone soon after we entered, so we decided to let Colette do her Chosen thing. She placed her hand on the stone; as expected, the magic circles in front of it lit up. Everyone jumped back in surprise, though I remembered to do so a split second too late, making me look like a suspicious idiot. I think Kratos was the only one that really noticed, though. Comforting.

"Wh-what was that light?!" Lloyd said, eyes wide. Raine rushed up to the circles, her eyes sparkling.

"Marvelous! This apparatus has awoken due to the oracle stone!"

"So we just need to do something with it?" Genis frowned.

"So it would seem." Yeah, thanks for the helpful input, Kratos. I walked up beside the Professor, not really wanting to waste time in this stupid place. It was sort of creeping me out already, with all of its dusty books and rabid teachers trying to devour them...um...ahem.

"Huh..." I pretended to be puzzled, then walked up and stood on one of the circles. "Look, Professor. It lights up when you stand on it."

Her eyes widened, and she examined the apparatus some more, intrigued. "Interesting....Lloyd, Genis. Go stand on the other two."

"What? Uh, okay." Lloyd responded, and the two of them did as they were told. Both of their circles lit up, and suddenly a rumbling came from behind me--I knew it was the door opening. The others jumped back.

"Wow!" Colette exclaimed.

"It opened, Professor!" Lloyd said. I rolled my eyes.

"We can see that, Lloyd."

He stepped off his circle to shove me, and suddenly the door closed again. He jumped. "Huh? What the?"

Raine nodded. "It seems that it won't open without three people on these circles."

"Which means that three of us must remain here. It's dangerous, but we have little choice," Kratos added.

"What? Three of us don't get to go?" Lloyd asked, dismayed.

Kratos nodded. "It would be best if Miss Sage and I accompany the Chosen. That leaves one more person to come, and the rest must stay."

The remaining four of us looked at each other, and I frowned. Well, I didn't have any preference, so...

"I'll stay," I volunteered. Raine nodded, and turned to the other three, seemingly deep in thought.

"Sheena. You'll come with us." She finally said, and the ninja looked up.

"Huh? Me?"

"But--" Lloyd and Genis protested at the same time, only to be cut off by the Professor.

"No. It's a safety measure. I would rather not let the assassin in the group out of my sight."

I blinked. Well, that sort of made sense...if Sheena was actually a bad person, she could find a way to get upstairs and suprise Colette's group. Or maybe the Professor was worried she'd kill whoever she had to sit down here with, who knows.

"Um, Professor..." I decided to object, anyway. One of the two who were very close to Colette should get to go; this was the last day she'd have her voice, after all. "Sheena's been with us for a while. I mean, I think we can trust her at this point."

Sheena gave me a grateful look, but the Professor was being her usual mistrustful self. "It can't hurt to be careful. The decision is final."

Lloyd and Genis groaned as the other group left through the opened door.

"Dammit, this always happens..." The brunette said.

I shrugged. "Sorry, guys, I tried."

We all sat down on our respective circles, getting comfortable; we knew we were probably going to be there a while.

"Man, this is gonna be so boring." Lloyd ran a hand through his crazy hair, gazing around at our musty surroundings with distaste.

"If you complain the entire time we're down here, I'm hitting you with Aqua Edge," Genis grumbled.

"Be nice, children." I said, earning annoyed looks from both of them.

"...Dork." Lloyd finally sighed, when he failed in his search to find something to throw at me. I beamed.

"How long do you think they're gonna take?" Genis asked.

"A while, probably..." I replied absentmindedly. "I mean, just fighting off the monsters will take up a good chunk of time."

Lloyd frowned, his eyes dark. "I can't believe we're gonna miss everything...what if Colette gets sick again?"

Genis flinched, honestly looking worried now. "Oh, no....what if--"

"Cut it out," I interrupted firmly. "We can't do anything about it. I'm sure Colette will be okay."

"Sh-shut up!" Lloyd snapped, clenching his fists. "You haven't seen her when she's sick like that!"

I cringed, not expecting him to lash out like that. Ouch. "Um, Lloyd. Remember Luin? I was there."

He shook his head. "Not like that...in Luin, I thought we might actually be able to help her. But at all the seals...we just had to sit around and watch. We couldn't do anything! We're completely helpless..." He was shaking. "And now...we can't even be there for her at the last seal..."

I looked down; this wasn't supposed to get all emotional. Dammit Lloyd, you're not supposed to be this angsty...sometimes I really hated how realistic this had become. The grief was probably going to drive the poor kid insane later on.

In any case, he was passing his inner doubts on to Genis. Ack, I needed to do something before this got really depressing...

"Look, guys, cheer up--"

"Cheer up?!" Lloyd was really bent on taking his anger out on me, wasn't he? "How can you say that?! Do you expect us to just get over it--"

"Lloyd! Jesus Christ, listen to me for _two seconds!_" I yelled over him, causing him to balk. Suddenly the room was dead silent, save for the echoes of my last few words. Lloyd and Genis were staring at me. I felt a blush coming on when I realized that I had yelled a lot louder than I'd intended to, and I shifted uncomfortably. Oh, and I'd just called upon the Savior of a religion that didn't even exist in this world. Yeah, hopefully they'd forget about that sometime soon.

"...Listen." I said in a considerably calmer tone. I pointed to my right, to a part of the wall that lacked bookcases. "See? That's a door. Can't you tell?" The outline of it was fairly obvious from here, and it was a bit more prominent than the door we'd already opened.

"Y-yeah...but what difference does it make?" Genis asked. "Even if we knew how to open it, we can't leave these circles..."

I shook my head. "No, _we_ can't open it. But there's probably something upstairs that will open it, don't you think? I bet the others will find the switch, or whatever it is. Then we can go up."

Lloyd's eyes lit up. "You think? Yeah, there's gotta be some sort of switch up there, right? They wouldn't build a door there for nothing..."

"So we might be able to join up with Colette in the end anyway. Can we stop being all depressed over things we can't control now?" I'd already gotten most of the angst out of my system last night. I really wasn't in the mood for a weepathon right now.

"...Brittany's right..." Genis sighed. "There's nothing we can do, anyway. Let's just wait and see if the door opens."

"Yeah," Lloyd agreed somberly.

We sat there for what felt like several hours, playing random games we thought up on the spot. Eventually even I got bored, and found myself wishing I had grabbed one of the books off the shelves before sitting down. Even if it was in Angelic, at least I could've occupied myself trying to decipher it. Now I just had to sit there and try to ignore Lloyd's occasional whining.

"...So, uh...." Lloyd twiddled his fingers. "What should we talk about?"

"How do you get your hair like that, Lloyd?" I asked out of the blue. Hey, maybe this might involve a long-winded explanation that would occupy several minutes of our time.

That was not to be the case. Lloyd just looked at me weird, and shrugged.

"I dunno. It just sorta sticks up, so I leave it like this."

"That was a weird question..." Genis commented.

"Not really," I defended myself. "Don't you ever wonder how Kratos does his hair?"

"You're a dork," the brunette said, ignoring my question.

I sighed. "Well, that topic just died...what next?"

"Um...." Genis seemed out of ideas.

Lloyd rolled on to his stomach, pressing his forehead against the floor. "...This sucks," he mumbled.

"Lloyd." Kratos' voice came from seemingly out of nowhere, causing us to jump. My head shot up; a projection of the mercenary was floating in the space between the three of us.

"K-Kratos?!" Lloyd hurriedly got to his knees, looking embarrassed at being caught in such a weird position. Kratos stared at him for a second or two, but somehow seemed to shrug Lloyd's stupidity off.

"Lloyd? Marvelous! It seems this apparatus is linked to the one at the entrance..." We heard Raine's voice, and saw a flash of her orange outfit through the projection; she was standing somewhere behind Kratos, probably examining the machine.

The ground shook briefly, and there was a loud rumbling noise. I turned my head just in time to see the door I'd pointed out slide open.

"Whoa!" Lloyd gawked. "Brit, you were right!" He looked up at the mercenary. "Kratos, Professor, another door over here opened. Can we go through?"

Kratos nodded, unsurprised. "Yes. We'll meet up and regroup before we release the seal."

"All right!" The teen grinned, happy at this change in events. The auburn haired man frowned slightly, before turning away from the apparatus he was standing at.

"Don't waste time," he said before turning off the device. We were left to ourselves again.

"Finally," Genis breathed. "I was getting bored, too."

Lloyd quickly jumped to his feet, grabbing his swords and stretching. "Let's get going, then. You heard what Kratos said. We don't want to make everyone wait!"

"Okay, okay." I got up, too, followed by the young mage. "What did I tell you guys? Everything turned out fine."

The brunette grinned, marching up to the new entrance that had been created. "Betcha we can beat everyone else to the seal."

Genis rolled his eyes. "Yeah, right, Lloyd. Kratos is in that group, remember?"

"Aw, c'mon! Let's try."

I walked up beside him, lightly thumping him on the shoulder. "No. Bad Lloyd. If we hurry, we'll just get killed. The monsters here are undead, so Genis is the only one who can seriously hurt them; it'll be slow going from here on out."

"...Undead?" Genis's eyes widened, and he gripped his kendama a little tighter.

"It won't be that bad..." Lloyd looked back at us, frowning.

"Yeah, well I'm scared, so we're going at a normal pace." I bit my lip.

His eyes widened. "Seriously?" When he saw that I was indeed serious, he sighed. "_Fiiiine..._"

We came closer to the new entrance, and hesitated; it was nearly pitch black beyond the door. The mustiness only increased, and I could've sworn I saw something move back there...

"You would think they'd at least put torches or something..." The swordsman looked uncomfortable now.

"Well, there's a torch right here," I said, and pulled one off the wall near the door. "We'll just have to carry it with us."

We proceeded a few steps into the darkness, and Genis gulped. "Well...at least nothing can be worse than the Mausoleum."

"What was the Mausoleum like?" I asked. Lloyd shuddered.

"I don't even want to think about it..."

I stopped asking. It was a giant grave, after all; I could use my imagination. Maybe it had sort of been like the Temple of Darkness from that Legend of Zelda game, the Ocarina of Time. Man, I hated that temple...I mean, I hated the Water Temple more, but the Shadow Temple was so annoying and...dark, and stuff.

In my temporary distraction, I walked too close to Lloyd, and nearly set his hair on fire with the torch I was holding. He didn't notice, thankfully, and I tried to pretend nothing happened.

We moved onward through dark hallway after dark hallway. The setting wasn't that surprising; everything was made of gray stone, though the air was thick with dust and there was grit and dirt beneath our boots. Although we'd been chatting away when we first started out, our conversation gradually came to an end. Now the only sound was our breathing; I kept trying to count the amount of separate breaths I heard, because I kept feeling like there was an extra person with us.

Dammit, Brittany, it's just your imagination...

"This is creepier than I thought it would be..." Genis murmured, looking nervous.

"So much dust...ugh..." Lloyd fought a sneeze.

"Shouldn't there be stairs somewhere around here? I get the feeling we should be going up, y'know..." I whispered, becoming more uneasy by the second.

"There's probably some up ahead," The mage replied. I gripped the torch tighter, and kept an eye out for them.

An echo faintly resounded off the walls--something had scraped against the rock up ahead. The three of us froze abruptly, our breath catching in our throats.

"You heard that, right?" I looked around at the two boys, my voice shaking a little.

Lloyd nodded, quickly regaining his confidence, and drew out his swords. Their silver blades glinting in the light of the torch provided me with some comfort. Okay, so Lloyd wanted to be the Big Bad Leader, and he was going to protect us. He could stay at the front and jab any oncoming enemies with his swords.

We continued forward, prepared for battle...and nothing came to fight us.

"But...we all heard it!" Lloyd protested, looking around. There were no monsters in sight.

"Look..." Genis pointed down at the floor, and we crouched a little, looking to the area he pointed at. There was a black skid mark on the stone floor, but no evidence as to where the creature may have gone.

"Well, that's comforting," I remarked sarcastically.

"L-let's just go." The young mage said, and I nodded.

"Yeah, no sense in waiting for it to come back..."

The hallway branched off into a left and right passageway. We took the left, and prayed we were correct. If we weren't, well...that sure sucked.

"They could've at least warned us about this..." Lloyd grumbled, talking about the Professor and her group. I just shook my head.

"They probably got the easy path. We're the ones that got screwed over."

"Dammit."

"There it is again!" Genis exclaimed--that scraping sound. We all heard it once more. We kept anticipating a monster, only to find absolutely nothing...and the lack of monsters was more unnerving than anything. Something was going to jump out at us, I knew it.

Another black mark. This one seemed to move to the side, before ending at the wall. We paused for a moment, looking at it, and then pushed onwards. Genis' knuckles were white from gripping his kendama so hard.

No. I wasn't scared. I had seen far too many scary movies; I was desensitized to fear. I wasn't afraid of things that go 'bump' in the night. Hell, I'd braved a few Silent Hill games--

Oh, great. Why did I have to put that in my head again? Now I was going to be thinking about the creepy dream I had in Hima for the next hour...well, at least Kvar was dead. He couldn't run up out of nowhere and shank us.

Maybe I was just being paranoid, but I felt like something was seriously wrong here. I mean yeah, some places were bound to be a lot creepier in real life, but I didn't remember the Tower of Mana being this bad. And I know it was supposed to be bigger, too, but this many random hallways? It was a little too much...

At this part of the tower...we were supposed to be doing those light puzzles, weren't we? And then when those puzzles were solved, a bridge would form that we'd be able to use to get to the others. But...we hadn't even encountered any rooms yet. I'd kill for some real light right about now, though.

"How long is this gonna go on?" Lloyd growled, more irritated than frightened. We heard the noise again.

But when we moved forward to investigate...

"B-blood," I choked. On the floor was a puddle of crimson liquid. A few scuff marks were visible, and the trail of blood led into the corner between the wall and floor....and disappeared.

Okay, I know I've seen that in a horror movie somewhere. Things were seriously getting messed up, and I really just wanted to get the hell out of here.

"Wh-where did it come from? Who could it belong to?" Genis questioned, shuddering.

I shook my head. "Don't care. Let's go."

Lloyd eyed the bloodstains for a second or two, troubled, before moving on. The heavy silence settled upon us once more; we were all tensed up in anticipation of what might happen next.

We encountered three more bloodstains, growing larger each time. We began to hear odd noises whenever we started talking. Whatever it was, it waited for the times when we weren't listening to try and sneak up on us. Eventually we decided to stay quiet whenever possible, and try to communicate using methods other than speaking.

It didn't make much of a difference; our surroundings continued to worsen. I couldn't understand what could possibly be causing this; the only other people in the tower were Colette and her group, so where could the blood be coming from? Unless...no. They were perfectly all right. Nothing could hurt them when Kratos was there. He'd use his angel abilities if things seriously went wrong.

I was the first to break our little vow of silence--I swore, rather loudly, when we finally encountered stairs. Why, you ask?

They were headed down. _Down_, for God's sake. We were already on the bottom floor, and I really didn't want to find out what the tower's basement looked like (if it even had one).

"Okay, we're turning around. Screw this," I said angrily.

"Um...Brittany..." Genis hesitated.

"And I'm gonna find that goddamned monster if it takes me all freaking day..." I ranted.

"Brit..." Lloyd said from behind me, but I ignored him.

"...And I'll beat it to a bloody pulp with the bluntest object I can find--"

Suddenly a pair of gloved hands grabbed me by the shoulders, turning me around and away from the stairs.

"Lloyd, wha..." I trailed off, eyes wide, and gaped at the sight before me.

We couldn't go back--a wall had appeared behind us, where we had been standing just moments before.

I slowly looked back over my shoulder. The stairs seemed to stretch downward into eternity...and all I could smell was blood.

----

**A/N: -insert scary music here.-**

**Actually, I was listening to Silent Hill music while doing this...gawd, I need to shut up and write a SH story. But yeah, point is, monsters in the Tower of Mana would be kinda creepy in real life. Especially that grim reaper thing. o.o or that weird phantom, or uh...yeah. **

**Anyway, ha, cliffie! Find out the thrilling conclusion....in two weeks, when I'm finally through with the next chapter. XD**

**Next time: Ghouls, ghosts, and spectres, oh my!**


	20. Remiel

**A/N: I know, I suck. I totally just gave you a cliffhanger, and then took LONGER than usual to update. -_- Not only that, I actually finished this chapter last night, but stupid document manager was down, and I couldn't post it. I was traumatized! D:**

**Anyway. Long chapter again, so I hope you're happy! And thanks for all the awesome reviews. I loooove reviews, they make my day. **

**Disclaimer: If I owned ToS, [insert witty phrase here].**

----

Lloyd was the first to move; he placed a foot on the first step down, putting a hand on the wall to steady himself--the stairs were slick with a deep red liquid. It didn't take much thought for us to realize what it was.

"W-wait, Lloyd...are you sure we should...?" I spoke up, my voice nearly a whisper. I was still a bit numb with disbelief.

"What are you talking about? We don't have a choice," he said. Genis hesitated too, though. None of us really wanted to accept the fact that we had to go down into that hellhole.

"Maybe there's a way to destroy the wall..." The young mage suggested, looking behind us again.

"Genis, we can't avoid it. Something wants us to go down these stairs, and there's nothing we can do about it." Lloyd didn't sound too happy about it either, but he was trying to be the brave one. I was grateful.

"...Yeah. You're right, Lloyd...let's get this over with." I tried to be strong, taking a step down myself. Genis stood behind us, uneasy.

"We're really doing this? Something about this just feels wrong..." He murmured.

"What do you think is down there?" Lloyd frowned, staring into the abyss.

"A basement or something, I don't know," I replied. We'd been standing there too long; I began to travel downwards before the walls started closing in on us or something. The wall just appearing like that had really shaken me up; what if we'd still been standing in that spot when it appeared? Would we have been killed, or thrown back, or what?

The torchlight flickered, casting eerie shadows on the walls around us. The stairs were small and precarious, too thin to fit an entire foot on. I balanced my heels on each step before daring to take another. The blood only grew more slippery as we progressed, and I found myself wondering just where it had come from.

"Don't slip," I made sure to warn the two behind me. I really didn't want to tumble down these stairs. I still couldn't see the end, never mind what might be waiting for us there.

As we moved forward, the noises we'd been hearing earlier started up again. A metallic screech from below caused us to jump, but we continued on regardless. We heard the scrapes again, and saw the black marks, until eventually the stairs we walked on were black. The blood was thick and goopy, sticking to the soles of our shoes as we walked. The coppery smell was so intense, I wanted to vomit.

None of us uttered a word, our horror was so intense. Genis had long since given up trying to hide his shaking; he could barely hold on to his kendama, the poor kid. Lloyd...even the tough guy was seriously creeped out now. But it was far too late to turn back.

We heard voices, sounding as if they were coming from the walls around us. No matter how hard I tried to listen, though, I couldn't make out what they were saying. The moans I heard disturbed me even more. Those...didn't sound human at all.

With every step downward we took, the voices seemed to darken in nature. Their tones grew aggressive, lashing out at us in a language we couldn't understand. Towards the end, though, they just started laughing. It was the laughter of the insane.

After a short while of this, it suddenly stopped. All of the noises, which had been progressively growing louder until they were almost deafening, were completely silenced. The blood beneath our feet vanished, replaced with normal stone steps. I wanted to say something, to take note of this, but my voice seemed to be frozen. I was afraid to speak, afraid it would truly awaken whatever beast that resided below this cursed tower.

Somehow, the dead silence unnerved us more than the creepy noises. It was too quiet. The air was thick with tension, and I couldn't shake the feeling that it was the calm before the storm.

I took another step, and another. It took me a moment or so to realize that we'd finally reached the bottom of the staircase. I gripped the torch tighter, waving it around to search the area. We seemed to be in an enormous room. The floor was made of stone and packed dirt. The odd humidity of the room only offered us more intense discomfort.

"Where are we?" Genis found his voice first. I shook my head, uncertain.

"Really far underground, probably..." Then again, for all we knew, we could be on the fifth floor. The laws of physics didn't seem to apply to this place.

The three of us remained close together, walking further into the room. No obstacles met the torchlight. The place seemed to be completely empty. The expansive room, combined with the quiet...it was unsettling. I didn't like being out in the open. I found myself wanting to cling to a wall, but now that we'd begun walking, I couldn't see any walls around us anymore.

"I feel...some really weird mana nearby." Genis remarked quietly.

Lloyd tensed. "Where?"

"I don't know, it's hard to tell exactly where it is..." The half elf hesitated.

I ignored the weak feeling in my stomach, forcing myself to speak up. "Can you try leading us to it?"

Both Lloyd and Genis looked at me incredulously. "Uh, shouldn't we be trying to get away from whatever it is?" The brunette asked.

"No," I said firmly, trying to sound strong. "Lloyd, would you be afraid if you knew it was one of those grasshopper things following us?"

"Huh? No, but--"

"Exactly. We're only afraid of it because we don't know what it is. Turning your back on the unknown is a lot more dangerous than facing it," I said, reciting one of the more well known aphorisms among veterans of survival horror games.

Despite the obvious conviction in my voice, Lloyd and Genis still looked at me with skepticism.

The half-elf gave me a sidelong glance before averting his gaze. "I think we should just get out of here. I can't tell where it is, anyway."

I stared at him for a minute, and then finally relented. "Fine." I knew he was lying, but it wasn't like I could force information out of him. I wasn't exactly eager to meet whatever was stalking us, either. I really hoped this wouldn't be a mistake.

"Okay." Lloyd agreed, seeming to like Genis' idea a lot more. We continued walking, but we picked up our pace a little. The torchlight bounced and wavered with every step. Small shadows flickered across our path, but we ignored them, proceeding onward. All that mattered was finding an exit to this place, finding a way to meet with the others.

After what seemed like an eternity, we finally found a wall. The stone bricks that composed it shined slightly in the light, as if they were wet. I didn't want to touch them to check.

"What now?" Lloyd asked, looking frustrated.

"If we follow the wall, there should be an exit somewhere," Genis said, determined. I kept quiet, not voicing the fact that there was no guarantee that there was a way out. Maybe the stairway down here was the only exit, and we were utterly screwed.

"Yeah, let's go." I nodded. They didn't need to know my inner thoughts; my pessimism wouldn't help anyone.

Needless to say, following the wall did us no good at all. It didn't even end. There was no curve to suggest this was a round room, so at first I'd assumed this place was shaped like a square or rectangle. But wouldn't that mean we had to run into a corner eventually? We followed the same wall for close to ten minutes. This room was much larger than I thought...either that, or we were losing it.

As we walked, I couldn't help but glance at the wall. What was that odd wetness? Finally, my curiosity got the better of me; I reached up and ran my fingers along the wall, and slowly pulled away. A trail of slightly sticky clear fluid pulled away from the stone. Saliva? I shuddered with disgust, and hoped the others hadn't seen.

I began to notice an odd indent in the stone as well. The wall seemed to be carved out slightly in one spot. What was it? It could be important...

"Hey, guys," I said quietly, and the two ahead of me stopped.

"What is it?" Lloyd asked, looking back.

"C'mere for a sec." I gestured to the wall. Genis and Lloyd walked over, and we stared at the indent for a few seconds.

"That's weird..." Genis mumbled quietly, his voice shaking a bit.

"Hold on..." I frowned, and backed away a few paces. The indent's shape was visible on the wall from where I was standing. It was huge, and there was more than one. They weren't simply indents--they were slash marks. Whether they were made by claws, or some sort of weapon...I had no clue.

The two boys quickly caught on, and clearly didn't like what they saw.

"Wh-what could've possibly made marks like that?" The mage said, eyes wide. It was something enormous, something...

"I don't want to know." I shook my head. "Let's go."

Now I agreed with Lloyd and Genis--escape was the best option. Whatever was down here was too strong for us to beat. I really, really wanted to leave this place. Even if that meant going back up those godforsaken stairs and waiting for Kratos to come looking for us.

Just as we were about to move on, we heard a shuffling, and a metallic screech. We froze in place.

"What the hell was that?" Lloyd looked wildly around, holding his swords up. His question was met with the same suffocating silence we'd been enduring since we came down here.

I took a few steps away from the wall, realizing the danger we were in. I didn't want to know what was following us, but not knowing would get us killed, no matter what my companions said.

"I'm going to find out," I said firmly. "Lloyd, Genis, look out for anything suspi--" I abruptly stopped. What was that dripping sound I heard? It was subtle and slow, but it was there. It was the only thing that seemed to break the silence.

Drip, drip, drip...

I took another few steps forward, and felt wetness hit my cheek. I reached a hand upward, wiping the liquid off, and then examined my fingers. They were stained with crimson.

My mind worked slowly as my body seemed to go numb with shock. Blood? There was blood dripping from the ceiling...no, not the ceiling...I felt warm, damp air rush over me. It smelled like something decaying, something--

"Brittany!!" Lloyd's frantic voice jolted me out of my reverie, and I turned my head upwards with horror. The next few images I saw were broken and confusing; my mind quickly rejected many of them to protect itself.

A human skull hovered a foot or so above me, seeming to smile. Glowing red eyes peered out of hollow sockets, and a dark hood was drawn over the scalp. The rest of the skeleton was shrouded in a cloak; its bony fingers grasped an enormous scythe. The curved blade dripped with blood. Another droplet hit my nose, dripping down the side of my face like a tear.

I recognized this monster. I hadn't been afraid of it in the game. But oh God, now I could hardly move.

The reaper swung the scythe, and I barely managed to dodge out of the way. The blade caught my torch, ripping it out of my grip, and suddenly we were engulfed in complete darkness. The shock quickly wore off, and I opened my mouth to let out a terrified scream.

Two red eyes hovered in the darkness in front of me. I scrambled backwards, trying to get up, only to hit a wall that I was sure hadn't been there before. I heard the sound of the scythe swinging through the air again, and then the screech of the blade hitting the wall inches above my head.

"F-Fireball!" Genis shouted, his voice squeaking slightly. The area around us was suddenly lit up as balls of flame hit the undead monster in front of me. It let out a moan, its cloak catching on fire, as I managed to get to my feet and run to Lloyd.

The monster managed to put out the fire, and everything went black again, save for the runes glowing at Genis' feet.

"Lightning!" It hit the creature dead on, but didn't cause it to falter. The scythe was swung at us again--Lloyd ran forward, and raised his swords to block it. The room went dark once more. I could hear the sound of metal scraping together, as Lloyd tried to stop the reaper from swinging the scythe again.

"Agh!" The brunette cried out. Suddenly I had a faceful of Lloyd, and we were both knocked backwards on to the ground. Why the hell did he always fall on me?

We heard Genis gasp loudly, but we couldn't see what was happening. Lloyd immediately rolled off of me, and it sounded like he'd gotten to his knees.

"Genis!"

A few sparks lit up the air; Lloyd had managed to find the reaper again, though it was easy to tell that he had no idea what he was doing. He was just swinging his swords randomly, and that was more than a little dangerous.

"Demon Fang!" The light of mana revealed their location, and I raced over to them, unleashing a few Demon Fangs of my own. The attacks clearly didn't affect the monster, but they were really only a ruse; we were stalling for Genis, who seemed to be preparing another more powerful spell.

"Fierce Demon Fang!" I yelled desperately, as we continued to rely on our mana as a source of light. We tried to keep the reaper occupied, because in between flashes of light, it always attempted to move to a new location. We couldn't afford to lose track of where it was.

Now that the silence had been broken, the cacophony of strange sounds we'd been hearing back on the staircase returned. As we battled the reaper, I could detect the pungent smell of death in the air all around us. I locked blades with the monster again, and heard something whispering frantically in my ear, but nothing was there. It was more than enough to distract me, though, and I was thrown back into the wall.

I winced, the wind temporarily knocked out of me. I stood up straighter, ready to attack again, when I felt something jutting out of the wall. I hesitantly reached down and nearly gaped when my fingers ran along the surface of a long, rusty nail. Had I almost hit that? But that hadn't been there before, had it? Oh, God...

"Thunder Blade!" Genis' triumphant cry cut off my horrified thoughts. The massive sword cut straight through the middle of the reaper, pinning it to the ground. It let out an earsplitting scream as electricity ran through it. After a second it went limp, the scythe falling from its bony grasp.

I joined Lloyd and Genis, the three of us panting heavily. The mage was still concentrated, keeping the room lit with the glowing sword. My foot kicked the torch a second later; I picked it up, and Genis released the spell. He conjured a small fireball to light the torch once more.

"Is it...over?" Lloyd asked quietly. In reply, we heard several moans, wails, and shuffling sounds headed our way. The reaper that we thought we had defeated lifted its head to look at us.

Just as I was really starting to panic, I noticed a passageway behind us. I tugged both boys' arms, pointing to it.

"Let's get the hell out of here!"

We bolted, and the creatures behind us shrieked with laughter. The hallway we were in closed in on us as we ran. Bodiless arms reached for us out of the walls and floor, and we were forced to kick them away. I felt a clammy hand caress my cheek and nearly screamed, shuddering with revulsion.

The passage closed until our shoulders were nearly touching the stone walls. My vision blurred as terrified tears began to form; I was claustrophobic, I couldn't take this anymore!

"Look! Up ahead!" Lloyd revealed that there was an end to the hallway, and we increased our pace as much as we could. At the last minute, though, something grabbed my ankle and I tripped. The walls continued to close.

I could barely move. There wasn't enough room to get up. I couldn't breathe. Frantic, I pressed my hands against the wall in front of me in vain, praying that it would give just a little. It didn't. I found myself remembering a scene from Saw V, how unbearably painful it had looked when one of the characters was crushed between two walls. His bones had snapped, jagged points bursting out of his skin, and oh no, no, no...

A gloved hand closed around one of my own, and I was suddenly being dragged along the grimy floor. Something sharp cut my leg, but the pain was drowned out by my intense fear of dying. Pain meant that I was still alive. My fingers clenched around the hand in a deathgrip.

And suddenly I was free, desperately gulping in clean air. I laid on my side, instinctively curling up into a ball, hugging my knees and trying to force back the tears that were threatening to spill.

Voices...I recognized them as Lloyd's and Genis'. They were insignificant. It took me a few moments to comprehend what they were saying.

"She's hurt!" Genis said, and I felt his small hand gently touch my calf, where I could feel a shallow cut. From the wetness I heard dripping to the floor, it was bleeding quite a bit.

"Stay still, Brit." Lloyd told me quietly, and tried to get me to stretch out my legs again so he could look at it. I reluctantly did so, unable to protest in my current state.

"Does it hurt?" He asked, looking at me. I shook my head, knowing my voice would crack if I tried to speak. I wouldn't cry in front of them. I wouldn't.

I took a deep breath, releasing it slowly, and finally opened my mouth. "...I'm fine. W-we should get going before something else comes after us."

"I agree," Genis piped up, and it was settled. Lloyd gave me a concerned look, but seemed to shrug it off. He helped me to my feet, and we examined the new room we were in.

Tears threatened to form again. I wanted to cry out of relief this time--I recognized this room. It was relatively small, square shaped, and unthreatening. I had dropped the torch again, but luckily we didn't need it; a very dim light shined from behind a red curtain to our left. We could see, but just barely.

As it was, it looked like there was no exit to this room, but I knew better. There was a sealed off door directly in front of us.

"How do we get out?" Genis frowned. Lloyd curiously examined the curtain, and I approached the small spherical object on the other side of the room.

"Hey, Lloyd, rip off that curtain," I called. "We're gonna need some more light."

He shrugged, and did as I told him. The curtain fell to the ground, and the brunette stepped to the side. A bright beam of light shined directly into the device next to me, causing it to glow slightly. The ground shook, and suddenly the sealed door opened up.

"All right!" Lloyd cried victoriously, and I felt a small grin forming on my face. Thank God, we were back on track.

The next few rooms were essentially the same thing, and I was happy with their predictability. We finally found spiral stairs leading up, and thankfully ran into no monsters. After a few minutes, we arrived in what I recognized to be the final room. This was where the main light puzzle was; once we solved it, we could be reunited with the others!

"Huh? What's this?" Lloyd looked around curiously.

"Mirrors..." Genis examined them, and then nodded. "Oh, I get it."

"Get what?"

"We've gotta push 'em around so the light reflects on those ball things, see?" I pulled off another curtain, revealing the beam of light. It reflected off one of the mirrors, hitting the wall.

"Yeah, exactly," Genis confirmed. "This looks like a bigger puzzle than the rest. Maybe we're near the end!"

"I sure hope so," Lloyd sighed. "I don't have much energy left."

"I know what you mean." I groaned. "We still have to fight the seal guardian after this, too. I hope the Professor lets us take a break."

"Raine might," the half elf remarked, contemplating the puzzle, "but I don't know about Kratos."

"Good point." I rubbed my bloody calf, noting with satisfaction that it had finally started to clot. At least it wasn't life- threatening.

We spent close to a half hour trying to figure out the puzzle. It was more complicated than in the game, but I guess that was to be expected. After all, this wasn't actually a game. There had to be precautions taken so random people couldn't just decipher the puzzle and waltz on in.

There were indents in certain parts of the floor, and the mirrors could only be pushed within them. That at least limited some of the possibilities, as there were less positions they could be placed in. I stood near the center of the room, visualizing where the light would reflect if we put the mirrors in certain positions. Genis seemed to be doing the same, while Lloyd was busy breaking our concentration by pushing them around to random places. His strategy, naturally, was trial and error.

I winced when a beam of light shined directly into my eyes. "Lloyd, stay still for a second, will you?"

He sighed, leaning against the mirror. "It's boring just sitting here..."

Genis didn't make any remarks on Lloyd's short attention span this time; he was too focused on figuring out the puzzle. I couldn't seem to concentrate again, so I just left the work to the smart kid and checked out the rest of the room. The first direction I looked was up--I could see the large balcony-like structures above us. Once we solved this, a bridge of light should form between those two...I looked from one to the other.

Hey, wouldn't the Professor and the others be waiting up there? That was where the projector thing was. The balconies were too far up, though; even Kratos and Colette probably only heard faint mumbles with their angelic senses.

There was another door at one end of this L-shaped room; if I remembered correctly, it led to a spiral staircase that would take us to the balconies above. There was no use going up there now.

"I wonder how close we are to the seal..." Lloyd wondered aloud. He'd come to stand next to me, leaving Genis alone so he could think.

I shrugged. "Pretty close, I hope. As long as we don't have to face any more of those creepy monsters, I'm happy."

The brunette nodded, troubled. "I was wrong...the mausoleum was a cake walk compared to this. At least when we were there, I knew we wouldn't really get hurt since Kratos was with us."

"Yeah," I sighed. Things would've been so much easier with Kratos...but noooo, he had to go with the other group. They hadn't even left us with a sufficient healer. "It looks like the worst of it is over, though."

"Okay, I think I got it." Genis turned to us, getting our attention. He pointed to several of the mirrors, telling Lloyd and I which ones to move. They were a lot heavier than they looked, but somehow we managed.

"Wait, how do we do this?" Lloyd looked confused after we'd moved two mirrors. There were several of the circular objects left.

"Look at this one." I pointed to a triangular shaped mirror, and Genis nodded.

"Yeah, that one reflects two ways. If we point it like this--" He turned the mirror with some difficulty, "It'll hit both of them!"

As he'd predicted, it worked. We then had to move a few more mirrors, and by the end beams of light were everywhere and I was surprised I hadn't been blinded yet. Lloyd made one last move, and finally all of the spheres had been lit up. We heard an odd sound, and the three of us all looked up. A neat looking bridge of light had formed above us, just as I'd thought it would. I had a feeling I'd be more than a little nervous trying to walk on it, but oh well.

"Cool!" Lloyd exclaimed. "How do we get up there, though?"

"I'm guessing we'll have to use that door," I replied, pointing to it.

"Let's get going, then. The others are waiting." Genis said, and started walking. We followed after him.

After what felt like an hour of walking up stairs, we made it to one of the upper balconies where the light bridge had formed.

"Hey...what's wrong?" Lloyd asked me when he saw how pale I had suddenly gotten.

"This is higher up than I thought it would be..." I mumbled, casting a feverish glance over one of the railings.

"You're afraid of heights?"

"I'm afraid of everything, Lloyd."

"Dork. Here, I'll test it first." He walked out on to the middle of the bridge, and turned back to wave at us. "See? Perfectly safe. Just don't look down and you'll be fine!"

"Easy for you to say..." I sighed. "Okay, I'll go second." I looked over at the young half elf. "Genis, if I fall, I'm trusting you to beat up Lloyd for me."

"Ha-ha. Just relax and try it, you'll be okay," he said patiently. He probably said the same thing to Raine whenever she had to get on a boat.

"If you say so...well, here goes." I took a shaky step on to the bridge, and was happy to find it solid. Right, so I just had to...not look down. I took another step, bit my lip, and ran across. When I reached the other side, I hugged the railing of the balcony.

"C'mon, it's not that bad." Lloyd said from behind me.

"Scary..." I murmured, and finally managed to straighten myself out. Genis crossed the bridge as well, without much trouble.

Now that I'd calmed down, I examined the area we'd entered. There was a deactivated warp to our left, and another weird device to our right.

"It looks like another strange apparatus..." Genis frowned. "I wonder what we're supposed to do with it?"

I walked up to it, looking at it, and stepped on to one of the circles. It sank in a little, as if I'd stepped on a giant button or something. Eh, I probably had.

The projector turned on, and suddenly Kratos was floating in the air in front of me.

"Whoa! It's Kratos again!" Lloyd said, surprised. He walked closer, waving his hand through Kratos' stomach. "Neat."

"Lloyd, you're gonna break it," Genis remarked.

"What's this? Fantastic! The apparatus has turned on again!" The professor's ecstatic voice could be heard once again from somewhere behind the mercenary. I heard a faint echo, suggesting that the other group really was nearby.

"Hm...it seems you've found another device," Kratos said to me. He didn't sound too surprised.

"Yeah," I confirmed, trying to think about what had been said in the game at this point. "Um, we've made it to the inner area. I think we're pretty close to the seal, so we'll be waiting here for you guys to catch up."

He nodded. "We will be there shortly. Stay where you are until then." With that, the projector turned off, and the three of us were left alone again.

I stepped off of the apparatus, facing the others. "Well, you heard the guy."

"We have to wait again?" Lloyd groaned. "You should've just said we'd go on ahead..."

I rolled my eyes. "And get killed by the seal guardian? No thanks. Besides, didn't you say you were tired, too?"

"Oh yeah..."

"And you call me a dork."

"You're a dorkier dork than I am."

"Yeah, well your hair looks funny."

"My hair's awesome and you know it."

"Dork."

"Dork."

"Lloydie."

"Britbrit."

"Ew, don't call me that!"

"Aqua Edge!" Genis' voice interrupted us, and suddenly we were hit with a very weak form of the spell, effectively drenching us.

"G-Genis!" Lloyd said, dismayed. His crazy hair was now flattened over his face, and he looked hilarious. The younger boy threw his hands up in an annoyed gesture.

"Geez! You're both dorks, okay?" Despite his tone of voice, he looked like he was holding back a laugh.

Lloyd heaved a dramatic sigh, and we quieted down. I stuck my tongue out at him whenever Genis wasn't looking. After a few seconds of silence, the brunette sighed again.

"Now I'm cold..."

"I'll dry you off with Air Thrust, if you want." Genis grinned evilly.

"Uh..."

"Shutting up now." I said, elbowing Lloyd.

Footsteps caused us to look up, and we saw the Professor trudging across the light bridge. Colette, Sheena and Kratos followed her. The older half elf took one look at Lloyd and I, and shook her head.

"Do I even want to know?"

I smiled happily. "Professor, this place is awesome! It's got an indoor pool and everything!" I assumed she'd know what I meant; they had to have some form of pools, even if we were in Sylvarant.

She stared at me for a moment, and just shook her head. Lloyd snickered at the look she gave me.

"Genis, dry them off," she said abruptly. Her brother laughed.

"Got it, sis! Air Thrust!"

"Agh! No!" Lloyd and I fell over each other in our attempts to dodge, and Kratos sighed.

----

"...I see. Genis, step on to the other platform." The professor stood on the same circle I had been standing on, and she'd quickly figured out how to activate the warp. It wasn't that difficult, really.

Lloyd and I were finally dry, but our hair was a disaster after all of Genis' spells. Well, Lloyd's looked relatively normal since his was always sticking up everywhere. Mine, though...not so much. I frowned, running a hand through it again, attempting to straighten it out a bit. Stupid impossible curly hair.

I lost my train of thought when the warp turned on in a flash of light.

"We did it!" Genis punched a small fist in the air, and Kratos nodded.

"Let's go." Apparently he wasn't about to waste any time. He entered the warp, followed by Genis and Raine. Lloyd left as well, sighing.

"Well, here goes nothing." Sheena shrugged, walking on to the pad and disappearing.

Colette seemed to be hesitating, though she was doing a pretty good job of hiding it. I walked up to the warp, and looked over my shoulder at her.

"Colette?"

She looked up, automatically smiling. "Hm? What is it?"

I paused, having only wanted to hear her voice one last time. "...Let's do our best."

"All right!" I heard her say, just as I was warped away to the top of the tower. It angered me that her last few words would be to Remiel, that lying bastard.

Colette followed shortly after me, and our group gathered just in front of the warp pad before proceeding up to where the seal was. By some miracle, I managed to make it up the incredibly unstable looking stairs, though I nearly wanted to throw up afterwards.

"Phew...Man, I'm tired." Lloyd remarked, and Kratos just shook his head.

"That's because you're always overexcited in the beginning."

Just as the brunette turned to glare, a blinding light flashed from the direction of the altar, startling nearly all of us. I quickly grasped Loki's hilt, bracing myself. The sky grew impossibly dark as an orb of light gathered just above the altar.

"It's mana...Powerful mana is coming out!" Genis exclaimed, stating the obvious. Mana gathered at the orb of light, and suddenly there was another flash. I flinched, and within the next few seconds, Iubaris was bearing down on us.

"Move!" Kratos commanded, drawing his sword, and we dove to either side of the seal guardian. Luckily the top of the tower was a lot bigger than it appeared in the game, and there at least appeared to be some form of a wall around it. However...it seemed all too easy to fall off. I reminded myself to stay near Colette and Kratos just in case.

Everyone drew their weapons, Lloyd immediately moving in to attack as I examined the monster. Iubaris...whatever I could remember about this thing would probably be helpful.

The first thing that came to mind was that it looked like a really badass pegasus. Well, it essentially was. It wasn't the type of animal little girls would fawn over; it was more frightening than it was pretty. I had to say, the thing that scared me the most was its mace-like tail. I really didn't want a faceful of spikes anytime soon.

Shit. I couldn't remember a thing about this stupid monster's attacks. To me, it had just been another boss to beat down, nothing particularly interesting. I only remembered the really important bosses, not the seal guardians.

I frowned, readying my blade. I'd might as well keep it busy, so it wouldn't get a chance to flaunt its special attacks. I rushed forward.

"Hunting Bea--" Before I even had a chance to finish, the monster kicked backwards with its hoof, hitting me square in the stomach. I flew backwards, landing on my side. I was unable to breathe for a few moments, and I struggled to deal with the pain.

"Are you all right?" The Professor was at my side in an instant. I tried to smile.

"...That went well," I managed. She sighed.

"First Aid." A weak version of the spell was enough to get me back on my feet; it didn't feel like I had broken anything. I'd gotten off lucky.

"Be more careful this time," she remarked as I lifted my sword again. I nodded and approached the horse once more, bent on revenge. Just as I'd reached it, though, it took off into the air.

"Dammit!" Lloyd swore and looked up, dismayed. I had an idea, and looked over to the others.

"Hey, guys! Try slashing up its wings!"

Kratos was way ahead of me, already halfway through casting a spell. He lifted his sword, pointing it at the airborne monster. "Wind Blade!"

Iubaris screeched, flapping its wings harder to get away from the spell. It still sustained several injuries, though, and seemed to be having difficulty staying up in the air. Colette flew forward, ready to help.

"I've got him! Ray Thrust!" She threw her chakrams, only to have the monster dodge out of the way once more. It turned to her, a ball of light gathering just in front of its snout. My eyes widened as I finally remembered that attack.

"Colette, get out of there!" I called, but it was too late for her to dodge.

"Colette!!" Lloyd cried desperately. She tried to move backwards, but the monster quickly followed her path. It fired the beam of light known as Force Ray.

Raine hastily ran forward, lifting her staff. "Barrier!"

A magical shield appeared in front of the Chosen as she threw her arms up in an attempt to shield herself from the light. She threw up her own barrier to increase the strength of the Professor's.

When the light died down, Colette fell to the ground. Lloyd ran forward to catch her, as Iubaris observed with an almost cold gaze. No, bad unicorn-pegasus-thing.

"Air Thrust!" Genis shouted, his spell finally ready. The horse couldn't dodge this time, and its wings were effectively sliced up. It fell to the ground, and Kratos and I immediately ran in to attack.

"Hurricane Thrust!" The mercenary forced the pegasus back. I found myself wondering why this battle involved so many thrusting attacks.

Just to keep up the good streak we had going, I grinned and shouted, "Sonic Thrust!"

Sheena appeared seemingly out of nowhere, hitting Iubaris with a Pyre Seal. The monster huffed, enraged, and lunged for the first person it set its eyes on. Unfortunately, this person happened to be an unsuspecting Professor Sage, who was currently focused on healing Colette.

"Professor!" Lloyd looked over in shock. Iubaris swung its deadly tail, hitting her hard and knocking her over the platform's edge.

Being the closest, I ran forward and barely managed to catch Raine's hand before she made the deadly fall. I struggled, using my other hand to get a better grip, and trying not to lose my footing. I almost felt sick at how high up this place was. My feet were slipping, and I braced my knees against the wall.

"Hell Pyre!" I heard Kratos yell, as he singlehandedly attempted to stop Iubaris from approaching us. I felt a strong gust, and knew the monster was flapping its battered wings as hard as it could. It was unable to take to the air, but it was more than capable of sending me off the edge. I tried even harder to hug the wall, holding Raine's hand as tightly as I could.

"H-Hang in there, Professor!" I said, trying to act stronger than I was. She was heavy, I was tired, and my face was probably white from terror. I couldn't handle heights, I really couldn't.

A gloved hand abruptly reached forward and grasped the Professor's other hand, and I noticed with relief that Sheena was beside me. Genis was busy freaking out behind us, but I tried to ignore him so I could focus on keeping his sister alive.

"Okay...Now!" Sheena grimaced, and the two of us pulled. With our combined effort, we managed to get Raine over the wall and safely on to the platform. The half elf woman coughed, gripping her wound with the hand I'd released.

"Raine! Are you okay?!" Genis was instantly at her side. She nodded weakly.

"I...I'm fine, Genis."

"C'mon," I said to him, "The sooner we defeat this thing, the better!"

He nodded when he saw Kratos coming over, and stood up with a look of determination on his face. With the mercenary healing his sister, he felt more comfortable turning his back. He started to prepare a spell as Sheena and I ran up with Lloyd to attack once more.

"Sonic Sword Rain!" The brunette yelled, as I followed up with Beast. As we distracted the monster, Sheena ran about sticking cards to it that looked suspiciously like explosive notes.

"Get back!" She called to us, confirming my suspicions. She placed her hands together, glaring at the monster, before uttering a very familiar shout of "Katsu!"

All of the cards immediately blew up and Iubaris let out an angry cry, falling to the ground. It just barely managed to stumble to its feet again, huffing and searching for a target to maul.

When Sheena ran up next to me, I pumped a fist in the air. "Art is a bang!"

She gave me a weird look. "Huh?"

"Uh...let's kick some ass!" I hurriedly rushed at the monster before I decided to blurt out any more Naruto references.

Iubaris quickly beat its wings, causing me to slide backwards with the wind. Genis took care of that with another Air Thrust, though, and he gave the monster a smug look.

"Brittany!" Lloyd called to me, and I looked over at him. He nodded. "C'mon, let's finish this!"

I quickly recognized the position he took as our Cross Thrust formation. I nodded back, as there was no time to argue over how sucky I was at it. I lifted Loki. We gave each other a silent signal, and dashed forward.

"Double Cross Thrust!" I crossed paths with Lloyd, slicing through the monster, wondering halfway through where the 'double' thing had come from. Kratos answered that little question; he was already in position. As soon as Lloyd finished, he instantly turned around and performed the attack with Kratos before Iubaris had a chance to retaliate. The two moved backwards when they were finished, signaling to Genis.

"Eruption!" Genis shouted, lifting up his kendama. The pegasus didn't stand a chance. When the spell was over, it lay broken and bleeding on the tiled floor. Within a second or two, it disappeared in a burst of light.

"That...was...awesome!" I cried happily. "And I didn't even mess up on my part! We're so badass!"

Lloyd and Genis laughed victoriously, while Kratos tried to ignore me. Colette, who seemed to have recovered, giggled at my exclamation.

Raine walked up, brushing herself off. She'd been sufficiently healed, but she still looked a little ruffled. "Is everyone all right?"

"I'm fine," Sheena answered, approaching our gathering. "Just a few cuts and bruises, nothing serious."

"Same here," I raised a hand, before letting it fall again. Everyone else had already been healed at some point during the battle, and were otherwise unhurt. It had been a relatively short fight, but pretty tough, nonetheless.

"It was really cool when you made those cards explode, Sheena!" Lloyd said, grinning. "You've gotta teach me how to do that sometime!"

"Ah...um...You think so?" She blushed lightly, and it took everything I had not to giggle at the obvious crush that was forming. The ninja seemed to regain her composure. "The cards are a secret art, I can't tell just anyone..."

Lloyd opened his mouth to ask another question, probably something about what he'd have to do to get her to tell him, but he abruptly stopped as something else caught his attention. I turned to look in the direction of the altar, only to see that steam was coming out of it. Oh, that's right...we'd broken the seal, so now Mr. Asshole was going to make his appearance.

Part of the altar shot up, encircling a ball of golden light, before lowering again. The light remained for a few moments, floating in midair, before vanishing. I realized that Luna wasn't going to show up, and frowned. Well, it wasn't exactly a vital part in the plot, but later on it might be troublesome when we were forming pacts.

Right on cue, a very familiar voice spoke from high above. "Chosen of Regeneration...You have done well in reaching this far. Now, offer your prayers at the altar."

"...Yes!" Colette nodded, and I stuck my hands in my coat pockets to hide the fact that I was clenching my fists.

Looking upwards, Colette spoke with her hands clasped before her heart. "Oh Goddess Martel, great protector and nurturer of the earth, grant me thy strength!"

Rays of light began to shine from above, and Remiel showed up in a burst of light and pale feathers. He descended from the sky, his wings flapping softly, and I wondered how he stayed suspended with such little effort.

My first impression of Remiel...was that he didn't look like Colette. Maybe this was only because of my prior knowledge, but I was a bit shocked that anyone could possibly believe he was her biological father. Sure, they were both blonde, but Remiel's eyes didn't possess the same softness as Colette's. His expression was gentle, if not a little patronizing, as he looked down at us. But his eyes...I didn't trust those eyes. He was only out for personal gain. He didn't even care about the fate of the worlds, never mind the life of a single kindhearted Chosen.

Stupid jackass. I continued to come up with different insults for him as the others looked on.

"Your journey has been long," Remiel offered her a fake, but surprisingly convincing, smile. Deceptive bastard. "You have done well to reach this far, Colette, the Chosen One!"

"Thank you...Lord Remiel." Colette's face remained solemn, and I could tell she no longer believed he was really her father. I was glad that even she could see that she couldn't possibly be related to such a selfish prick.

"Let us grant you our blessing," Remiel said, and I winced. It was about to happen...

"...Thank you," Colette replied, but she didn't really look thankful. In fact, she looked pretty pale.

The angel raised his hands slightly, and suddenly several small lights swirled down from the sky and into Colette's body. Her body glowed for a brief moment, before fading back to its normal state. My nails bit into the palms of my hands as my fists clenched harder. It wouldn't be long now until Colette lost her voice. I might never get to hear her speak again.

Remiel lowered his hands and paused, his cold blue eyes examining each of us for a brief moment. Lloyd seemed to be fighting with himself over something, and I looked at him curiously. Was he going to say something to Colette, or...?

He stepped forward, instantly catching the angel's attention. "Remiel! I...I have a question."

Okay, this wasn't how things were supposed to go. Everyone turned to give Lloyd a startled look, except for Kratos, who was glaring.

"Lloyd..." Raine murmured in a warning, but it was too late. Remiel was already looking at him. He seemed a little vexed that Lloyd hadn't used his title...that pompous little--

I was unable to think up another insult, as Lloyd's next few words caused my mind to go blank.

"I have a friend who...who has amnesia." He hesitated. "She's been all over the world with us, but she still hasn't recognized anything. I was wondering...since you're an angel, if you knew some way she could go back to her home, and her family."

I stared at Lloyd in shock. Normally I would have been touched that he was trying to help me find a way home even though he didn't fully know my situation, but right now I really wanted him to shut up. Remiel was of Cruxis! He was the enemy, he wasn't going to help us!

"Lloyd," I hissed, elbowing him. He ignored me, eyes focused on the angel floating above us.

Remiel considered him with a cold gaze, frowning slightly. "...And who might this person be?" Wait, what did it matter to him? I didn't get it.

Oh crap, Lloyd put his hand on my shoulder. The angel's stare was now fixed on me. Everyone else was still, at this point wondering just what he was going to say. Kratos had stiffened slightly, but I couldn't bring myself to look away from Remiel to see what expression the seraph wore.

The blonde angel's eyes narrowed slightly at me, and I felt my body tense up. Why was he giving me that look? I'd expected nothing but indifference from him in response to Lloyd's question. But...was that interest I saw?

I felt myself pale as Kvar's words rang through my head.

_...The Exsphere being cultured on your body is valuable research material that Lord Yggdrasill himself requested. Give yourself up..._

Remiel served Yggdrasill. Remiel was only interested in gaining power and becoming one of the Four Seraphim. And now, Remiel knew where the runaway amnesiac was.

Shit.

The angel stared at me for another moment, before closing his eyes. When he opened them, he'd put on the gentle mask once more.

"All will be resolved when the world is regenerated. There is no need to worry." He smiled at me; Lloyd seemed to relax, while I fought a shudder.

Remiel looked down at Colette. "It is time for you to rejoice, Chosen One. Your journey is finally drawing to a close. The path to the Tower of Salvation is open!" His smile grew harsh as he issued his command. "Head to the Tower of Salvation and offer your prayers of regeneration! Then, you will be able to climb the stairway to heaven."

Lloyd's eyes widened. "The Tower of Salvation?!"

"The world regeneration is finally going to take place," Genis remarked quietly. Sheena looked troubled.

"Is regeneration...really going to happen?" She murmured to herself.

I felt sick at Remiel's words. The end was really near. We had one more sidequest to do, and before we knew it we'd be standing on that windy peak in Hima, dragons ready to take flight...

"I...I shall do as you instruct, Lord Remiel!" Colette said, her voice cracking slightly. She looked startled at herself, but seemed to shrug it off. Remiel floated upwards, before swiftly vanishing up into the heavens. White feathers floated down as he spoke to us one final time.

"I shall await you at the final seal. Colette...my daughter. There, you will become an angel, like me."

Colette lowered herself to the ground, her pink wings vanishing. She turned to us, and smiled weakly.

"...Okay, let's go."

Kratos nodded, and turned to lead the way once more. Raine seemed to remember something, and grabbed Lloyd by the ear.

"Ow! Professor!" Lloyd said, surprised at the sudden assault. She dragged him through the warp without a word, obviously planning to scold him for his random interruption of Colette's ritual.

Sheena, Colette, and Genis followed with a sigh, and vanished as they reached the circular pad. I was left alone for a brief moment.

I looked over my shoulder at the altar, shivering. I really, really hoped Remiel would just forget about this and not report anything to Yggdrasill. That would be nice.

...Dammit. What the hell was I supposed to do now? Tackle Lloyd for being such a dumbass, maybe...

I sighed, and walked on to the warp. As Zelos always said: whatever will be, will be. There was nothing I could do at this point.

I hoped I'd live to meet Zelos...

----

**A/N: Lloyd, Lloyd, Lloyd...way to screw things up. :D There you have it, no cliffie this time! Sorry if the Iubaris fight sucked a bit, I'm not so good at keeping fights interesting when there's more than one in a chapter...XD Heh, I tried.**

**Reviewers will get Remiel's nifty hat! Muahahaha!**

**Next time: Sparkly angel sickness, Boltzman's book, and Lake Umacy!**


	21. Promise

**A/N: Holy crap, it's been a while. I'm so sorry it took so long, guys. D: My job's been taking up a lot of my time. But yay, at long last, it's here!! I'm so proud of myself. :'D**

**Anyway, it's late and I really wanted to submit this, so sorry if there are any errors. I'll proofread this whole chapter again tomorrow, when I've got time. But for now, bear with me, alright? **

**In other news...106 reviews and over 7000 hits? Holy crap, you guys are awesome. I seriously thought this was going to be one of those stories that gets like two hits a day, if any. Having so many fans...it feels nice. :D You reviewers keep me going. Thank you for all the help and encouragement! If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have been able to better myself as a writer!**

**While I'm at it, I'd just like to say that even though it's been taking a while for me to update, rest assured that I'm going to CONTINUE and eventually FINISH this story. I won't leave you hanging. I'm not that evil, really.**

**Long author's note is long! I'll shut up now! Time for long chapter! :D**

**Disclaimer: I think you should know by now that I don't own ToS.**

**----**

After the brief, strange warping sensation (I still couldn't get used to it), I found myself once again on one of the tower's high balconies. The others seemed to have gathered, waiting for the last person to come off the warp. Raine was off to the side, lecturing Lloyd, who had been unmercifully kicked into the balcony's railing. I was alarmed to see that it was cracked slightly. How strong were the Professor's kicks, anyway?

"Lloyd Irving!" She thundered, glaring down at him. "Haven't I told you over and over to think before you speak?! Remiel is an envoy from heaven! He comes to speak to Colette and Colette only!"

"But Professor--"

"No buts! I understand you're trying to help Brittany, but interfering with the world regeneration is not the answer!"

As Raine supplied the verbal abuse, Kratos stood off to the side, silent. Although it could be extremely scary when he yelled, right now one of his glares was more than enough to get the message across.

I walked up to the gathering, feeling rather awkward when they all suddenly looked up at me.

"Um..." I shifted uncomfortably when no one said anything. "Shouldn't we get going?"

"Yeah," Genis piped up, jumping at the chance to save Lloyd. "Let's get out of this place. I don't like it."

The Professor hesitated, seeming to calm down a bit, but the next decision was ultimately made by Kratos. He quietly began to walk towards the light bridge connecting the two balconies. He was followed by Colette, and everyone else seemed to catch on. I ended up going last, partly because of my reluctance to get on that damn bridge again, and partly because I wasn't feeling so great after what happened.

...Well, almost last. Lloyd walked along behind me, looking as if he was feeling pretty shitty himself. I really couldn't bring myself to comfort him, even if he had only been trying to help. Poor, naive Lloyd...I found myself wondering if I really should've trusted him in the first place. I couldn't help it; I'm selfish.

I mean yeah, I somehow managed to come to terms with the fact that I'd die on this journey. But I really, really didn't want to become a Cruxis Crystal for Yggfagsill. And thanks to Lloyd, that probably was going to be my fate now. What would happen when we reached the Tower of Salvation? Would Remiel attack me after Colette released the final seal? Or...would Kratos come after me after he betrayed us?! Christ, even if I did manage to get through that, I was screwed the second Yggdrasill showed up!

I had to do something to stop this...but what could I possibly hope to accomplish? I was missing something, here. I had a feeling that some of the key information involved how Yggdrasill knew about me. I could never hope to get home unless I got some answers.

...And there was no way I would ever get any answers. It looked like the angels were the only ones who could shed some light on my situation, and they weren't about to explain theirselves to me. The Desians were after me, but they were only pawns. I doubted they knew or cared much about my background.

"Hey...Are you all right?" Lloyd's voice interrupted my thoughts. I looked over at him, mildly surprised that he had decided to stop sulking just so he could be concerned about me. Then again, this was Lloyd. The only person who could beat him in terms of selflessness was Colette.

I sighed. "...Yeah, I'm fine."

"You don't sound fine." He looked ahead of us, frowning. The others were far enough ahead that they wouldn't be able to make out our conversation. Well, besides Colette and Kratos, anyway.

"Well, I am," I said in the sort of tone that would normally end a conversation. Lloyd was persistent as always, though.

"Look..." he remarked quietly, "I know the Tower of Salvation seems far away, but you heard Remiel. The angels will help you get home. You've just gotta be patient."

"Lloyd, you have no idea what you're talking about. Just drop it, okay?" I huffed, gritting my teeth. I really regretted the way I spoke to him later on, but at this moment everything I said was fueled by the intense fear and anger Remiel's words had stirred within me.

"What do you mean I have no idea?" Lloyd looked back over at me, sounding frustrated. "You want to make it home, don't you?"

"Why did you have to butt in and ask Remiel?!" I hissed, feeling close to tears. I was forced to look away from him so I could get myself back under control.

"What are you talking about?! I was just trying to help!" He hissed back. "Why are you so upset, anyway? Remiel is going to help--"

"The angels are going to help, Lloyd?" I countered before I could stop myself. "The same angels that are doing all these horrible things to Colette? Even if they were interested in lending an insignificant human their aid, I wouldn't want their help!"

He gave me a shocked look, his mouth open slightly. After a moment, he quickly looked away, clenching his fists. "Just...just shut up. We can't do anything about Colette, okay? Sh-she wants to do this to save everyone! It's the only way!"

"You're not that close-minded, dumbass. Quit lying to yourself," I shot back, glaring.

"What are you saying? We should just leave the world to die?!" Lloyd's voice rose to a shout and he stood in front of me, preventing me from going any further. The others stopped where they were, turning around in surprise at the brunette's random outburst. Colette and Kratos gazed at us solemnly.

"I'm saying you shouldn't have stuck your nose in my goddamn business, Lloyd!" I yelled back, my voice cracking slightly.

The anger apruptly drained out of his face, the stiffness in his posture disappearing. When I tried to push past him, he allowed himself to be shoved lightly into the wall without any resistance. I wasn't sure what caused him to act like that. Maybe it was because of what I'd said...or maybe he'd seen the stray tear that had fallen down my cheek. Either way, I managed to compose myself by the time I walked up to the main group. When we continued onwards, we walked in silence.

Lloyd walked in the back once more, his eyes trained to the floor. Raine and Sheena gave me a strange look, while Genis only offered angry glares. Colette watched me sadly. Kratos...was unreadable. He didn't seem surprised at all by what he'd heard.

That was unnerving, to say the least.

----

"You can't be serious."

I had abruptly stopped when I realized we were going back the same way my group had come. This wasn't right...we were supposed to go back the way Colette and the others had come, weren't we?

When I'd asked, though, Kratos had confirmed that we were taking the dreaded path, and now I was staring at him incredulously. Lloyd and Genis temporarily forgot the argument that had occurred several minutes ago, and stood next to me with similar looks on their faces.

Kratos raised an eyebrow at my statement. "Do I sound like I am joking?"

"B-but Kratos," Lloyd spoke up, "Why can't we just take the same path you guys took?"

Raine heard the stutter in her student's voice, and looked at him curiously. "That route is too long. I'd like to be out of this tower before any adverse effects of Colette's Angel Toxicosis set in."

Several of us flinched at that and looked away, but Colette somehow managed to keep her expression neutral.

"Raine, the route we took is way longer!" Genis protested, looking over to me and Lloyd for support. I nodded quickly.

"Yeah, we must've been walking for two hours, at least. It was ridiculous."

The mercenary stared at me. "Two hours? When we spoke to you for the second time on the projector, only fifteen minutes had passed at the most."

"What?! That's impossible!" The young mage exclaimed, but Kratos remained unconvinced. He probably thought we were just exaggerating. But dammit, I knew we'd taken way longer than that. There was no way we could've done all that, and fought a battle, within fifteen minutes. Hell, the light puzzles alone had taken us that long.

"Um, guys, he's not lying." Sheena said, an apologetic look on her face, and I knew she was telling the truth.

I shuddered a little. Despite all that the three of us had gone through...only fifteen minutes had passed. Not that we could really explain anything that had happened, but still...holy shit.

"Uh...Can't we just go the other way? Come on, it can't be that big of a time difference." Lloyd said hesitantly, earning a glare from Raine.

"What's with you?" Sheena suddenly frowned, looking between Lloyd, Genis and I. "What's wrong with taking your path? It can't be that bad."

The three of us looked at each other in dread, only increasing the amount of bewildered looks we received from the others. Well, besides Kratos. He'd probably make us swim through pirahna-infested waters if it meant we could get to the Tower of Salvation faster.

The silence that ensued was abruptly broken by the sound of the mercenary walking away. He'd chosen to ignore our plight, moving on ahead to avoid wasting time.

Raine frowned, but began to walk after him. I shifted uncomfortably on the spot, but didn't move.

"I...I'm not going. I'll just go the other way. Meet up with you guys later." I couldn't get that weird reaper's eyes out of my mind. Those glowing red eyes...

"Brittany." The Professor said to me, a warning in her voice. Genis and Lloyd had started to inch forward reluctantly, but when they saw that I hadn't moved, they stopped moving as well.

Sheena looked back and forth between us, and stepped forward to try and act as a mediator. She lightly grasped my arm, giving it a small tug. "Look...just calm down. We'll be outside in no time--"

"I'm not going!!" I said, my voice coming out louder than I'd intended, and everyone stared at me.

Raine opened her mouth to speak, but Genis cut her off. "I'm not going, either."

"We were almost killed on that path. I'm not going back!" Lloyd added quickly.

"Almost killed?" Kratos looked back, raising an eyebrow.

"Y-Yeah," I said quietly. "We kept walking through all these dark hallways, and then the stairs went down instead of up--"

"That's impossible. The basement floor to this tower caved in long ago," The professor said.

"B-But Raine!" Genis waved his hands frantically. "There were all these weird noises, and blood was everywhere!"

Raine paused to stare at her younger brother, her eyes narrowing for a moment. After a few seconds, her eyes lit up in a frightening way. "Interesting..."

"Um...Professor?" Lloyd spoke up almost timidly.

"I've heard that the lower levels of this structure were once a prison used during the ancient war," She murmured, rubbing her chin and looking down at the floor. "The upper floors were merely built above the prison to form the tower. I wonder...perhaps you three stumbled upon that ancient prison? Marvelous! I must see it!"

"But the monsters..." I bit my lip, and she shook her head.

"Just an illusion to ward off intruders, I'm sure." She quickly waved it off, moving back to the topic of her fascination. "To think you rediscovered something that was believed to be lost to the world..."

"Th-Then you go yourself! I'm not going back!" I quickly protested, backing away further. Raine temporarily snapped out of her ruin-mode to give me a nasty glare.

"Enough. We're going," Kratos cut in. I opened my mouth to speak, but he glared at me as well, effectively silencing me. Lloyd and Genis realized it was useless, and followed him with their heads down. I clenched my fists tightly, nervous, and followed after Raine...as slowly as possible.

"Don't worry!" Colette whispered to me, "I'm sure everything will be okay." She'd been observing for the most part for a while now, and I was pleasantly surprised to hear her speak. But her voice...it sounded raspy, sort of.

No...could it be that she was only capable of talking in whispers now? Was she trying to hide it? Dammit...

We arrived at the spiral staircase and walked down it, entering the room with the light puzzle. My footsteps felt sluggish and heavy.

Wait! It'd just be a dead end, right? I mean, the hallway had closed up...

After heading through several rooms, we found that it was not in fact a dead end. That cursed hallway had reopened. My eyes widened, and I very nearly froze in place.

"This--This is--!" Lloyd stopped himself, staring as Kratos entered the hall without hesitation. We slowly followed after, looking around warily.

I gasped slightly, gazing down at the floor. That blood...this was where I'd been cut. It was smeared on the floor, clearly showing how I'd been dragged. I looked up and gulped, reaching up to rest a hand on the hilt of my sword. Lloyd reflexively did the same, as Genis gripped his kendama. We were all anticipating that same hellish room.

We continued walking for several seconds, when suddenly I was confused by a soft light at the end of the hallway. That hadn't been there before...were the torches lit now or something?

"What the...?" Lloyd voiced his own confusion as we exited the hallway.

We were back in the main room near the entrance to the tower. What the hell?! That didn't make sense--what happened to all of those damned hallways we'd gone through?!

Kratos turned around and looked at the three of us expectantly, crossing his arms. I wanted to smack him.

"Everything in between...It's gone..." Genis murmured, bewildered.

"MARVELOUS!!" Raine was already distracted, drooling over books once again. Sheena sighed, shaking her head, as she and Colette went to sit down. The mercenary stared at us for a moment before turning away and looking at the shelves, probably trying to find Boltzman's book.

"I don't get it..." I sighed, sliding down the wall into a sitting position. "I know it wasn't an illusion..."

Lloyd and Genis just remained silent for a moment, and then went to the opposite end of the room to sit down and exchange confused looks.

Oh, that's right. We weren't on the best terms anymore, because Lloyd had screwed me over without realizing it.

Ugh. I didn't want to think about the stupid tower and how it made no sense at all. I was never coming back in here, so what did it matter? I doubted I'd survive to the point where Sheena would make a pact with Luna, anyway.

Goddammit. God fucking dammit.

I pressed a hand to my forehead, closing my eyes. To the others, it probably looked like I had a headache...but really, I just wanted to cry. And I really had thought I'd gotten that crap out of my system, too.

This tower had just been one big confusing hell. I just wanted to get out of here. I was in the mood to go lay down somewhere and try to ignore the world for a while. Maybe if I just distanced myself from Lloyd for a while, I wouldn't feel so pissed off at him. I really didn't know.

"Hey." Sheena's voice broke me out of my thoughts, and she sat next to me. I realized that she must've come over after talking to Colette. She frowned slightly at me. "...You don't mind the company, right?"

"Nah." I sighed, even though I most certainly did mind. I didn't want to talk to anyone...and yet I didn't want to be alone and brood, either. Go figure. Maybe I should've just followed Kratos around.

She looked away, watching said mercenary search the bookcases along with the Professor. After a short silence, I felt her look at me again.

"What's up with you today, anyway?" She asked; despite her wording, I could hear the concern in her voice. "You've been acting weird ever since Colette released the seal. Why did you yell at Lloyd like that? I can understand Raine, but that wasn't like you. I mean, he was only trying to help."

I stared into my lap. "...I think he only made things worse."

"How so?" Her gaze didn't waver, and I shifted a little.

"...I don't know. Just a thought."

"You snapped at him over a gut feeling?!"

"No!" I looked up at her, clenching my fists as she glared. "I just--ugh! I don't want to talk about it. Let's drop it already."

She huffed. "You're not making any sense, you know that?"

I dropped my eyes to the ground, giving up, and nodded quietly. Her tone changed to one of confusion.

"Aren't you gonna say anything?"

"I have nothing to say," I replied truthfully. She tensed for a moment, before abruptly getting up.

"Ugh!" She said, aggravated, and walked back over to Colette. I watched her for a moment, and then dropped my head to my knees and heaved a sigh.

"...Go, me," I mumbled under my breath. "If I bitch hard enough, maybe I can antagonize everyone by nightfall. Maybe Kratos can kill me now; it'd save him the trouble of doing it later..." I groaned quietly, hitting my forehead against my knees.

----

At long last, we exited the tower and walked out into the sunshine. It was late afternoon, gradually melting into evening; we'd spent a while in there. It would've been longer, if my group's escapades had really lasted as long as they should have.

Unsurprisingly, Raine had been the one to spot Boltzman's book. Even as we walked out of the large structure, she continually pored over its dusty pages. She was fascinated by the old tome...what else was new?

Well, after the half hour we spent searching for the book...I don't think the others were angry at me, but they weren't happy with me, either. In other words, we weren't really talking much. They were sort of...there, and I was off to the side.

Genis walked up next to his sister, attempting to see into the book despite the height difference. "With this we can save Pietro, right?"

Raine stopped obsessing over the text for a moment, to frown thoughtfully down at him. "...No. As fascinating as this is...it will be difficult for me to use this book with my healing arts alone." She paused, her brow furrowing slightly. "...Perhaps if we had some sort of tool to amplify the body's life force..."

"What kind of tool could do something like that?" Lloyd spoke up.

"A unicorn horn, I would imagine." Kratos remarked, and Raine nodded.

"Yes. But unicorns are extremely rare...our chances of finding one are slim."

"What do we do, then?" Sheena asked, frustrated.

"I have heard that there is a unicorn residing in Lake Umacy, though I'll admit my sources are not exactly reliable," Kratos commented. He crossed his arms. "I suggest we take a look."

Unreliable resources? Yeah, right, Kratty. You've probably been there twenty times already and seen the unicorn for yourself. In any case, I decided to back him up, not wanting to run back and forth until someone managed to figure it out.

"Sounds good to me," I said. "It's not like we have any other leads to go on...and isn't Lake Umacy pretty close by? We can stop there on our way back to Hima."

"It's settled, then," Raine nodded. "We should--"

A thud interrupted her statement, and we all turned to see that Colette had fallen to her knees. Her eyes were wide as she stared on straight ahead in what I presumed to be shock; her mouth was slightly open in a gape...and I knew.

Lloyd gasped, running over to her and gripping her shoulders to support her. "Professor Sage! It's Colette's Angel Toxicosis..."

Raine's expression quickly grew solemn. "I see. We should rest here for the night, then."

I heard a small noise come from Colette--a slight exhale of breath. She was trying to speak, but nothing was coming out. She'd been gradually losing her voice ever since Remiel bestowed Cruxis' "blessing" upon her.

"What's wrong, Colette?" Lloyd asked, concerned. He could see the shock and confusion in her face, even when she tried her best to hide it.

She couldn't reply to his question, and that was made painfully obvious by the look in her eyes. She gazed up at him apologetically, and then looked down at her hands. I saw Kratos step forward from the corner of my vision.

"I would assume she's lost her voice." He said it casually, without much concern.

"What?!" Genis gasped, and we all stared at Colette in varying levels of surprise. Or, in my case, fake surprise that was a sad attempt to conceal frustration and anger.

"He's wrong, right, Colette? Tell me he's wrong!" Lloyd said in horror. He was trying to hide his own shaking. Sure, she was still relatively okay physically, but...Lloyd seemed to be realizing just now that he would probably never hear her voice again.

The blonde Chosen gave Lloyd a helpless look, and smiled sadly. Lloyd's shoulders slumped.

"Colette..."

----

We spent the next few hours setting up camp and attempting to make Colette comfortable. Night fell all too quickly; I was too absorbed in my own thoughts to realize just what time it was.

As I stared at the campfire, seeing but not really seeing, I finally remembered that the cutscenes weren't exactly over just yet. Hey, maybe this would distract the others from being mad at me for a day or two.

I looked up, my gaze naturally falling on Sheena. She looked uncomfortable. Our eyes met, however, and I guess that's when she decided to speak; she probably thought I was going to ask what was up anyway.

The ninja sighed. "Everyone...I have something to say."

Lloyd looked up, seeming to snap out of the same sort of daze I'd been in. "Huh? What is it?"

She looked down. "I want to explain why I was trying to assassinate the Chosen."

That got everyone's attention. The entire group abruptly stopped what they were doing, looking up to hear her out. Raine crossed her arms.

"All right, we're listening. Tell us about your homeland...a land that doesn't exist in this world."

I made sure to fake surprise, as Sheena nearly gasped.

"You knew?!"

The professor shook her head. "No. But you said it yourself back at the mausoleum: Sylvarant will be saved. That implies that you aren't from Sylvarant."

Wow...in the game it seemed all well and dandy, but really, I wouldn't have jumped to that conclusion right off the bat. It was one of the reasons why I didn't tell the others I was from another world--it wasn't exactly a believeable story.

Sheena smirked slightly, seeming a bit relieved that no one had called her crazy yet. "Yeah...you know, it's really a shame that your intellect's being wasted here. You're right; my homeland isn't here, not in Sylvarant."

"What does that mean?" Genis asked, frowning.

"My world is called Tethe'alla," Sheena replied. Ahh, the first time I'd heard someone speak of the other world. It was really weird.

"Tethe'alla?!" Genis gave her an incredulous look. "You mean the moon?"

She laughed a bit. "Of course not. My world's not on the moon."

"I'm confused," I said randomly, realizing I was being too quiet. I saw Kratos raise a hand to facepalm from the other side of the fire, but he made himself lower it again, probably not wanting to seem suspicious or something.

Sheena shook her head. "Even I really don't understand the specifics, but there's another world that lies entwined with Sylvarant, as shadow is to light. That's Tethe'alla...my world."

"Two entwined worlds?" Raine questioned.

"The two worlds can't see one another, even though they're directly adjacent to each other, like two sides of a coin. Our scholars say they exist on shifted dimensions. The two worlds can't see or touch each other, but they do in fact exist next to and affect each other," the ninja explained.

"'Affect each other?'" Lloyd asked curiously. "What do you mean?"

"They vie for the supply of mana. When one world weakens, the mana from that world flows to the other. As a result, one world is always flourishing, and the other waning. Sort of like an hourglass." Man, how many analogies was she going to use? I decided to keep count.

I was distracted when I saw everyone--except Kratos--shift uncomfortably when they realized just what end of the hourglass Sylvarant had been fated with. I sighed quietly.

"So that means right now, Sylvarant's mana is flowing to Tethe'alla."

She nodded. "Sylvarant is in decline. And without mana, crops won't grow and magic becomes unusable. If there's no mana, the summon spirits that protect the world alongside the Goddess Martel can't survive in Sylvarant either. As a result, the world slips even further down the path of destruction."

I pinched myself slightly to wake myself up more, realizing that I was getting bored with her story. I was supposed to be faking interest, curiosity, and maybe even a little suspicion, but right now all I could muster was a deadpan gaze. I'd heard it all before. After playing through the game several times, it was pretty easy to remember how the system between the two worlds worked. I didn't really feel like listening to Sheena's long lesson again.

Oh, Raine's turn to speak again. She was the only one that really had anything intelligent to say back. "Then the Choesn's world regeneration is actually the process of reversing the mana flow?"

You got it, Professor. But do you really get it? Colette's going to die, and then over in Tethe'alla, some other unfortunate Chosen (maybe even Zelos) will die, and then it'll be back to Sylvarant again.

"Exactly," Sheena confirmed. "When the Chosen breaks the seal, the mana flow reverses, and the Summon Spirit that governs the seal awakens. I was sent to prevent the world regeneration from happening."

Dear Goddd. I knew all of this. Wrap it up already, people. Waning and flourishing, Chosens, weird analogies, destruction, blah blah blah.

"I broke through the supposedly impassable dimensional fissure for the sake of protecting Tethe'alla," She continued dramatically. Lloyd's fists clenched, and he stood up.

"In other words, to assure the decline and destruction of Sylvarant?"

Sheena frowned. "You can say that, but your journey of regeneration is also an attempt to destroy Tethe'alla. We're both doing the same thing."

Yeah, which is why you get more information about crap like this before running around attacking people over it. Goddammit. I hated knowing the future sometimes.

Now Raine chose to voice her skepticism, though I thought she was taking this surprisingly well. "It's hard for me to believe all of this."

Man, if Sheena had said the same thing to me back on Earth, I would've just walked away and tried to ignore her. I would've instantly branded her as batshit insane in my mind. I mean seriously, other worlds? I'd even questioned my own sanity more than once through the course of this journey.

"I'm the proof," Sheena said. "I possess summoning arts that have been lost from this world."

Colette stared at Sheena, a sad look in her eyes, and the ninja sighed.

"Please don't look at me like that, Colette...I know that wasn't your intention. I don't really know what I should do, either." She ran a hand through her bangs, shaking her head. "I came here to protect Tethe'alla, but...but this world is impoverished and everyone is suffering. But if I allow the world regeneration to occur, then Tethe'alla will become just like this!"

"But right now, you're helping us, right?" Genis spoke up, looking uneasy.

"Yes, but that doesn't mean I can just abandon Tethe'alla! I...I don't know what to do. Isn't there any other way? A way for Sylvarant, Tethe'alla, and Colette to all be happy?!"

I wished I could tell them that there was, and that everything would be okay, but naturally I couldn't. I didn't even know for sure if that was the real future anymore...my presence here had already screwed up some things. I didn't know just yet if all the screwups were just going to snowball and eventually kill me.

"I want to know, too!" Lloyd piped up.

"Have you considered that perhaps nothing that convenient exists in the real world?" Raine asked. The others gave her upset looks, but I could understand where she was coming from. Normally, there wouldn't be any solution like that. Life is unfair and it sucks; that's it, no questions asked. We were just lucky this time that there was a solution.

"...The best thing we can do right now is to save Sylvarant from its current crisis." The sound of Kratos' voice nearly caused me to jump. It was the first time he'd spoken in a while. Ever since Sheena had been talking, he'd just sort of been sitting there. Like me, he'd heard it all before. He didn't have to fake any sort of emotion, though, because he never showed any emotion anyway. Stupid mercenary. Once again, he'd offered world regeneration as the best solution. Hey, guys! All our problems can be solved if we just sacrifice this innocent sixteen-year-old girl! He seriously pissed me off at times like this.

"What if we just defeat the Desians, and don't regenerate the world?" Lloyd asked hopefully.

"Although we succeeded in destroying a ranch, we cannot possibly eliminate all the Desians. The mana will eventually be exhausted."

No, Yggdrasill wouldn't let one world flourish to the point of the other's distruction. That would ruin his whole system, because one world couldn't exist without the other. He'd probably reverse the mana flow on his own if the Chosens of one world screwed up too many times. I guess the people didn't really want to risk it, though. Couldn't blame them.

"Is mana really that important?" The brunette questioned.

Genis shrugged. "I suppose only magic users and scholars worry about it. But mana is even more important to life than water. Without it, the land will die. Mana is the source material which composes everything. At least that's what I've been taught."

Ha, us Earthlings don't need mana because we're just that cool.

...Wait, or did we? Mana was the reason why I could do all my techs, right? I could never do a Hunting Beast back home...wasn't that because there was no mana on Earth? But if I was living in this world, and my body wasn't composed of mana, wouldn't I, like, die? Too confusing...

"Unfortunately," Raine continued, "the Giant Tree of ever-flowing mana in fairy tales doesn't exist in the real world. We live by chipping away at the limited amount of avalilable mana. Why do you think ancient magitechnology was lost?"

"Because mana disappeared from the world,"Sheena replied.

"Correct. Magitechnology consumes large amounts of mana. If things continue the way they are now, Sylvarant will eventually lose its mana just as it lost its magitechnology, and be destroyed."

Agh, Professor...this conversation was so long and boring. But if even Lloyd was paying close attention...I didn't really have a choice but to pay attention myself.

The conversation paused when everyone turned to see Colette approaching Lloyd.

"Colette?" Lloyd looked down at her as she grabbed his hand, turning it palm up. "R...e....m...i....Oh, you're trying to spell something, right?"

He stopped, reading the letters she wrote. It took a couple seconds for him to decipher each word she wrote.

"I'll....try...asking...Remiel...if...there's...a...way...to...save...the two...worlds."

Unfortunately, Lloyd totally saw the scowl on my face at the mention of the angel's name. His brow furrowed slightly, and I quickly looked away, pretending nothing had happened.

"If it doesn't work out, I may have to kill you after all," Sheena said.

"Sheena!" Genis said, dismayed.

Lloyd continued to read as Colette began writing again. "When...that...time...comes...I...may...fight..back..."

She paused, smiled sadly, and wrote some more. "Because...I love...Sylvarant...too."

Sheena looked down. "...I understand. You intend to become an angel, no matter what, don't you?"

Colette's sad little smile didn't falter, and we all fell silent as she released Lloyd's hand to sit down once again.

I stared at the fire once more, chewing slightly on my lower lip as I mulled over all the events that had transpired. We were so close to the Tower...It was too bad. I wouldn't have minded seeing Tethe'alla.

Something in my stomach clenched painfully. If I was afraid now...I couldn't imagine how Colette felt. She'd known she was going to die for her entire life! And now she couldn't even speak up to tell people how scared she was...she couldn't cry to relieve her stress, or sleep to replenish her energy.

Well, at least I knew she'd be okay in the end. Hopefully.

"Lloyd?" Genis' voice cut through my thoughts. "What is it?"

I looked up abruptly, and briefly locked eyes with the brunette. When I saw the look of pure shock he was giving me, I froze. Oh, God. There was a monster behind me, wasn't there.

Just as I was about to shout and move out of the way, Lloyd quickly looked down.

"Uh, it's nothing."

"Okay..." Genis frowned at me for a moment, shrugged, and resumed whatever he'd been doing.

Eh? So there hadn't been anything after all. But wait--did that mean Lloyd had actually been staring at ME? But why...? He'd looked so surprised about something...was there something on my face? Maybe he'd realized for the first time how amazingly attractive I was? Nah, that couldn't be it...my attractiveness was way too obvious, he had to have noticed it before now.

Haaa, I'm so funny.

I looked down at myself. Let's see...bloody coat, muddy pant legs, slightly greasy hair (wasn't too noticeable yet, thankfully), and a thin layer of dried sweat on my skin. Sexy. Then again, it wasn't like the others in the group fared any better. It had been days since our last stay at an inn, months since my last actual shower. Stupid outdated technology.

Having been successfully sidetracked, I stood up, running a hand through my hair.

"Hm? Going somewhere?" The Professor looked up.

I shrugged. "Not that far, just to the river. I won't be long."

She stared for a moment, and then finally relented. "All right."

Lloyd got to his feet, turning to me. "I'll go with you," he offered.

I shook my head, waving him off. "Nah, it's cool. I can find my way on my own." I didn't really want Lloyd to watch me wash the grime out of my hair. I kind of wanted to bathe, too, if I could find a secluded spot.

When I started to leave, though, Lloyd just completely ignored what I said and joined me. Several of the group members gave him an odd look, including me.

"Uh...Lloyd?"

He frowned, narrowing his eyes slightly and giving me a disturbingly Kratos-like look. Don't do that, Lloyd. Ugh, it's creepy. It gives me the urge to annoy you and feed you tomatoes.

Not wanting to cause a scene, I sighed, slightly irritated. "Whatever."

----

"Sooo...what's up?" I asked quietly, pouting on the riverbank. I had taken my boots off and rolled my pant legs up, allowing my feet to soak in the cool water. It felt pretty damn good after the long and stressful day.

Now if only I could shave my legs...Dear God. Back in Luin, I'd paid a barber 400 Gald just to lend me the knife he'd salvaged from the ruins of his shop, and I'd cut myself like twenty times. Not fun. I just wanted a good ol' Venus razor...

Self-conscious now, I rubbed my legs, willing the stubble to go away. Man, even a dagger would be helpful right now. I sure as hell wasn't going to try using my sword. I wanted to shave my legs, not amputate them.

"I was just thinking." Lloyd's voice came seemingly out of nowhere; I'd totally forgotten he was there.

"Eh?" I looked over at him, submerging my legs even deeper into the water.

"I...I get it now." Lloyd sighed. "And I'm sorry for asking Remiel for help without your permission. I guess it was a pretty stupid thing to do."

My brow furrowed. Wait, how would he know? He should still be thinking he was completely justified in his actions. He shouldn't even understand my reasoning till at least after the Tower of Salvation...after I was gone.

"Um, thanks?" I paused. "...What do you get?"

He gave me an impatient look. "It all makes sense! You're from Tethe'alla, like Sheena, aren't you? That's why you couldn't explain anything to me! You thought I wouldn't believe you." He shook his head. "That's why you didn't want me to say anything to Remiel. He probably thought you came here to get rid of Colette, too, so he wouldn't help you. And now you probably think you're in trouble with Cruxis or something, right?"

I groaned. "Lloyd, you're on the right track...but you're also completely wrong."

"What?" The bewildered expression on his face would've been hilarious in different circumstances. "B-But...I had it all figured out!"

"Yeah, I'm sure you did, buddy."

He clenched his fists. "Then...what's the real story?!"

"Haven't we already gone over this?" I rolled my eyes. "I'll explain after Colette regenerates the world. I think you can wait a little longer, it's not that far off."

I guess it was sort of a mean thing for me to do to him...I mean, I already knew that I wouldn't live past that day, so I wouldn't have any explaining to do anyway. Lloyd would just be left hanging. Not that it'd matter--with all the crap that would happen afterwards, they wouldn't have time to think about me much, anyway.

"What difference does it make if you tell me a little earlier?"

"Believe me, Lloydie, it makes a huge difference. Can't tell you why, though."

Lloyd huffed, glaring at me for a moment, and then somehow managed to calm himself down. He watched me kick my feet in the water for a few more seconds before speaking again.

"...You said I was on the right track. What's that supposed to mean? How can I be close if I'm completely wrong?"

I closed my eyes, trying to defeat the headache I knew was going to form. "...Well...I'm not from Tethe'alla, but...I'm from a really far away place. And yeah, I'm sorta worried about Cruxis, which is why I was mad at you for butting in like that."

He stared at me, as if he could see the inner workings of my mind if he tried hard enough. Sorry, bud. No dice.

When he didn't say anything, I laid down on my back and looked at him. "Look, I'm sorry about what I said. I acted like a real asshole. I mean, I had a reason to be mad, but it's kinda my fault too, since I haven't explained anything to you. You were just trying to help out; you didn't know any better."

I shifted a little, trying to find a more comfortable position. "I'm still upset, but it's not like I can go back in time and change anything, so...I dunno. I'm not pissed at you anymore. Let's just...not fight anymore, okay? You're, like, the only person that keeps me sane here." I smiled sheepishly; it was the complete truth.

He met my gaze. "Back there...when you yelled at me...I saw. You were crying, weren't you?"

"...What about it?" There was no sense in denying it.

"What do you mean, 'what about it'?!" He growled, running a hand through his hair in an irritated gesture. "What I did back there...it's bothering you a lot more than you let on, isn't it? What else is bothering you? You complain sometimes, but it's only about dumb stuff, just so you can fill the silence. You never actually talk about what's really upsetting you."

I blinked, surprised. He knew I did that? Most people got annoyed, thinking I was whiny and wanted attention, when I was actually just bored and letting my mouth run. Geez, I thought only my closest friends knew small details like that about me.

Had Lloyd actually become one of my closest friends? Shit. I hated one-sided relationships. I obviously wasn't one of his closest friends; he'd known everyone else in the group, besides Kratos and Sheena, his whole life. And Kratos was his father! Sheena, well...she was Sheena! She and Lloyd had similar personalities, obviously they'd get along well.

"Um..." I shrugged, not really sure what to say, and he rolled his eyes.

"Dammit! You and Colette. What's so bad about talking about your problems?! It's not like bottling everything up ever solved anything!"

"Well, I don't know about Colette, but most of my problems involve the stuff I can't tell you right now," I pointed out. "Besides, I can't do anything about any of it, so it wouldn't make a difference if I told someone."

"Yes it would!" He persisted. "Talking about it means you don't have to bear the burden alone."

I raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure you don't already have enough on your mind, Lloyd?"

That shut him up. He looked down into his lap, frowning. "I..."

"Look, about Colette..." I started, attempting to think up some comforting words, but he hastily shook his head.

"Stop trying to change the subject. You always do that!" Lloyd crossed his arms. "I'm your friend and I'm here for you, okay? So talk to me already!"

"...Lloyd," I smiled. "Just you saying that is enough for now. Understand?" I stood up, putting my boots back on. "Hell, having one friend that I know I can trust...that's more than enough. I can handle things on my own until the world regeneration. Then I might need someone to lean on. Think you can wait till then?"

He gave me a good, long look, and then he finally sighed. "...All right. You promised, after all."

I nodded. "And I don't break promises."

I was such a liar.

----

After a short discussion over breakfast the next morning, everyone (Kratos and Raine) decided that we should head for Lake Umacy right away. We didn't know how long Pietro would last with his illness, and we also didn't know how the world would last with such a depleted mana supply. I'm sure it could've lasted another century, but y'know, Kratos is all urgent and stuff because he's an asshole. You would think he'd be stalling, considering his son was probably going to die too.

Okay, so Kratos is a confusing guy. What else is new?

"You've got that look on your face again, Brit," I heard Lloyd say casually to me. I glanced over at him.

"What look?"

He shrugged. "I dunno, this weird expression you get when you're thinking about something. You always look kind of annoyed."

"Oh, that's because the voice in my head is really sarcastic," I answered cheerfully.

Hey, all my good friends knew about my sarcasm. I just didn't use it as much here, because I didn't want to get bitch slapped by a certain mercenary. I usually ranted about stupid things to myself when I was bored; though my friends found it amusing, I was sure that sort of thing would just piss most of this group off.

"Uh...right." He stared at me for a second. "...What are you thinking right now?"

My brow furrowed slightly as random words popped out of my mouth. "Wouldn't it be cool to be bit by a lion?"

He instantly facepalmed. "What?!"

"Come on! You'd have this awesome scar all your life. And think of all the stories you could tell that would make you seem wicked badass. Like, 'Oh, this? Yeah, I got bit by a lion. But I taught that bitch a lesson, I punched it in the freaking face!'"

"..." He stared at me for a moment, seemingly unable to think of anything to say. Then he just shoved me slightly, shaking his head. "You're such a weirdo."

"You're just mad because you'd scream like a little girl if you got bit," I pointed out, shoving him back.

"Would not!" He protested. "Besides, you're the girl!"

"Yeah, so I'm allowed to scream like one," I grinned. "You've got no excuse though, Lloydie-boy."

"Would you just cut it out?!" A young voice cut through the conversation, sounding genuinely angry. I looked over in shock to see Genis glaring at me. Wait, wasn't this something he'd normally snicker at? Why was he so pissed all of a sudden?

When I only stared at him, his fists clenched. "Who cares?! It's not like that's ever going to happen, it's stupid!"

"Um..." I blinked, noticing how everyone had stopped walking, turning to look at us.

"Genis," Raine said quietly, with a warning note in her voice.

"But Raine!" He turned to her. "She just yelled at Lloyd back in the tower, and now she's acting like nothing happened!"

Raine pulled him closer to her, and they began to converse in whispers that I was sure only Colette and Kratos could hear. Some of the others exchanged glances, and I tried to blend in with the scenery, my head hung. Now I really felt bad. Maybe Lloyd forgave me, but Genis was Lloyd's best friend, and...well, everyone else was sort of kept in the dark with all my crazy secrets and such.

Lloyd turned to look at me, about to walk over, and I shook my head. Genis would just get more angry if he saw us having our own private conversation. Instead, I inched over towards Kratos and gave him a pleading look.

He raised an eyebrow, but seemed to get the message. It looked like he only cared if Lloyd forgave me, not everyone else. He turned to the group and sighed.

"It would be best if we kept moving. I'd like to reach the cover of the forests by nightfall."

The Professor instantly seemed to remember herself and nodded, cutting off her little talk with Genis. "Yes, let's get going."

We began moving again, but the awkward silence wasn't broken. I was so frustrated that I wanted to hit something. I had made up with Lloyd! Everything was supposed to be okay now!

But, of course, that was how things worked in video games...not in real life. In real life, things aren't so simple. Some people hold grudges more easily than others. I guess it wasn't surprising that Genis was one of those people. He was a half-elf; he didn't even like humans much in the first place. He loved Lloyd like a brother; of course now he was going to hate me.

I looked over at Sheena, but she just seemed confused and frustrated as ever. She probably didn't know what side to take.

I chanced a glance at Colette, and she just gave me a sad little smile. She couldn't say anything, but I could tell she was willing to forgive me if Lloyd forgave me. Good thing, too; I mean, what would I do if I was the single person in the universe that Colette actually hated?

Raine and Kratos...yeah, I never knew what they were thinking. I wasn't going to bother trying to read their expressions, they'd probably just get suspicious.

Noishe had been growling at me for around ten minutes now. Shut up, Noishe.

Dammit. For the hundredth time, this new reality of mine really sucked.

----

It took us four awkward days to make it to Lake Umacy. Thankfully, the amount of awkwardness decreased exponentially in relation to the amount of time that passed. I hate math.

Translation: It became less awkward each day. I guess it was bound to happen, since we did spend every waking hour with each other. We kind of had to tolerate each other. Or, rather, everyone had to tolerate me. Ha-ha. Sucks to be them.

Really, I don't think I uttered more than ten words over the first forty-two hours. I was trying really hard not to annoy anyone. I only spoke when spoken to. That didn't work as well as I'd hoped, though. Everyone else seemed to be calmer, but then Lloyd got annoyed at how quiet I was being and started harrassing me with stupid questions, wondering if I was feeling sick or something. And that just made Genis go all PMS on us again.

By the time we reached the lake, we were relatively...tolerant of each other. I don't think Genis hated me anymore, but I don't think he loved me, either. Sheena was back on pretty good terms with me, at least.

"...Ugh, are we there yet?"

"Not this again, Lloyd..." I sighed, shaking my head. Memories of that time in the Asgard Ranch resurfaced. Sheena got into her trademark bitchslapping position.

"But it's been four days!" He whined, "This is so boring!"

"It's right there." I pointed, and he tensed instantly.

"Where?!"

"Oh, wait, my bad. That's a tree..."

"...You suck."

Sheena sighed, lowering her hand, knowing that smacking him wouldn't do any good anyway.

"Oh! It's over there, Lloyd!" I pointed again.

"No, I'm not falling for it this time." He crossed his arms, turning around and walking backwards so he wouldn't have to see where I pointed.

"Lloyd, I'm serious this time." I could see the glimmer of water reflecting sunlight up ahead.

"No, you're not."

The others looked at Lloyd and just sighed quietly, used to his slowness by now. I grinned, a plan formulating in my mind.

"...Okay, you got me. I'm just messing with you."

Genis instantly understood what I was thinking--for the first time in days, I saw him hold back a smile. Even he couldn't pout through this little joke.

"Yeah, I knew it--" His eyes suddenly widened as we reached the edge of the lake. We'd walked up on to a short overhang, giving a slightly elevated view of the lake--or, to Lloyd, a slightly elevated view of the forest behind us before he fell.

He plummeted into the waters with a loud splash, which was followed by the sound of Genis, Sheena and I breaking out into laughter. Colette had a hand placed over her mouth to cover up a large smile. I ran up to the edge, still laughing, and looked over to see Lloyd resurface. I could barely register the hilarious look on his face, as I was bent over and clutching my stomach.

...That didn't last very long. I had been standing too close to the edge, and part of the ground suddenly crumbled beneath me, causing me to fall in, too. Now it was Lloyd's turn to point and laugh.

"Well, that totally backfired..." I mumbled, finally calming down. The brunette just grinned.

"Nice try, though."

"Hey, I still got you!" I stuck my tongue out. "I just got dragged down, too."

"You guys okay in there?" We heard Sheena call.

"Yeah, we're fine," Lloyd called back, laughing a little more.

"The water's great, come on in!" I said.

"This isn't why we came..." Raine sighed.

I heard some footsteps approaching the edge of the overhang. I recognized those steps, that walk. He couldn't see us, though, since we were beneath the overhang.

In a few seconds, Kratos was standing on the land directly above us. I could tell he crouched down, probably to search for us, because one of the purple tails of his cape hung down over the edge...right where I could reach it.

Oh, God. No, Brittany. Don't do it. Don't you dare, it's suicidal--

Before I could stop myself, I reached out and tugged hard on the cape tail. Kratos, who had already been in a precarious position, could do nothing to prevent himself from falling. Within the next second I saw a flash of purple, and then I was doused in the splash he created.

Lloyd slowly looked over at me. I could tell he really, really, wanted to laugh, but he was afraid to. We both looked over to where the mercenary had fallen, watching the air bubbles rise up for a few moments. I could almost hear the Jaws music playing.

After a couple long seconds, he surfaced.

And I thought Lloyd looked funny when his hair was wet...Holy crap, Kratos.

His hair was all matted down now, not sticking up anywhere. I found myself briefly wondering if he could even see. He looked kind of like an old English sheepdog, only soaking wet.

He was looking at both of us, just daring the culprit to reveal themselves. There was a long silence as we all stared each other down.

And I couldn't help it. I snorted.

His eyes instantly locked on to me. Target sighted. He lunged.

"D-Don't kill me!" I said, digging myself a deeper grave by laughing my ass off.

He was pretty prompt in his punishment; he just shoved me underwater for around thirty seconds, grabbed a handful of seaweed, and let it slide down the back of my shirt.

Then, for good measure, he plopped some on my head when I resurfaced. Lloyd finally started laughing as Kratos trudged out of the water like a cat that had been forced to take a bath. I halfway expected him to huff and shake himself off. He didn't.

That's what Lloyd did when he got out, though. Go figure. I just attempted to get the clump of slime out of my clothes.

I think the others afraid to laugh, too, because we were all dead silent once everyone was safely back on land. We exchanged plenty of glances, though. Plenty indeed.

Heh, good thing the Professor's hair was already silver, because I think we'd been giving her more than enough gray hairs...She sighed, not even bothering to ask what had just happened.

As we walked around the edge of the lake, looking for the unicorn, I watched Lloyd attempt to style his hair back to its former glory. It kept flopping down over his eyes. Eventually he gave up, and just kept blowing the stray hairs out of his eyes every five seconds.

Within the next minute, two resounding smacks could be heard. Sheena and Raine walked on ahead, annoyed, as Lloyd whimpered. The rest of us just shook our heads.

----

**A/N: I was honestly planning a "THIS IS SPARTAAA" moment with Lloyd getting kicked into the lake. But before I knew it, the scene was written, and I guess I'm too lazy to go back and change it. XD I contemplated having Brit do that to Kratos, but...no. She wouldn't survive that. Hell, she's lucky she got away with pulling him in, never mind kicking him.**

**That was kind of immature of Kratters, if you think about it. XD He really is a bully. One of these days he's going to give someone a wedgie and hang them from a fence post.**

**Uh....anyway. Next time: Sparkles and unicorns! Pure and...un-pure maidens! Which one will Brittany be?!?! THE SUSPENSE! -shot-**

**EDIT: I just realized that they haven't made the pact with Undine yet. So j/k, no talk about pure maidens just yet. XD**


	22. Disposable

**A/N: OH GOD FINALLY. I finished~ 8D**

**And this isn't much to show for two months, but...augh, it's better than nothing. Last chapter was just under 10k...as much as I wanted to make this one that long, I couldn't seem to pull it off without taking another month. So I figured I'd get it out now while I have time. I'm gonna try to speed my updates up, because being forced to write more often helps relieve writer's block a little, oddly enough. Rambleramble.**

**Sorry if this chapter has any errors. I'm submitting this right before bed again and don't have time to read it over. -headdesk- Shouldn't be too bad, since I reread everything a million times while I'm writing it...**

**And once again, thank you for all the reviews and support! Here's chapter 22!**

**Disclaimer: If I owned ToS, I wouldn't be writing a fanfiction of it, now would I? ;D**

**----**

After about twenty minutes of walking, we reached the opposite end of the lake. I had been slowly growing more frustrated with the others, because they were so oblivious; I saw them looking in the surrounding forest for the unicorn, as well. I continually glanced toward the lake, and Kratos wasn't even really looking because he probably knew exactly where it was.

Soon enough, though, I finally saw the unicorn I recognized, encased in a weird bubble beneath the water. (Seriously, how did that happen?) No one else pointed it out, so I decided to practice my acting once again.

"Look, over there!" I called, pointing to where it was with feigned excitement in my voice. The others turned around, and Lloyd ran up to the water's edge.

"Wow! But...What's that thing surrounding it?"

"Hm...It seems to be imprisoned," Kratos remarked.

"Can't we swim down and let it go?" Lloyd asked, optimistic as always.

"There's no way you could hold your breath that long," Genis said, rolling his eyes.

"Why don't you do something with your magic, then?"

"Do what?" The mage frowned, frustrated.

Raine sighed. "There isn't much we can do, from the looks of it."

"Dammit! So we came all this way for nothing?!" Lloyd groaned. I gave Kratos a very subtle glance, but he seemed to be staying quiet for the time being. As always, he was careful not to blow his cover...

Shit. I didn't want this to take any longer than necessary. Sheena obviously wasn't going to voice the correct idea, since she was still scared of summoning after the whole Volt thing. It was time for a little push in the right direction.

"...Hey, guys," I said, my brow furrowed slightly. Hey, I was getting a little better at this!

They turned to me, instantly recognizing the 'I have an idea' look on my face.

"What is it?" Raine asked curiously, and I looked up.

"A summon spirit resides at each of the seals you've been to...So you must know where the summon spirit of water is, right?"

"The Thoda Geyser, yes. We visited it just before we met you. But what does that have to do with...?" Raine trailed off as she started putting the pieces together in her head, but she remained silent to allow me to finish. I looked over to Sheena.

"Sheena, you said you possess summoning techniques that have been lost from this world." I hesitated. "I don't exactly know how it works, but...if you could summon Undine for us, maybe we could use her power to free the unicorn."

"Brittany, that's a great idea!" Lloyd exclaimed, and turned to Sheena in an instant. "Can you do it?"

She frowned, looking uneasy. "Y-Yeah. I mean, I haven't formed a pact yet, but if I did...then I could summon."

"Please help us, then, Sheena," I said, and her uneasiness only seemed to grow.

"A...All right. Then, let's go to the seal of water."

"Okay! To the Thoda Geyser!" Lloyd grinned, marching on ahead and taking the lead. He was probably going the wrong way, but whatever, it looked like we were going to let him have his little moment of glory.

Sheena followed behind Lloyd, probably hoping his optimism would rub off on her. Couldn't blame her; I usually did the same thing. Genis and Colette followed as well, and I walked on after them. Raine and Kratos seemed to stay behind for a moment, and I remembered the scene between them because it always made me grin--Kratos was about to remark to Raine about how much of a detour it was, and he was probably going to do so in a rather exasperated voice.

Instead, when I looked back, I saw that only Raine had trailed behind, to gaze at the unicorn for one last moment. Kratos was walking behind me; and for the split second our eyes met, I received yet another of his 'I'm keeping an eye on you' looks.

Aughhh. Just as I started to think he trusted me just a teeny bit, he went and looked at me like that. But still...he didn't harrass me with questions all the time the way he would with any other dubious individual, so...what did that mean? Did he trust me or not? If he really didn't, he wouldn't just settle for the occasional suspicious glance. Dammit, he was so confusing.

What had been suspicious about my last few statements? I bit my lip. It was probably because...whenever he found himself in a tight spot, I would always jump in and help keep the others on the right track. I was making his job too easy...And by now, he'd probably taken notice of that fact.

I shook my head quietly and walked on ahead--oh shit, he probably saw that, too. Whatever. He could think whatever he wanted to think.

----

And so, we finally started out on the incredibly long trip to the Thoda Dock. From where we were...yeah, it was going to take at least two weeks. And then two more to get back...damn. I could already hear Lloyd's complaints.

For God's sake, I hated walking. When I got back home, I was never, ever going to walk long distances again. I didn't care how many miles I put on my car, I was going to use it every damn time I set foot outside of the apartment.

...Well, that was if I made it back. And since the path to the Tower of Salvation was open, my future was looking pretty bleak. Unless I woke up in my bed at home after I died here. That would be the ideal scenario.

Hmm...What would be the first thing I'd do if I made it back?

I suppressed a slight smile. Well, first of all, I'd lay in my bed for a few hours and listen to music. My comfortable, safe bed...and then I'd think about how I wasn't in danger of being attacked by giant insects or crossdressing angels.

"What're you thinking about now?" Lloyd's voice interrupted my thoughts as we walked. I glanced at him, and his face broke out in a pout. "I'm bored."

...And then I'd miss Lloyd. Damn it all.

"I'm thinking about..." I sighed. "...Nah, I'm just zoning out. Don't pay attention to me."

"Liar," he grumbled, crossing his arms. I rolled my eyes.

"How old are you, twelve?"

"Hey!" Genis protested, and I waved my hands defensively.

"No offense, Genis! You're, like, smarter and more grown-up and stuff. Your name even sounds like genius."

It also sounded like something else, but I wasn't going to say anything about that. Heh.

Genis just gave me a look, and Lloyd shoved me for my initial remark.

"Oi! Respect your elders, you puny teenager!" I stuck my tongue out, shoving him back.

"You're only a year older than me!" He retorted, but I laughed.

"Yeah, but I'm legally an adult, so that automatically makes me cooler and more mature."

The Professor sighed for the umpteenth time today. "Honestly, you two..." She trailed off, because nothing more really needed to be said. Anyone could see by now that our bickering was almost as constant as the bickering between Lloyd and Genis.

I shrugged, deciding to change the subject before she decided to dole out some physical abuse. "So, um....Where are we, exactly? Are we gonna stop at Luin?"

She shook her head. "No, it's too far out of the way. We're heading directly south to Hakonesia Peak. We'll be stopping at the House of Salvation from before for supplies."

"The one we were ambushed at?" I winced, unpleasant memories resurfacing, and I noticed that Colette had a similar expression on her face. She'd almost been killed then, too. Stupid asshole commander hadn't even realized she was the Chosen...

Kratos frowned. "It is highly unlikely something like that will happen again."

"I know, I know," I said. "Bad memories, that's all."

"No kidding," Genis said quietly. He shuddered. "Man, am I glad that ranch is gone..."

"Get ready," the mercenary said abruptly, tensing. I looked up and took note of the oversized grasshoppers approaching.

"Again?" I groaned. This had to be the third battle we'd had in the last hour...why was it that every creature in Sylvarant had the urge to rip us limb from limb?

Although there were three, the battle was short-lived. We were getting pretty good at butchering these things, and the fact that there were seven people in our group kind of helped. If only Noishe wasn't such a pansy...he could probably chomp those things' heads off.

Noishe glared at me, and I grinned sheepishly as I cleaned my sword and sheathed it. So apparently he could read minds now. Or maybe he was just glaring because he already hated me. Who cares.

And thus, our lovely day continued in much the same fashion as the last few. We were only three days into our trip to the dock; we still had a ways to go.

----

"Wow..." I whispered quietly to myself, standing alone on the roof of the House of Salvation. I gazed out on to the horizon, the Tower to my back, where I always kept it. It was out of my thoughts for now.

For one of the few times in my life, I was watching the sunrise. It was five, maybe six in the morning, and to my knowledge, everyone else was asleep. It seemed like every time we set up camp, it was in the forest, where I couldn't get a clear view. And now, I'd finally found my chance. There wasn't even any training today; Kratos usually gave us a rest day every now and then so we wouldn't get too worn out to travel.

A slight smile made its way on to my face. Honestly, I couldn't remember ever getting up this early of my own free will. It was always work, school, training, something taking control of my schedule.

It was a clear day, from what I could see; not a cloud was visible in the sky. As the sun began to cast light over the horizon, I found myself wide-eyed with awe. It was amazing, to see the world slowly being lit up, the day slowly beginning. I wouldn't have gotten a view like this back home; the amount of manmade structures and buildings just killed it.

But here...I could see Asgard off in the distance if I squinted hard enough, but other than that...

To my right, a little ways off, was the thick forest I'd been captured in. It looked peaceful in the morning light.

To my left, the path we took to get here--it wound through open fields, grasses swaying in the breeze.

Straight ahead was the island on which the Balacruf Mausoleum lay...and beyond that, the ocean.

...Here I was appreciating all this amazing scenery I could never find on Earth, and all I could think about was how I wished I had my digital camera to take a picture. Bad, materialistic me.

I wanted to show someone. My mom, my sister, one of my friends...I didn't care. I just wished someone was here to appreciate it with me.

I sighed quietly, fiddling with the small star-shaped earring in the upper cartilage of my right ear. It was pretty much the only thing left that I had from Earth, besides my navel ring. The latter had nearly been ripped out at the ranch; I'd taken out the earrings on my earlobes for that very reason, but I'd kept the last few, hoping they wouldn't be noticed.

I placed a hand on my stomach, over where my other piercing would be. It felt so out of place in this world...my hand then found its way to my latest piece of jewelry--the Exsphere and Key Crest that rested just below my collarbone.

Dammit...how much had I changed since coming here, anyway? I was still me, right? If I went back home, looking like I did now...my friends and family would recognize me, right?

My eyes narrowed slightly as I frowned with slight frustration. Why couldn't I just enjoy the scenery for once? Every time I had two seconds to myself, I started brooding about everything. I couldn't stop myself from overthinking and worrying about all the stuff that was going on...it was just who I was. And it really sucked to be me sometimes.

Scenery, right. Pretty stuff that could not be seen on Earth. Look at it, Brittany. Look at it now.

...Nope, the magic was gone. Now I just wanted to see skyscrapers and fast food restaurants and busy streets and assholes who didn't know how to drive. Good old Earth. It wasn't exactly pretty, but it sure as hell was familiar. Familiar, and safe...yeah, meeting some creepy guy in an alley didn't scare me one bit anymore. This world had given me a whole new perspective on fear.

I wanted to go to the movies and eat popcorn. I wanted to hang out with my friends. I wanted to tear down the highway blasting Motley Crue like I used to, goddammit.

Just as I was about to bang my head on the railing I was leaning over, the sound of voices made me pause. I didn't want anyone coming to my rescue, only to realize I was just being an idiot again.

A frown tugged at my lips, and I leaned a little farther over, squinting slightly. In the shade of those nearby trees...

Blue hair?! Oh shit!!

I quickly ducked down, nearly falling on to my butt, and crouched as low down as I could. It would probably be better if I just went back inside, but...

No, I couldn't! What if he was planning something? He wasn't supposed to capture Lloyd at this point in the game...and not only that, I kind of wanted to know what he was up to...

Moving a little closer to the railing, I peeked through the bars, straining my ears.

"...I see." Yuan's quiet voice cut through the crisp morning air. From what I could tell, he was talking into some sort of communicator...It was probably that thing he uses at the Iselia Ranch later on in the game.

A reply came from the device, and I couldn't make it out--but I would've been able to hear that accent from a mile away. That was definitely Botta he was talking to.

"Amnesia...hmph." The half-elf remarked. "It's entirely possible that he knows."

I tensed slightly. Amnesia? Was Yuan referring to me? And who knew what? Dammit, I wanted to hear Botta's side of the conversation!

There was a pause as Yuan listened to his second-in-command's response.

"Tempting as it is, that's something we can't do. She is disposable and can be replaced; we would only slow them down slightly and risk exposing ourselves."

During the next pause, the Renegade leader smirked slightly.

"Correct. That's exactly what we'll do."

His smirk fell as Botta began to respond, and he cut the other half-elf off.

"Not here. It seems we have an audience."

There was a short response from Botta as I froze up inside. After a few seconds, Yuan turned the communicator off and looked straight at me. The fact that I was on the roof and he was on the ground did little to comfort me.

He stared for probably three seconds, but his green eyes were so piercing and intimidating that it felt like an agonizing thirty. Yuan didn't utter a single word; he just stared long enough to let me know that he really saw me, and then he turned around and warped away.

No snide remark, no attack, no nothing? Somehow his anticlimactic departure was more unnerving than anything else he could've done. Maybe he knew that.

I shook my head, turning around and leaning my back against the railing. What the hell was that whole conversation about? Judging from my luck, I was pretty sure I was the disposable person he was talking about...

Damn. If only he'd repeated whatever Botta suggested to be the plan...but, of course, life wasn't that simple.

Wait. Yuan had a plan. That probably didn't bode well for me...Yuan wasn't even supposed to make another appearance till the Tower of Salvation! If he moved before then, everything could be totally screwed up.

I clenched my fists slightly. Okay...so stuff was going to go wrong. If Yuan had a plan, it was probably for some sort of trap, right? I just had to make sure nobody got separated from Kratos until we got to the Tower. Yuan couldn't move when Kratos was watching, it would mess up his epic plot to kidnap Lloyd.

...That was easier said than done...nobody really listened to me in the group. I was just another kid, I didn't call the shots.

I scowled, walking over towards the stairway. Somehow, I had to make this work.

Somehow...

----

"Kratos."

No response.

"Kratoooos."

"...What is it?" He sighed, looking up from the book he'd been examining.

We were in the House of Salvation's main room; an altar was in the back, with a few chairs scattered around. The bookcase we were standing next to was near the staircase leading up to the bedrooms. It had a small collection of gently used (okay, beat up) books that travellers had left behind. Some of them had useful information in them, while others were completely random. I'd found a dirty love novel somewhere in there earlier, and earned several smacks from Raine after reading a few passages aloud to Lloyd.

Poor, innocent Lloyd was now cowering somewhere in his bedroom. I couldn't help but wonder how he was ever going to handle Zelos.

Kratos was glaring at me. Oh, right. I'd gotten his attention and then totally zoned out.

"I have a question," I declared.

The mercenary put the book back, crossing his arms expectantly. I shifted slightly, grinning sheepishly.

"Can you teach me Hell Pyre?"

He frowned. "We don't have time for training today. We're leaving soon."

I pouted. "Come on, Kratos. Professor Sage just left to get supplies," I said, referring to the many vendors and stands that were set up outside. "Our rations are almost completely depleted. She won't be back for a while...And it's just one technique! Pleeeease?"

Kratos' eyes narrowed slightly as he watched me, as if sizing me up. I held back a grin; he always did this dramatic pause right before he caved.

"...Fine. I will teach you in the field out back. Does that sound suitable?"

"Yes!" I pumped a fist in the air victoriously, and he facepalmed.

"Do not complain when you find it more difficult than you'd expected..." He muttered, walking in the direction of the door. I followed happily.

----

Thankfully, the field in back of the House of Salvation was wide open and the grass only reached just past our ankles. It would've been a pain to fight on rocky ground and waist-high grass...though I was sure Kratos would've preferred it that way just because he was a hardass.

Lloyd was off doing something with Genis, so it looked like it was just me and Kratos for training today. Not that it was really an official training session...but it probably would've become one, had Lloyd been available. In any case, I was feeling good about it so far.

Kratos stopped walking when he felt our setting was suitable enough, and he turned to face me. We both drew our swords, staring each other down.

Man, how had I ever gotten used to this? Part of me remembered how nervous I'd been my first few days of training...Now, I knew what to expect, though I wasn't exactly looking forward to the usual dose of pain. His gaze was just as piercing and intimidating as ever.

"All right, I'm set. What do I need to do?"

"Hmph. Not so fast...first, there are a few things we need to go over."

"Tch, I should've known there was a catch..." I grumbled quietly.

His eyes narrowed. "This technique requires you to turn your back on the enemy briefly. If you use it carelessly, it will be your downfall."

I blinked, trying to remember just what Hell Pyre looked like; I couldn't recall extremely well, I just knew it had been one of my favorite techs for some reason in the game. That, and all the Beast attacks. I'd only seen Kratos perform it a few times in real life. Let's see...oh, right. It involved that nifty midair spin while the fireball-thing was charged up.

Wait. Was that magic? It was a fireball, right? But then, Lloyd could use Hurricane Thrust without any trouble, and he didn't have any elven blood. He didn't know that technique now, but in the game....

Ow, my head. I really needed to stop overthinking things. Obviously I was capable of performing the tech, or Kratos wouldn't have agreed to teach me. Durrr.

"Okay, I'm listening," I said, trying not to be a smartass to him. This was my idea to begin with, after all.

"Never use Hell Pyre in a one-on-one battle unless you have the enemy distracted with something else first," he warned. "The same goes for group battles; you should be able to use it more freely then, but be careful about it. Be aware of how vulnerable you are in the air. If you are knocked down, you're as good as dead."

I shifted a little. "...All right. That's common sense, I guess. What else?"

His eyes narrowed further. "Do not use this technique until you've perfected it. Understand?"

"Huh?" My face fell. "But...but..."

"I will not teach you unless you agree to those terms. If your aim is off, you will put others in danger, and this attack requires precise aim. If you use the incorrect timing, you will put yourself in danger. And even if you somehow manage not to harm anyone through your foolishness, you will only have wasted time and energy that could have been spent through more useful means."

I opened my mouth to speak, but he continued, so I closed it. Not that I had anything great to say back, anyway.

"With the exception of Cross Thrust, the techniques you have learned up until now have been fairly simple. Don't think that this is something you can practice in a real battle."

"...Yeah, I understand..." I finally relented, a bit disappointed. I'd probably never perfect it, meaning Kratos would bitch at me if I ever used it. Damn.

He nodded. "Let's begin, then." He held his sword out to the side slightly.

"First...begin to concentrate a small amount of your mana at the base of your sword..."

----

Oh, dear God. Who in their right mind had invented Hell Pyre? I wanted to find them and give them a good smacking. That technique was even more infuriating than Cross Thrust.

As I walked back from our training site, exhausted, I tried to run Kratos' steps through my mind once more. It all seemed so clear and simple in my head, until I actually tried to use the damned attack.

First, concentrate a bit of mana at the sword's base. Then, approach the enemy--quickly, before they beat the living crap out of you--and jump high into the air. Jumping was a lot easier than expected, due to the effects of the Exsphere; that wasn't really the problem.

Next, twist in the air as you jump, steadily concentrating more energy as you twist. Don't let it build up too fast, or you'll burn yourself with your own mana...or worse, the attack will backfire completely.

Once you've done almost one complete turn, swing your sword outwards and towards the enemy; time it just right so that the momentum of your spin will allow you to sling that ball of energy down your blade and straight at the enemy, fast enough to cause a small explosion.

...All right, so it wasn't so simple when you were trying to remember all that at once. It's more than a little disorienting when you're spinning in midair. I found myself unable to fathom how Kratos could react that fast. Or Zelos, for that matter! He knew that attack too, didn't he?

So, you have around two seconds in midair to charge up just enough energy at just the right pace, so you can time it exactly right and (hopefully) hit the enemy and not your ally.

Hell Pyre was a lot harder than it looked. Kratos had set up a target for my attack to hit--it was a decent sized one, too-- and I'd only nicked the side of it once. The rest of the times...well, it wasn't pretty. I just got so disoriented during that stupid spin. Even now, I felt a little dizzy.

When we approached the front of the House, Sheena looked up from her seat atop a fence surrounding a small garden. She tilted her head curiously.

"Training? You look terrible."

"I feel terrible," I answered weakly.

Kratos glanced over at me. "It was your decision."

"And I'm not giving up yet," I shot back. "I'll keep trying till I get it right, just you watch."

"Hmph. Do your best, then," the mercenary remarked, before walking off, presumably to get all our stuff together so we could leave.

I heaved a sigh. "He's so encouraging sometimes..."

"What technique are you trying to learn?" Sheena asked, pushing herself off the fence so she could follow me back into the building. We were supposed to meet up with the others right around now, anyway.

"You'll see when I've mastered it. Then you'll be amazed."

The ninja raised an eyebrow at that, but didn't comment further. We walked into the house's main room, where the group was gathered. Kratos appeared to be double checking to make sure Raine had bought all of the correct supplies, as the Professor watched him with a slight hint of annoyance. The two got on each other's nerves sometimes, being the only adults in the group. Oddly enough, though, that also helped them get along.

In my opinion, Raine acted WAY too mature for her age. From what I remembered, she was a little bit younger than my sister...and I used to hang out with my sister all the time, back on Earth. It was kind of weird meeting someone in their twenties who acted...well, adult. Then again, I'd always thought all of the twenty-something year old teachers in my school were kind of weird. I mean, why would you spend all those years in high school and college, only to go BACK? The very thought of it sickened me.

"Ow!" I winced when Lloyd elbowed me. "What was that for?"

"You were zoning out again," he shrugged. I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Are you two paying attention?" Raine glared. I smiled innocently, but she didn't fall for it. "I'm trying to discuss our next move, if you don't mind."

When had she started talking? Man, maybe I should've thanked Lloyd for elbowing me. I really tended to ramble in my head sometimes.

We both quieted down, at least attempting to pay attention. I already knew what was going to happen, but Raine would bite my head off if she caught me daydreaming. I fumbled with the hem of my coat, attempting to straighten my outfit out. It was a bit messy after all the training I'd done.

"We should have just enough supplies to last us to the Thoda Dock," the Professor continued. "We can restock there before leaving for the seal." Her eyes seemed to sparkle slightly at the thought of seeing her "precious ruins" once more.

I frowned. She said we had enough supplies, but...probably not. I mean, we still had go get past Hakonesia Peak, and then walk all that distance...we'd have to use our supplies sparingly. Maybe Kratos would make me go hunting again. Ew.

"Is everyone ready to leave?" Kratos spoke up, a rather bored look on his face.

"Ready as I'm gonna get," I mumbled, lifting up my bag. I wasn't looking forward to walking right after training; usually I had at least an hour to rest before we set off...but hey, it had been my choice. I'd just have to suffer for today. The others seemed to agree with me, nodding.

"Let's get moving, then," the mercenary stated, turning towards the door. We all turned to follow.

----

"Hey, Genis..."

My head shot up as I heard a muffled voice coming from the other side of the wall. We were in a small inn that rested atop Hakonesia Peak; it wasn't great, nor was it cheap, but that didn't really matter so much when you'd just hiked up a mountain.

In any case, it looked like the walls were thin. Lloyd and Genis were rooming right next to Sheena and I. With the back of my head leaning against the wall, I could hear Lloyd's voice pretty clearly.

I was alone in the room for the moment; I'd been sitting on the floor and cleaning my sword when Lloyd's voice broke the silence. It even sounded like he was keeping his voice down, but it didn't do him any good. I'd have to remember to be quiet when Sheena came back in, or they could eavesdrop on us, too.

"What is it?" I recognized Genis' voice, higher pitched than Lloyd's. One of these days you'll hit puberty, Genis.

"About Colette..." He hesitated. "Don't you feel like...like something's really wrong?"

The half-elf paused, and I could nearly picture the uncomfortable look that was probably on his face. "I don't like what's happening to her, but...I'm sure it'll all be worth it once she's an angel, right? Maybe the benefits will outweigh the setbacks." His voice sounded hopeful...but I could still detect some doubt in his tone. It looked like the true nature of the world regeneration was finally starting to dawn on them...but they were still mostly left in the dark.

"I sure hope so..." Lloyd remarked quietly, and the two were silent for a moment. I heard a slight creaking sound, and assumed that one of them had sat on their bed.

"Do you think there might be another way?" The brunette spoke up again.

Genis sighed. "If we don't regenerate the world, all of our mana will go to Tethe'alla and Sylvarant will be destroyed! And Kratos already said we can't get rid of all the Desians..."

"...I know. It just...doesn't feel right. We hear all of this good stuff from the Church of Martel, but they don't mention what happens to Colette or what we're doing to the other world. Are we really doing the right thing?"

"I don't know, Lloyd." Genis said, sounding depressed. "What if there isn't another way?"

"There has to be," Lloyd insisted. "...I just keep remembering what Brittany said to me back in the Tower of Mana..."

Hey, he was talking about me! I frowned slightly, listening more intently.

"You mean, how she yelled at you?" The half-elf asked, a hint of anger in his voice.

"When I said that the world regeneration was the only way, she told me to stop lying to myself," the brunette said. "Back then I thought she was wrong, but...then Colette lost her voice, and Sheena told us about Tethe'alla. Now I just don't know anymore."

"How would she know anything? She was just saying that so she'd have a reason to keep arguing," Genis scoffed, causing me to scowl. I was trying to get along with Genis, but it looked like he'd always resent me at least a little for that incident with Lloyd.

"Genis..."

"Why did you forgive her? She never even apologized!"

"She did!" Lloyd protested, and then let out a sigh. "We had a long talk. She's just stressed out, okay? Give her a break. She's being dragged along on this journey 'cause she has nowhere else to go. We all have moments where we get frustrated."

Lloyd...now I really felt guilty for lashing out at him like that. If he'd said that stuff to me, I wouldn't have forgiven him nearly as easily. My apology hadn't even been that great, either. I was so selfish...Lloyd was just as likely to die as I was. He was going to the Tower of Salvation, too.

"Yeah..." Genis replied quietly, seeming to give up. I gave up listening as well, standing up and sheathing my now-clean sword. It looked like everyone was angsty nowadays...and this was only the calm before the storm.

----

With the next day came more hiking and more grumbled complaints.

You see, hiking and I have always had a love-hate relationship. Walking across a field is boring, but making it to the summit of a mountain or any sort of peak was always exhilarating and rewarding in the end. It was the process in between that sucked.

I scowled slightly, remembering how much difficulty I'd had the last time we crossed this mountain pass, going in the opposite direction. Back then, I'd been considerably less fit...I hadn't been extremely out of shape, but I was the sort of fit that was passable in regular society. I hadn't exactly been an athlete, but I hadn't been a couch potato either. Well, that didn't really cut it when you're travelling all over a freaking continent.

I hated thinking of all the insecurities that had been running through my little amnesiac head back then...I'd been scared and all alone, so I had tried hiding all of my inner turmoil from everyone...including myself. Unfortunately, attempts to fool yourself usually backfire, y'know?

Compared to then...at this point, I was a lot less miserable. And I was still pretty miserable sometimes. Right now, for example.

I guess my current physical fitness still didn't cut it, even though I was doing a lot better than last time. Kratos hadn't even broken a sweat and Lloyd was way up ahead--stupid teenage boys and their boundless energy. Sheena seemed to be doing fine, as well; probably because ninjas had to be athletic or they wouldn't really be stealthy and cool. Colette was walking beside her.

At least Genis and Raine were hanging out with me. I still felt crappy, though. They had an excuse since they were mages...but I fought with a melee weapon and went through strenuous training every morning! Why couldn't I be up there with Lloyd?

The sad thing was, we were walking downhill, as we'd made it to the top of the peak the day before. I was still tired. My upper leg muscles--quadriceps? Yeah, those. They ached like hell. Probably because I was constantly straining to prevent myself from sliding down the steep slope. I couldn't help but feel like everyone was walking dangerously fast.

If I fell, I was so grabbing on to Kratos to steady myself. If only I could keep up with him...then I'd walk directly behind him.

My scowl grew. Hiking sucked when you weren't doing it for fun.

A hand on my shoulder startled me out of my thoughts, and I looked up to see that Colette had fallen back to walk beside me. She smiled innocently, and I knew she was trying to cheer me up. My grumpiness was probably annoying everyone, even if I hadn't really complained that much today.

I tried to smile slightly back, and found myself unable to maintain eye contact. Every time I looked at Colette now, I thought of what would be coming up soon and it made me feel nauseous.

She squeezed my shoulder lightly, and I forced myself to look up once more and mouth a 'thanks' to her. At least my smile that time was a little more honest...even though now I just felt worse.

"We'll stop here for a rest," the Professor said abruptly once the ground began to level out a little.

Oh thank God. My unhappy thoughts vanished with the thought of a break, and I let out a relieved sigh. Kratos nodded his consent, and we gathered together in a more open area on the side of the trail.

A few hot coals remained from a campfire some other travelers had left; Kratos took advantage of this, immediately building up a fire to cook some food with. Hey, it looked like Genis was getting a break today. Jeez, was there anything that Kratos wasn't good at?

I frowned slightly, and then sighed again, turning away from the group.

"I'm going, uh...I dunno. Somewhere."

Raine looked over in my direction. "Don't be long. We'll be leaving again soon."

"Yeah, I know." I nodded, and then walked a little further downslope, turning off the trail.

Leaving again soon...I really hated the fact that even though we'd been traveling for what felt like forever, it was still only noon and we had a long ways to go. I could tell that Raine was getting a little tired, too, but she probably had a lot more determination than I did.

That's what I needed; some serious motivation. But how could I keep taking that next step forward when I knew it only led me closer to my death? Maybe I could look forward to the relief. Yeah, that'd work. I just had to keep walking a little longer, and then I'd finally get to rest forever.

...That didn't help at all.

I tried hard to relax as I made my way through the brush. I just needed some time alone to clear my head, that was all. After a few minutes to myself, and then a nice lunch...I'd be fine. I had to be.

The trees thinned out, and I arrived at another clearing; this one was a cliff, a sheer drop. My mouth dropped open in a gape; I could see everything from here! I walked up to the edge of the cliff, plopping myself down on the grass.

Just focus on the view, nothing else...let the stress melt away...

_Snap._

My head shot up as I heard a twig break, and I looked over my shoulder. I immediately spotted a pair of boots and...Oh God, I knew that cape...

Yuan.

----

**A/N: Told you there would be more of him in this fic. :D Ohoho...you don't even _know! _...Uh...sorry about the cliffhanger. Heh heh.**

**I feel like this chapter was really uneventful. ;_; maybe because there was a lot of conversations and not a lot of actual traveling? OH GOD I'M NOT EVEN AT THODA DOCK YET.**

**I'll make sure to get there next chapter. I think I'll make the whole Undine thing brief because it's looking like it'll be boring as hell to write. (oh noes! not another badly written battle!)**

**...I'm highly tempted to write more involving the scene with the dirty love novels and Lloyd...XD -cackles evilly-**

**Next time: A friendly chat with Yuan, and adventures at the Thoda Geyser!**


	23. Lloyd Junior

**A/N: LOOK, GUYS! I UPDATED IN LESS THAN TWO WEEKS! 8D -is proud of self- **

**lol. And it's even like, 6500 words, which isn't all that bad! ...I typed most of this within the last three days. ;_; But I feel good for finishing it! Hell yeah! ****So I'm finally getting back on track with the updates, hopefully. ****Also, if you guys haven't seen it yet, I posted a quick sketch of Brit up on my Deviantart. Here's the link (without the spaces, of course):**

http: // noa748. deviantart. com/ art/ New-Reality-OC-Brit-135002555

**...Because I'm too lazy to do anything besides a sketch. -headdesk-**

**Okeydokey, time for MOAR YUANNN!**

**Disclaimer: Regrettably, I do not own Tales of Symphonia or Yuan's sexy hair. Woe is me.**

**----**

I briefly considered jumping off the cliff, but reluctantly abandoned the thought, however appealing it was. Somehow I found the strength to stand up and face him, but after that it took everything I had just to keep my knees from shaking.

I opened my mouth to speak, but Yuan immediately cut me off, crossing his arms.

"If you call for help, I will kill you."

"Oh, comforting." ...Wait, had I just said that aloud? Damn, my sarcastic thoughts were supposed to stay in my head!

A slight narrowing of his eyes was the only indication he gave that he'd heard me. Even though I knew it'd screw up the plot, I found myself desperately wishing Kratos would come looking for me right about now. Then I remembered that Kratos was cooking today, and Lloyd would probably be the one doing the searching, and I began to reconsider the cliff behind me.

It was too quiet. Yuan was going to try and make me squirm, I could tell already. That snarky bastard.

"So, uh..." I found myself trying to speak; I hated awkward silences. "You're that guy who helped me out back at the Asgard Ranch, aren't you? I never got to thank you."

He raised an eyebrow, mimicking an expression Kratos often gave me. Well, now I knew where the mercenary got it from.

"I think we both know that I'm not here for your thanks." He brushed a lock of blue hair behind his left ear and stared me down. "Do you take me for a fool? I clearly saw you eavesdropping."

"This is kind of a delayed reaction, isn't it? Why didn't you confront me back at the--"

"I'm not the one who should be doing the explaining," Yuan cut me off. The look in his eyes caused my mouth to go dry. He wasn't a projection this time. I couldn't be a smartass and get away with it.

I subconsciously took a step back, and my heel met empty air. I jerked my foot back to safety as my stomach twisted uncomfortably. I was too close to the edge. Yuan wasn't exactly smothering me, but it was very nerve wracking to be cornered like this. He was just close enough that it was impossible for me to run around him. And even if I had a clear shot at running, he'd catch me in less than a second. I couldn't outrun a seraph.

"I...just happened to hear you, okay?" I answered shakily. "And when I saw it was the guy who saved me back in the ranch, I guess I got nosy..."

"You're lying." He didn't say anything more; he just continued to stare at me, waiting for me to correct myself.

Fuck it. There wasn't any way out of this.

"It sounded like you were talking about me," I said, gathering my resolve. Against my better judgment, I actually took a step forward and met his gaze. Yuan sounded like he knew something. Whether he was going to share that information with me or not was an entirely different matter.

"That's better," Yuan remarked, uncrossing his arms. Weird, he didn't look angry at all, just sort of neutra--

_'Wretched human. You are still deluding yourself? How pitiful.'_

_'Were you not valuable, I'd kill you like the insolent dog you are.'_

_'I don't care about the name of a human maggot.'_

Kvar. Oh God, I was back in that hellish room and Kvar was killing me I couldn't move, it hurt oh God it _burned--_

I gasped for air as my vision returned to me, and out of the corner of my vision I saw a small current of electricity dance across the metal buckles on my glove. I vaguely realized that I had collapsed onto the ground, my left cheek pressed to the dirt.

"You may want to think twice before doing something so idiotic again," Yuan said, and I saw his boots in front of me. The reality of the situation crashed down on me and I remembered that Kvar wasn't the only one capable of using lightning magic. Kvar was dead and gone. Oddly enough, the fact that Yuan was the one who had harmed me this time came as a bit of a relief. It might have been because Yuan wasn't a psychopathic sadist.

Maybe it was that rush of relief that gave me the courage to speak up again. Or maybe I was just feeling suicidal.

"What--" I coughed violently, attempting to regain control of my voice. "What do you know about me?" My words came out in a dull croak, but I used every ounce of strength I had to lift myself up enough to look at him.

Yuan stared at me for several agonizing seconds, as if considering something. I wondered if he was thinking about what attack to use on me next.

Finally, he turned away. "It's not necessary for you to know."

I coughed again, though this time I made sure it sounded suspiciously like "Bastard." He looked over his shoulder at me.

"If you speak of any of this to anyone...I will kill you." With that, he began to walk away.

"Wait!" I called, reaching out, attempting in vain to grab on to his cape. How could he just leave after confirming that he did know something about me? If he knew nothing, he wouldn't have had anything to hide!

Yuan ignored me; he continued on into the shadows, and warped away, leaving me alone once more.

All was still for a moment as I registered the fact that he was gone, and then I broke the silence with a rather loud curse. I shifted to a sitting position, trying to ignore the tingling pain that I could still feel all over my body. A quick once-over determined that although I felt terrible, physically I looked perfectly fine. There wasn't a single mark on me. That asshole had probably intended it to be so; he couldn't afford to risk blowing his cover in any way.

Damn him. My one chance at knowing what the hell was going on--gone. I was going to die and never know. If only I could have some sort of idea... I might have been able to save myself.

Damn, damn, damn...!

I didn't even realize I was crying until I was hunched over, hugging my legs, my face buried in my knees. My body trembled, wracked with uncontrollable sobs. The entire day just hit me all at once--my fear of what was to come, my utter exhaustion, and the pain I was going to have to deal with in silence.

How the hell could anyone expect me to pretend I was okay?!

I was not all right. I was not fucking all right. I...

I took a deep, shuddering breath, and tried to focus on my breathing alone. After a few seconds, the tears slowed and the lump in my throat lessened a little. I sniffled, wiping away my tears.

I couldn't think like that, not now. I knew what I had to do.

Hope...I had made the mistake of hoping for a brief moment that there might be a way out of this. Hoping was dangerous, because it only meant the letdown would be more painful in the end. And as I knew, I was going to die at the Tower. Whatever Yuan knew probably wasn't enough to help me anyway. I had to face reality, however harsh it was.

Another deep breath was enough to calm me. I shakily got to my feet, brushing my clothes off, and turned in the direction Yuan had left. My brow furrowed slightly as I saw something silver glinting in the sunlight, lying in the grass in front of me. I bent down, picking a delicate chain up with one hand. At the end of it was a small oval shaped locket.

I frowned. Yuan had dropped this, hadn't he...strange. I remembered that at one point in the game he drops his ring, but the only person I knew here that had a locket was Kratos...and he'd never let that leave his sight. Was this precious to Yuan, then...?

I pocketed it. If it was, I was definitely using it for blackmail the next time we met. I needed some sort of edge on that guy.

Shaking my head to clear it, I gathered what was left of my strength and began to walk through the woods once more. It was better that I returned before someone came searching. I didn't want to walk alongside anyone right now; they might notice how much I was struggling, and that would lead to a lot of questions I couldn't answer.

After several minutes of walking, I reached the clearing we'd temporarily stopped at. From the looks of it, I was just on time. Kratos was done with our food--and it smelled great. Show-off.

"It's done, right? I'm starving," I remarked, even though I'd lost my appetite a while ago. Maybe everyone would think my hunger was the reason for my paleness.

"Not for another few minutes," Kratos replied. I let out a sigh at that news, walking over to a nice, soft patch of grass so I could sit down and wait.

My legs still tingled painfully. I bit my lip so I wouldn't make a face, and sniffled slightly as the lump in my throat threatened to grow again. I forced it back, quietly taking another deep breath. Dammit, I hated electricity and everything to do with it.

Lloyd, sitting to my left, gave me a strange look. "Hey, Brit...are you feeling okay?"

"I dunno," I said, smiling sheepishly. He must've heard me sniffle... "I think I might be coming down with a cold."

"Be sure to drink lots of fluids, then," Raine said, not even looking up from her book.

"I will," I assured her. Lloyd continued to give me a skeptical look, but after a second or two he sighed and looked away. My smile fell and I looked away, too.

It looked like everyone was busy with their own activities except for Lloyd, and I really didn't want to sit here awkwardly as he wondered if I was lying to him.

Eh? My eyes had wandered to the path ahead of us; upon closer inspection, I could see the corner of a pink ribbon laying exposed on the path. When I looked harder, I could see Sheena sitting under the shade of one of the trees, talking to Corinne. After a few seconds, they seemed to finish talking, and the summon spirit went back to...wherever summon spirits disappeared to.

Sheena sighed, staring wistfully ahead of her. Hmm...okay, Sheena was open, and far enough away that I could avoid Lloyd. Yay!

I stood up once more, taking note of the look on her face as I strolled over to her. Normally I would leave someone alone when they looked like they were brooding, but I figured this time it might benefit the both of us. After all, I had quickly learned that even though I preferred to be alone when brooding, it never helped at all.

And I had a feeling I knew what Sheena was brooding about, anyway...

"Yo, Sheena," I said, attempting to sound cheerful and laid-back. "'Sup?"

She immediately made a face and looked up at me, before shaking her head. "Um...not much."

"What was that face for?" I asked, raising an eyebrow as I sat next to her. "I'm not that annoying, am I?"

"No, no, that's not it," she said, waving a hand in dismissal. "The way you sounded just now reminded me of someone I know."

I had to hide a grin when I realized who she was talking about. First the Exsphere in almost the same place, then the sleeveless coat, and now I was talking like him...I really was starting to want that headband. Oh! I could be a manizer! Like a womanizer, but with...oh wait, that'd be a slut...never mind.

As my train of thought crashed and burned, Sheena gave me a strange look. She'd probably noticed my grin, so I tried to amend my screwup.

Grinning out in the open now, I asked her, "Who do I remind you of?"

She frowned, looking away. "Just some guy."

"Your boooyfriend?" I asked teasingly, and her face turned beet red in an alarmingly short amount of time.

"No! I'd never even think about going out with that idiot! Ugh!"

I snorted, failing miserably in an attempt to hold in laughter. "Don't get so mad! I'm just kidding."

Sheena seemed to realize how much she'd overreacted, and her face reddened even more, if that was possible. "Yeah...sorry."

Well, it looked like I'd successfully distracted her from what was bothering her, but now I was just making her uncomfortable. As amusing as that was, it wasn't why I came. My mission was to avoid Lloyd until lunchtime, and find something to distract myself from my pain. Oh, and possibly help Sheena while I was at it.

Jeez, that sounded selfish. Helping Sheena shouldn't have been just an added benefit. But dammit, this day had sucked so much that I just wanted to forget about everyone else and cater to my personal needs.

...No. I could feel sorry for myself all I wanted while we were eating lunch. The day had probably sucked for Sheena, too. Maybe she hadn't been attacked by Yuan, but she was heading to face one of her greatest fears, and I was the person that suggested she do this without a second thought. Just because it was meant to happen didn't mean I could expect her to do this without any problem.

Sure, comfort wasn't necessary. I was pretty confident that she'd successfully create the pact either way. But...I couldn't help but think all of the things I'd had to do on my own while I was here. Whenever Lloyd had stepped in to let me know he was there for me, it made things suck a little less. And sometimes that was enough.

"Are you afraid?" I asked quietly, letting the words slip out of my mouth before I'd really even realized I said them.

"Huh?" Sheena looked up; the redness in her face had lessened a bit during our brief silence.

"I think I'd be afraid," I continued, ignoring her. "I mean, it's a freaking summon spirit. I'd be scared to even look Undine in the eye."

She looked away. "...I haven't made a pact since I was really young."

"I pushed you into this, even when I could tell you were nervous about it. I'm sorry."

The ninja shook her head. "There wasn't any way around it. I was kind of waiting for someone to suggest it, anyway. Besides, it would be selfish of me to let Pietro die just because I'm scared of making a silly pact." She tried to laugh reassuringly, but it sounded fake.

"We'll be behind you every step of the way, Sheena." It wasn't something I'd normally say, but it sounded right and I sucked at comforting people. I could always think of nice things to say later, but when someone in front of me was all depressed, I got uncomfortable and lost everything that I wanted to say.

Sheena glanced up at me, and then looked back down at her lap. "Are you...sure about this? I mean, I might screw up or something."

"Just because you're a clumsy assassin doesn't mean you're a clumsy summoner, too," I remarked.

"Hey!" She looked over to me, annoyed, and saw that I was grinning again.

"It's called a joke, Sheena. You can rip on me too, if you want. That's what friends do."

She blinked for a moment, looking surprised at something, and then looked away. "You...you still didn't answer my question."

I pushed my bangs out of my eyes, letting out a sigh. "If I thought you were weak and incompetent, I wouldn't have said anything in the first place. I know you can do it, Sheena."

Looking over at the ninja with conviction in my eyes, I continued. "I believe in you, so you should believe in yourself." I made a slight face. "...and I don't normally say stuff this corny."

She laughed a little. "I know."

"Food's ready!" Genis called out to us, and I nodded to him.

Using the tree behind us for leverage, I pushed myself carefully to my feet. I gritted my teeth, trying not to wince. Sheena gave me a curious look as she stood up with ease.

"Are you all right?" She asked, voicing the same question Lloyd had earlier.

"Hm? I'm fine," I answered, a little too quickly. She frowned.

"Your legs are shaking."

Shit. I reached up and rubbed the back of my neck, trying to look sheepish.

"Well...I'm just having a little trouble keeping up with everyone. Don't worry about it, I'll live."

The troubled look didn't leave her face. "...If you say so."

I shrugged. "Well, we'd better not keep them waiting." Trying to smile, I turned and led the way, taking long strides. My legs screamed silently with the effort.

----

The sky was darkening overhead as the sun sank below the mountains that surrounded us. We had been walking for hours, and at this point I felt like I was going to pass out. Actually, I had felt like this for a while; I was surprised it hadn't happened yet. My toes were going numb in my boots, and I wasn't totally sure why.

It had been so difficult not to ask for a First Aid. Most of the time we spent walking, I had been trying to think of some sort of excuse so Raine would heal me. I even thought about purposely tripping, but I was too much of a wimp to make myself trip on a sharp rock. Plus, if my acting wasn't that good, someone might give me weird looks.

The silhouette of something was now visible in the quickly fading sunlight. My eyes widened, and I jogged to the front of the group to see better. Relief flooded through my system.

"Finally," I croaked. It was the first word I'd spoken in over two hours. Thoda Dock was just ahead, and the House of Salvation grew closer with every step we took. Suddenly it was a lot harder for me to walk, because all I wanted to do was collapse into a bed.

We entered the House, paying the woman at the front desk for our rooms, and then set about putting our stuff down upstairs. This time I was rooming with Colette; Sheena and Raine were together, and Lloyd, Kratos and Genis all had a room together.

After getting all of my stuff organized, I flopped down on to my bed with a contented sigh. I saw Colette smile from the corner of my eye, and couldn't stop myself from smiling back.

"What? It's been a long day."

She tilted her head slightly in inquiry, and then came over to sit next to me. She jotted something down in the notebook she'd started carrying around, and held it up to me.

_'Are you sure you're all right?'_ Her handwriting was neat and distinctly girly. But it was so...Colette.

I blinked. "Colette, you're the third person that's asked me that...Trust me, I'll be fine once I get some sleep." It was the truth. I'd managed to get back into a state of emotional stability; the only thing that was bothering me now was my utter exhaustion.

I sat up to show her I wasn't totally dead yet, and she just smiled. As with Lloyd and Sheena, I didn't think she fully believed me. I had a feeling everyone in the group knew something had gone down when I'd walked off into the woods, but they didn't think they'd get a straight answer out of me if they asked. Well, they thought right. I didn't really want to get maimed by Yuan anytime soon. No, sir.

We heard a shuffling in the room next door, and both of us looked up curiously. That was the boys' room...what was going on over there? A grin found its way on to my face as I imagined the three of them starting a pillow fight.

Suddenly I heard the door to their room open, and something lightly bump into the hallway's wall. My grin fell as a small, grey blur rushed in and disappeared under my bed.

"Uh...what just happened?" I asked no one in particular, as Colette attempted to lift the covers up to see where that thing was.

"Colette!" Genis was in the doorway. "Careful! There was a rat in our room. Did it run in here?"

Lloyd appeared behind him, frowning. "We didn't get a good glimpse of it, but it's pretty big." He had one sword out, and he walked into the room.

I raised an eyebrow. "What's the sword for? You gonna skewer it?"

Colette looked up with a clear objection to this, and Lloyd shook his head. "I just want to get it out of here! I don't want it getting into our stuff," he whined.

Shrugging, I got off the bed and bent over to help Colette look underneath. After a second or two, a furry little head peeked its way out--but it definitely wasn't a rat.

"Aww!" I laughed as the kitten mewed, staring up at me. It was odd-eyed; one was blue, and the other a pale yellow. Looking over at the boys, I frowned. "How could you mistake this little guy as a rat?"

Lloyd looked embarrassed. "I told you we only got a glimpse of it!"

The smile on Colette's face could only be described as one of pure delight. She reached down to pet the kitten, but it ran out from under the bed and bumped into a wall, causing more giggles to erupt from me. It mewed again, attempting to make its way towards me, but tripping over its own paws. Eventually it came to a stop in front of us, its head tilted slightly to the side.

Genis was grinning now, too. "It's kinda cute!"

I couldn't stop giggling at the kitten's endearing stupidity. It stumbled over to my leg, intending to rub up against it, but headbutted it by mistake. I reached down and lifted the kitten up, and the small animal looked around curiously at the smiling faces surrounding it.

"He's a little simple-minded, isn't he?" I laughed, and then looked down at the kitten in my arms. "I'm gonna call you Lloyd Junior!"

"Hey!" Lloyd protested as Genis started snickering. Colette giggled silently next to him, placing her hands over her mouth to hide her grin for Lloyd's sake.

"I think we're going to be best buddies, Lloydo!" I declared, rubbing my cheek against the kitten's soft fur. It mewed, starting to purr very loudly.

"What's going on in here? I heard some noise." The Professor and Sheena were now standing at the doorway. The look of concern in Raine's eyes suddenly softened when she saw the kitten in my arms, and Sheena couldn't help but laugh.

"He's cute! Where'd you find him?" She asked, as the two of them walked into the room.

"He was hiding behind some of our stuff," Genis said, calming down.

"You aren't really going to call him Lloyd Junior, are you?" Lloyd spoke up, earning me some looks from Raine and Sheena.

"Lloyd's so cute," I remarked, indicating the kitten, and the brunette facepalmed.

I continued to pet kitty Lloyd for a second or two, and then suddenly his unusual eyes widened with fascination. The kitten froze, staring in the direction of the doorway. Then he started to struggle to get out of my arms. I turned to see what he was staring at, and was surprised to see Kratos standing there. The mercenary was watching the whole scene with a bemused look on his face.

I set the kitten down, and he ran straight at Kratos and attempted to climb up his leg. This caused everyone (save for Kratos, of course) to burst out into laughter. The stoic man stared down at the kitten, which had paused and looked around at the sound of everyone's laughter. He reached down and picked Lloyd Jr. up with one hand, lifting him to eye level. The kitten meowed, not struggling at all.

"Aw! Lloyd likes Kratos!" I remarked, and Genis started snickering again. Lloyd seemed to realize the true problem with me giving the kitten that name, and he started to protest.

Kratos gave me a deadpan stare, before putting the kitten down with a sigh and walking out of the room. The kitten scampered after him, and after a few seconds we heard the sound of it tripping down the stairs. I attempted to stifle my laughter, starting to feel my face flush as I ran out of breath.

"Lloyd Junior..." Raine was smiling with amusement, but she didn't comment on it any more. She just shook her head and walked out into the hallway, turning in the direction of her and Sheena's room.

"Professor!" Lloyd whined as she left. "Somebody say something! Why can't we just name it Fluffy? Come on, guys!"

By this point I was bent over, clutching my stomach as I laughed, totally forgetting all of the exhaustion and stress from earlier in the day.

----

"Washtubs..." I murmured, staring down at the "boats" in front of us. I had totally forgotten about this part. The lady who rented them out (people paid money for these?!) said they were perfectly safe, but I was unconvinced. So was Raine, even though she'd already ridden in them before.

"...Yeah, washtubs," Lloyd confirmed.

I looked around at the others, and for the most part they seemed resigned to their fate. "How are we supposed to...?"

Genis frowned. "There's two more of us this time, and only three washtubs..."

"So there will have to be a group of three?" Sheena shifted uncomfortably at that thought. "Those things can barely hold two..."

"Augh..." I groaned as I realized what was about to happen.

"Then, the three lightest people should go in the same tub, right?" Lloyd suggested, seeming to realize mid-sentence why I was groaning.

"Genis, Sheena and Brittany," Kratos confirmed, and the three of us sighed. Raine probably could've replaced me since we were around the same weight, but there was no way we were getting her in a washtub that was any less stable than it had to be.

By the time my group had managed to get in the washtub without it attempting to flip over and/or sink on us, we were all soaked to some degree.

"I should've just said I'd swim," I grumbled as we pushed away from the dock.

Lloyd and Colette followed behind us; behind them came Raine and Kratos. Naturally, she'd cling to the person who was least likely to let her die. I'd probably cling to Kratos too, if I hadn't gotten lumped in with this group.

"We should be fine...I think," Genis remarked. Gee, thanks, that makes me feel a whole lot better.

The journey to Thoda Geyser was long and boring. Once we figured out how to keep our tub stable, it was easy going from there. We took turns between two of us rowing and one resting, and I realized it had actually worked out to our advantage when Lloyd started to complain of boredom and sore arms. At least I didn't have to suffer from the latter.

When the geyser came into view, I began to cheer inwardly because I thought we were done. I didn't realize that just because I could see it didn't mean I was close. It took us at least another half-hour just to get there. I wasn't looking forward to the ride back.

When we finally made it there, I pulled myself up on to the dock and laid there a minute, glad to be back on solid ground. The Professor remained on her hands and knees, panting like she'd just run five miles. Kratos let out a sigh, shaking his head, and walked on ahead.

"Um...Professor?" I sat up, about ready to get to my feet.

"I...I'm all right." She looked up, her face pale. Lloyd held out a hand to help her up. Aw, Lloyd, such a good boy.

Raine quickly walked on ahead after Kratos, eager to get off the dock and away from the water. Though I was sure there was more water inside the cave, anything was probably better than the sea to Professor Sage.

I got to my feet, brushing myself off, and tried not to shiver. My clothes were soaked...and although the sea water hadn't been too cold, now my clothing was. Sheena seemed to be having the same problem; she pulled her top closed a little more, hiding the bra beneath. I guess her boobs were cold?

Genis seemed all right. I guess he was used to being chilly, with those silly little shorts of his. Ha! Chilly and silly...wow, was I really this bored?

"So, Thoda Geyser..." I remarked quietly to Lloyd, who had lagged behind while waiting for me. Due to the constant ranting going on in my head, I had a tendency to fall behind. "...What's it like inside?"

He shrugged. "Neat, I guess. It gets boring after a while."

I rolled my eyes. "You say that about every place we go to."

"Yeah, well maybe they should start putting more exciting stuff towards the end."

"The seal doesn't count as exciting?" Genis looked back at him incredulously.

"Heart attack-inducing, maybe..." I muttered. I didn't look forward to getting ripped up by seal guardians or summon spirits.

"Where's the cave entrance, anyway?" I asked, having a minor brain fart. I remembered the general layout of this area, but...huh. Oracle stone was over there, and...

Lloyd pointed to a hole in the rock face on the other side of the geyser.

...Oh yeah.

My skin tone now matching the Professor's, I backed away slightly. "Okay. I'll sit this one out, guys. See you in a little bit!"

Raine turned to look at me, and for a moment I thought she was going to hit me. But the look on her face pretty much sent the message; if she had to ride in washtubs over the ocean to get here, I could deal with my own fear.

Compared to the translucent bridge leading over boiling hot water to the cave's entrance, the washtubs seemed a lot safer right now.

"You're coming," Kratos said, and that was that. I stuck my tongue out at him as he walked away, but that gesture didn't do much to make me feel better.

I stared down at the geyser below as Sheena and Colette started up the bridge. Ominous looking steam floated up from the waters, and when I held a hand out into the steam, I found that it was very warm. That meant it would be scalding hot down below...and the water...urrgh. I didn't want to be boiled alive like a lobster.

Raine and Genis had started up the bridge. Dammit, I was falling behind again...

Lloyd stopped at the base to the bridge, turning to look back at me. He remembered my reaction to the light bridges in the Tower of Mana, apparently.

"I'm coming..." I said quietly, "Just, uh...give me a minute..."

"They're gonna leave us behind," Lloyd said. He tried to smile encouragingly, and held out a hand. "Come on, dork. You survived the other bridges, right?"

"This one's different," I whined. Now I took note that the others had stopped at the other end of the bridge, watching us. Craaaap.

When I realized I really had no other choice, I reluctantly walked up to Lloyd, who had taken the first few steps on to the bridge. He reached out and grabbed my hand, and I walked shakily forward, my eyes glued to the unsafe looking structure beneath my feet.

Lloyd seemed to remember the first rule about heights, and frowned at me. "Hey, don't look down..."

"Wha?" I glanced up at him, too nervous to comprehend what he was saying. The second I glanced up at him, however, I misstepped, my foot hovering over empty air.

"Eyahhh!!" I squeaked, flinging myself to the side and hugging Lloyd's arm for dear life. He miraculously managed to stay balanced, but seemed a little weirded out by my sudden move.

"Brit, it's okay--"

I squeezed my eyes shut, too afraid to look. "Just...keep...walking!"

I heard him sigh, but we continued to inch forward. Part of my face was buried into the comforting fabric of Lloyd's sleeve; I attempted to peek one eye open, but what I saw wasn't very encouraging. We weren't even halfway across the bridge yet.

Sheena took a note that Colette passed to her, frowned, and then looked up at me.

"Come on, Brittany, you can do it!"

My face flushed.

"...Hate my life..." I grumbled. I tried to lessen my own grip on Lloyd, wanting to spare at least a little of the guy's dignity, but it looked like my arms had locked themselves around him of their own accord.

"Uh...Let's go, Brittany!" Genis was holding a note from Colette, as well.

"Take that next step!" Raine called, holding her own note.

"..." Kratos stared at his note, and then stared at me, saying nothing. Colette frowned at him, a pleading look on her face. He sighed.

"The waters are scalding hot. Don't fall."

Colette looked dismayed at that--apparently he hadn't read what she had written. I gawked up at him.

"Kratos, you suck--agh!!" I hugged Lloyd tighter, nearly stepping over the edge again as I had looked up.

That little comment of his must've been revenge for my "Lloyd likes Kratos" joke from yesterday. Jeez...

"Brit, you did it." Lloyd remarked a few moments later, just as I felt my foot hit solid rock. "...Can you let go of me now?"

Somehow I managed to detach myself from him, and clung to the rock wall near the entrance instead.

"I don't wanna go back down..." I mumbled quietly, and then glared at Kratos as he walked by. "Don't fall in, it's scalding hot. Look at me, I'm Kratos, jerkiest jerk on the face of the planet."

He raised an eyebrow at that, but made no comment. I stuck my tongue out at his back again, and planned on imitating him in a nasally voice for the rest of the trip.

When I followed the others in, I placed a hand on Colette's shoulder, attempting to smile. "Well, thanks for trying to help, Colette...it's not your fault some people are jerkfaces."

She smiled hesitantly at that, looking over at Kratos to make sure he wasn't plotting my death yet.

...Nope, he was using his 'ignore everything Brittany says' method, which was his default method of dealing with me. I shrugged, falling back with Lloyd once more. I'd let myself calm down first before bugging him; if I took out all my annoyance on him, he'd get too angry and then it wouldn't be funny anymore. It was very important to preserve the humor.

Lloyd shook his head as I nodded quietly to myself; he'd given up trying to guess what I was thinking long ago.

"...Are you sure you're okay?" He questioned tentatively, and I looked over at him.

"I'll be fine until we have to go back across that stupid bridge. Can I borrow your arm again when that happens?"

"Hey, I thought I was gonna fall when you pulled that!"

"But you didn't, and that's what's important," I grinned, wagging a finger. My grin faded a little when I saw the unnerved expression that was on his face, and I tilted my head a little. "What's with that look?"

He blinked. "Uh, nothing. I just..." His face flushed, and the grin slowly found its way onto my face again.

"You aren't thinking about what I think you're thinking about, are you?"

"What do you think I'm thinking about that you think...dammit." It was very likely that part of Lloyd's brain imploded just then, but we won't go there.

Reaching into my bag, I pulled out a small black book and waved it in his face, which only grew redder as his eyes widened with shock.

"Ew! You carry that thing around with you?" He cried, mortified.

"I don't know what your problem is. This is a perfectly legit love story." I said, laughing. I was holding the same dirty book I'd read to Lloyd back in the House of Salvation; I'd carried it along with me for...future reference. Yeah, we'll go with that. It certainly wasn't to screw with Lloyd. Nope.

"It's disgusting! H-How can you read that stuff?!"

"What's going on back there?" Raine looked over her shoulder curiously, and I quickly hid the book behind my back, smiling innocently.

"Nothing, Professor!"

Sheena had fallen back with us, frowning slightly. She could tell I was hiding something.

"What are you holding behind your back?" She asked quietly, wondering what the joke was.

She took the book from my hands and examined it, tilting her head. Turning it over in her hands, she flipped it open to a random page and began to read. It only took a few seconds for her face to turn the same shade as Lloyd's coat.

"Gross!!" She shoved the book back into my arms, making a face. "I was wrong! You're just like that pervert! Ugh!!"

She rubbed her forehead in annoyance as I broke out into laughter, hugging my sides.

"Huh? What's so funny?" Genis walked alongside me now, attempting to peek inside the book.

"Brittany..." Raine had fallen back with us, and was now smiling dangerously, her left eyebrow twitching. That couldn't be a good sign.

The next thing I knew was a stinging pain as she smacked the back of my head, taking the book out of my hands and hurling it over the dropoff into the waters below.

"P-Professor..." I struggled to keep the laughter in. "Ow..."

Sheena followed Raine's example and smacked me as well, looking fairly irritated.

"Agh! Sheena! Not you too!" I whined, but she only stormed on ahead. Just as I thought the violence was over, Lloyd thumped me on the shoulder.

"Lloyd!"

"Sorry, I didn't want to be left out." He grinned, and I stuck my tongue out at him, opening my bag slightly and allowing him a peek at another book within--my backup dirty novel, that I'd packed just in case an incident like this happened.

"Oh, come on!" Lloyd groaned, facepalming.

----

**A/N: Told you I would write more about it. ;D**

**Ahaha, lot's of comic relief in this one. I was listening to _Off-Key _from the ToS soundtrack over and over while writing this. XD Ahh, good times. **

**Alas, my homework is lying neglected elsewhere, since I'd much rather write this. I guess I'd better go start on that...**

**Next time: Annulst thy pact with Mithos, bitch! Raaawr!**


	24. Undine Gone Wild!

**A/N: I hate submitting a shorter chapter, but...if I tried to make it longer, that'd be another few weeks you'd have to wait. So, I figured I'd get the hard part over with and just post it. Sorry about the long delay, guys, but I'm sure you know how school can be...I have a terrible case of senioritis. XD So I procrastinate on...well, _everything._**

**As always, though, I keep the word count updated on my profile page. **

**Oh, and I do have another sketch of OC Brit somewhere on my Deviantart. XD check it out if you're curious.**

**Also, 10,000 hits?! MARRY MEEEE. 8D**

**Um...it's late and I have no idea what else to say, so...yeah. Enjoy the chapter! **

**Disclaimer: I don't ownnnn.**

----

The path we followed led deeper and deeper into the cavern, until we finally reached the very bottom. I shivered; it was pretty cold in here, even though it was near the geyser. I had a feeling that pool of water over there felt chilly.

I realized that the pool to our right was the same one Raine had thrown my book into, and resisted the urge to go retrieve it. It was probably ruined, but it would have been entertaining to get it back.

As usual, the place was a lot bigger than I would've liked it to be. It was actually pretty interesting for the first twenty minutes or so, until Raine started drooling over the most insignificant things. Apparently she hadn't gotten her fill the last time they came here.

Lloyd was keeping a safe distance from me, eyeing my bag with suspicion, as if the book would pop out and sexually assault him. Hilarious as that would be, I don't think he realized that it was physically impossible.

Sheena was still slightly red-faced, and she was walking a little further ahead, trying not to look back at me. Raine had grabbed Genis and was dragging him around with her, fearing that I would attempt to corrupt his innocence. Oh well; if I didn't do it, Undine would. Hey, in a way, I was doing these guys a favor. My dirty books were like preparation for the real deal, y'know? These people didn't appreciate me enough, seriously.

Let's see...Colette was walking along beside me, oblivious to the love novel incident, and Kratos continually sent me exasperated looks; I'd managed to get on his nerves again. My obnoxious shouts of "Blame your fate!" every time I defeated a monster seemed to have worked. Ahh, revenge never tasted so sweet.

It didn't matter that I'd only heard him utter that phrase once during our journey. I was still going to milk it as much as I could.

Another killer starfish came to attack us; those things usually came in annoying groups, but this time it was alone. Kratos, not even missing a beat, comically speared it on the tip of his sword.

"Don't overdo it," I remarked in my best imitation of him, fighting to keep the sarcasm out of my voice. He managed to ignore me this time, shaking the carcass off his blade and sheathing it.

Raine noticed my little game, but said nothing; I had a feeling she was curious as to how it would play out. Aside from Lloyd, I was the only one in the group that openly tried to annoy Kratos. Sometimes I thought I deserved an award for my bravery.

"How much further is it?" Lloyd finally let out a bored sigh. "I don't remember it taking this long."

In reply, Kratos nodded over to a nearby warp. Lloyd's eyebrows flew up with surprise; he wasn't used to things going his way. He was about to give a victory cheer, but I reprimanded him in a solemn voice.

"Don't get too comfortable," I murmured, crossing my arms. Part of me briefly marveled at how quickly we had made it to the seal in comparison to the Tower of Mana, but then I remembered that all of the puzzles here had already been solved. Well, hopefully it would be just as fast for every other Sylvarant pact Sheena had to make...

Lloyd gave me a look. "You're really starting to scare me..."

"Hmph." I had to hide a grin. "I was merely stating that you should be on guard. You have a tendency to lose focus, and it would be humiliating for us if you were defeated by a starfish."

"Kratos doesn't talk like--"

"Lloyd," I said, giving him Kratos' trademark stare. "Are you afraid of starfish? You must face your fears if you ever hope to- -"

"I'm not--" Lloyd cut himself off, smacking his forehead. "You're such a dork."

"That is my middle name," I nodded calmly. "Kratos Dork Aurion. I also answer to Kratty, Kratters, Fluffy, and Jerkface."

"What?!" Lloyd snorted, as Kratos tensed up ahead of us. "...Why Fluffy?"

"It feels right, Lloyd," I answered earnestly, holding a hand over my heart. "It feels right."

Sheena was shaking her head, while most of the others facepalmed.

"Brittany," Kratos said sharply, a warning tone in his voice.

"All right, I've had my fun," I grumbled. We had reached the warp, anyway.

I stepped next to the platform, gesturing to it and grinning at Kratos. "Ladies first!"

...Okay, NOW I was done.

Kratos stepped forward and shoved me into the warp.

----

I did a rather graceful faceplant on the other side, straight into a puddle; it effectively drenched the whole front of my outfit. Kratos came shortly after me. He stepped on my back, using me as a bridge to cross the puddle. I mumbled insults into the floor. At least the others were kind enough to step over me.

"Sheena," I heard Lloyd say as I stumbled to my feet, "please do that pact thing."

She bit her lip. "I'm a little scared..." She admitted, "But I'll do my best."

I attempted to dry my clothes as she stepped forward to the seal. A quick examination of our surroundings showed that we had quite a wide open area to fight, but there was deep water around the platform we stood on. If this worked the way I thought it would...it would probably be best to let Raine opt out of this fight.

A second or two after Sheena stepped up to the seal, a bright blue light shined and Undine appeared before us.

She was...oddly beautiful in her own way, with pale blue skin and piercing red eyes. Her hair fell in waves past her waist, swaying softly like a rippling liquid. She had a neat tribal tattoo that ran up her arms to just above her...oh dear. Yeah, she wasn't wearing a top...and she was giving Sheena a run for her money.

Look away, Brittany. Stop gawking like a total creep. Christ, they were staring at me...put them away, Undine, put them away!

Rather disturbed, I decided to look over to Lloyd to gague his reaction, and instantly felt better. He was making a way bigger idiot of himself. His face had turned beet red, but he didn't have the strength to look away, because...well, he was a guy. Ohoho, so Lloyd wasn't totally oblivious to the opposite sex. Sometimes I had wondered if Dirk had ever given him The Talk.

Genis...oh, Genis. He was horrified.

Undine didn't seem fazed by the looks she was getting, and I figured she was used to it.

"You who possess the right of the pact. I am one who is bound to Mithos. What is your name?"

Lloyd forgot his embarrassment long enough to be confused by this. "Mithos? The hero of the Kharlan War?" He looked around at the rest of the group.

"Mithos was a swordsman and a summoner?" Genis looked to Raine, but the Professor only shook her head.

"It's a common boy's name. This Mithos isn't necessarily Mithos the Hero."

I had the brief temptation to elbow Kratos and wink at him, but thought better of it. That probably wouldn't have gone over well.

We were all distracted again when Sheena spoke. "I am Sheena! I seek a pact with Undine!" Her voice was strong, full of feigned confidence.

"As things stand now, I cannot."

"Wh...Why?!" It was amazing how fast she panicked.

"I am already bound by a pact. I cannot form two pacts at the same time," Undine explained.

"You mean your pact with that Mithos guy?" Sheena bit her lip, dismayed, and then turned to us. "What am I supposed to do now?! They never said anything about this at the research institute!"

Lloyd blinked, as if he'd just noticed Sheena was there. Oh, come on, Lloyd. You're supposed to say something encouraging!

Genis seemed pretty distracted, too. Raine had a thoughtful look on her face, Colette couldn't talk anyway, and Kratos was just giving Sheena a deadpan stare. Jesus, these people were hopeless sometimes.

"If summoning's been a lost art here for so long, obviously this Mithos guy must be dead," I said, crossing my arms. "If the pact-maker dies, wouldn't the pact be broken or something? Maybe you can get her to cancel it."

Kratos nodded, finally speaking up. "A Summon Spirit pact also requires a vow. All you need to do is request the annulment of the previous pact and form a new one. It's possible that the previous pact-maker has broken his vow...or, as Brittany mentioned, he may have already passed away."

"Is it really that simple?" Genis asked, thankfully more interested in pactmaking than in Undine's boobs. Goddammit, Lloyd, you closet pervert.

"I suppose you could call it simple, but if the previous pact-maker is still alive and hasn't broken his vow, then there's nothing we can do about it." Kratos frowned, probably thinking about what a psychotic, vow-breaking maniac Mithos was. Or maybe he was thinking about tomatoes. I really couldn't tell with that guy.

"You seem to know quite a bit about summoning," Raine remarked casually, watching him with a slight frown.

"I have learned a lot during my travels." Kratos didn't even flinch, his vague reply sounding calm and cool. The professor stared at him for a second longer, her brow furrowed, but then she seemed to let it go.

She didn't fully trust the mercenary and had her suspicions every now and then, but she respected him enough not to pry constantly. He'd taken us this far; if he'd meant to harm Colette, he would have done so long ago.

Oh, Raine. Even she had no idea.

Sheena looked uneasy, but she nodded at the new idea. "...Okay, I'll give it a shot..." She turned around, facing the summon spirit, who had been observing our exchange with mild curiosity.

"Undine! I ask that thou annulst thy pact with Mithos, and establish a new pact...with me." She ended awkwardly, and bit her lip once more.

"Before I can allow the formation of a new pact, I must test your worthiness as a pact-maker." The summon spirit's eyes narrowed slightly. "Choose three others to battle with you, and draw your weapons."

"W-We have to fight?!" Lloyd finally broke out of his trance, a surprised look on his face.

Sheena turned around to face us once more, taking a deep breath. "...Okay, who's sitting out?"

"I...would rather not fight," Raine spoke up, looking uneasily at all the water around them. Sheena nodded, understanding. Even if Raine was forced to fight, she wouldn't be of much help if she was frozen with terror.

"You'll probably need Kratos, then," I said. "He's a good meat shield. Plus, he's the only guy here that isn't gawking at Undine's--"

"Brittany!" Raine smacked me. "Show some respect!"

"Whaaat?" I whined. "You were all thinking it!"

Alas, the damage had been done. Sheena now noticed how red Lloyd's face was, and she let out an exasperated sigh.

"Er...okay. Kratos, Genis, and Colette. Is that all right?"

The three of them nodded their consent, though Genis seemed a little flustered. He looked like he'd be okay, though; he could just hide in a corner and cast his spells. It wasn't like he'd have to get up in Undine's face like the others would.

Now that the group was decided, Raine tugged Lloyd and I closer to the warp, away from where the battle would occur. Lloyd, who had been distracted until now, seemed to remember himself. He rubbed the back of his neck, not noticing the grin I was giving him.

Sheena turned back around to Undine, pulling some cards out. "We're ready."

Undine nodded. "Let it begin!"

The summon spirit reached out to her side, and a large sword immediately materialized in her hand. It seemed to be made of water, appearing to have the same consistency as her hair, but I knew better. It was probably as sharp and deadly as the sword I wore on my back.

Raine frowned. "Interesting..."

She had noticed the magical shield that had suddenly come up around us and the warp. Good, so we couldn't be caught in the middle of the battle or anything...but we also couldn't interfere. Hm.

"Pyre Seal!" Sheena was the first to run forward, using one of her favorite moves. It barely fazed Undine, who instead went straight for a casting Genis. So much for her not being up in his face...

Kratos immediately came to the rescue with a few Demon Fangs, giving Genis time to run to a safe area. Although the physical attacks didn't do much, Kratos was fast enough to keep her distracted for a period of time. That was when Colette cast Angel Feathers, which actually seemed to do a decent amount of damage.

"I'm not sure allowing Colette to participate was a good idea..." Raine murmured, her frown growing.

I shrugged. "Kratos was hired to protect her, and he seems to know a thing or two about summoning, so...I doubt this is a fight to the death, or he'd have said something."

The Professor nodded, still looking a little troubled. I understood--it was hard not to worry at least a little when battles were so unpredictable. Plus, as I've mentioned before, Undine is a freaking summon spirit.

I was having a hard time focusing on the battle, since I was so giddy that I didn't actually have to fight this time. Life was awesome as far as I was concerned.

"S-So, uh--" Lloyd started, and for a moment I wondered if he was choking. "...H...How are you doing?"

I resisted the urge to laugh hysterically, and instead smiled wryly at him. "I think I should be asking you that, Lloydie."

"I'm fine!" He protested, managing to stabilize his voice, but he couldn't seem to drain the blood from his face. Raine let out a quiet sigh, and I rolled my eyes.

"Aqua Edge!" Undine's voice interrupted us; suddenly Sheena and Colette were thrown into the wall by the force of her spell. They both hit it hard enough to bounce off, landing in the waters with a loud splash. Well, Undine was the summon spirit of water...it looked like any water spell she cast, no matter how low-level, was going to hurt like a bitch.

"Colette! Sheena!" Lloyd yelled, finally looking normal. He attempted to run to them, but the Professor and I each grabbed a ribbon and yanked him back to us. He looked back in dismay. "Guys--"

"They're fine," Raine said. "If you interrupt, the battle will be forfeit. Lloyd, try to control yourself."

His eyes narrowed and he stared over to where the water rippled, looking frustrated. Crossing his arms, he leaned back against a stone column behind us.

After a second or two, both of them surfaced, looking well enough. Sheena seemed a little disgruntled, though. She was lucky Zelos wasn't here, or he'd have a thing or two to say about how much her clothes were now clinging to her figure.

In the time it took for them to clamber out of the water, however, the guys were getting into some deep trouble. Genis couldn't really defend himself all that well when it came to short-range fighting, and Undine knew it. She continued to attack him, interrupting his every spell, while Kratos attempted to defend him and look out for the girls at the same time. He was starting to look rather irritated, as he could probably use his angelic powers to multitask easily if he hadn't been maintaining his cover.

"Spread!" Shit, Undine was a speed-caster! She almost managed to take out Colette and Sheena a second time. Thankfully, Colette managed to see it coming and pulled Sheena out of the way.

Kratos had glanced back to see how the two of them were faring, but in his split second of distraction, Undine slashed at him with her sword. He raised his to block a second too late, and was forced back a few feet. The blade grazed his flesh but didn't seem to leave a wound...did it absorb mana, then? Hmm.

Sheena and Colette had reached Undine and immediately teamed up on her, distracting the Summon Spirit. Genis started to cast as fast as he could, looking pissed that he hadn't been able to do anything yet.

"Take this! Thunder blade!" He yelled, raising his kendama. The girls jumped out of the way of the spell just in time, and the blade that crashed down into the floor missed Undine by inches. That didn't save her from being hit with the magic, though.

I winced as her mouth opened in a silent scream, and then she seemed to melt into the floor, disappearing out of sight. What now?

"Spread!" The spell formed again beneath their feet, but this time they were prepared. Everyone threw up their respective shields.

I bit my lip, troubled. "Hey, Professor..."

"What is it?" She looked over at me.

"Physical attacks don't affect her much, do they? Her body's sort of...liquidy, so she can't be cut."

Raine did her best to ignore the word I'd invented, and returned her gaze to the battle. "That's correct. Sheena left you and Lloyd out of the battle for that very reason."

I nodded. Everyone she'd chosen could cast some type of magic, but... "Lightning magic's strong against water, right? But if the entire battleground's wet, Genis and Kratos can't cast any lightning magic without getting hit themselves."

The Professor nodded; she'd already considered that. "There's no avoiding it."

"And if they use ice..." Lloyd seemed to catch on, "then they'll just make the floor too slippery to walk on."

"Well, then they could always cast Eruption to melt the ice..." I commented.

"At that point, they would be using far too much mana." Raine let out a sigh, and we continued to watch the battle.

"First Aid!" Kratos healed Colette and Sheena, who had gotten pretty banged up. Genis started casting wind spells, since they seemed to be the only thing that would actually cause some damage.

The fight dragged on...but no matter what happened, Undine didn't seem to tire. Eventually Kratos unleashed his mad skillz and slashed at her with his sword numerous times with amazing speed. The physical attacks were ineffective, but as usual, they served to distract her. And with Sheena spamming Pyre Seal, Colette casting angelic magic, and Genis hurling Wind Blades her way, Undine didn't have many more chances to attack.

Even though it looked like Sheena and the others had the advantage, that was far from the truth. Undine didn't seem to be tired at all, despite the fact that the battle had dragged on for at least twenty minutes now. Neither side was winning through pure skill at this point, so it was only a matter of time before someone fell due to exhaustion.

Kratos seemed okay, but everyone else...

Genis was the first to show signs of tiring. He'd used up the last of his mana, and his kendama wasn't of any real use against normal enemies, never mind summon spirits. Then came Sheena...she started panting as the exhaustion of running around constantly caught up to her. Colette seemed to hold up pretty well with her angelic strength, but there was no way they were going to win at this point.

Just as I was going to voice my uneasiness, suddenly Undine's sword disappeared and she stood still. Sheena, Colette and Genis froze as well, staring at her warily. Kratos, oddly enough, seemed to relax; he sheathed his sword, crossing his arms expectantly. I began to wonder if he'd even broken a sweat.

"Splendid." Undine smiled, floating back over to the seal. "Now, swear your vow. Upon what vow do you form our pact?"

"Uh--?" Sheena gaped for a moment, taken aback.

"Whoa, the battle's over?" Lloyd's eyes widened with confusion. "We didn't even win, though..."

"Interesting. I see..." Raine nodded quietly.

"She only said Sheena had to prove her strength, not defeat her," I pointed out.

"It would be near-impossible for a group of four people to defeat a summon spirit." The professor added quietly. Lloyd frowned.

"I wish someone had said that in the beginning," he grumbled.

Meanwhile, Sheena had managed to gather her bearings. She stood in front of the seal, feigning confidence again. After a moment, she seemed to have decided on a vow.

"Right now, at this very moment...there are people who are suffering. I vow to save those people!"

Undine nodded calmly. "Understood. I pledge my power to you, Summoner Sheena!"

With that, the summon spirit became bathed in blue light; she seemed to...retract into herself, until a tiny pinpoint of light floated above the seal. The light floated forward and landed in Sheena's outstretched hand. When the light finally faded, I could see her holding up a small silver ring; I knew, upon closer inspection, that there would be an Aquamarine jewel set in the metal.

"Sheena, you did it!" Genis grinned, standing next to an enthusiastic Colette.

The ninja turned around, rubbing the back of her neck as she pocketed the ring. She looked a little embarrassed at all the attention, but I could tell she was proud of herself. She'd just made a huge step towards getting over her past. Maybe now she'd have more self-confidence.

I couldn't help but laugh, walking forward and pumping a fist in the air. "Hell yeah! Let's celebrate!"

"How in the world are you suggesting we do that?" Raine asked, cool as ever.

"Aw, Professor, don't ruin the moment..."

"Sheena! Summon Undine!" Lloyd piped up, beaming. "C'mon, show us!"

"What?! I can't do that for no reason!"

"But--"

Kratos sighed. "It would be best if we left here sometime before nightfall." His tone was dry; right now, it couldn't have been later than two p.m.

I knew he was only trying to get us moving, but the prospect of leaving also reminded me of the terrible incident that was about to repeat itself. I bit my lip, standing next to Lloyd.

"Hey, yeah. Sheena should totally summon Undine to carry me safely across the geyser!"

The look everyone gave me then made me groan. "You guys suck. All of you." I pouted, knowing I wouldn't feel the real fear until I was actually standing in front of the bridge. I let out a sigh, walking up to the warp out of the room, and left first.

----

The others had followed shortly after me, and although I started out leading the group, I slowly slunk to the back once more. After all, I'd probably be the last one to cross the bridge, anyway.

Lloyd walked in front of me, eagerly questioning Sheena on all the aspects of summoning while remaining totally oblivious to her embarrassment.

"So what does it feel like to summon?" He asked, grinning. Hm, this seemed familiar...aha! I spy a Z-skit!

"Um..." She paused, thinking. "It's like an incredible power, separate from my own, flowing out of my body."

"That's so cool! I wish I could summon!" Lloyd said happily, and I had to stifle a snort. I'd never say it to his face, but it really was cute when he got all excited like this.

Oh dear God. Had I just called Lloyd cute? I needed to go stare at Kratos some more before I started fantasizing about the other guys in the group. Ew, Genis? Agh! The images!

Just as I started to facepalm, I noticed a light up ahead and suppressed another groan. It looked like bridge crossing time was here...and I wasn't ready for it, as usual.

...Aaaand everyone was on the other side of the bridge before I had time to register the fact that we had to cross it. And they were staring expectantly at me. Oddly enough, Lloyd stood next to me, giving a resigned sigh and holding out his arm.

Although I normally would've found a large amount of humor in this, right now I was back in ohshitI'mgonnadie mode. I stared down at the bridge, and then realized that something was now substantially worse--now we were moving downhill instead of uphill. That meant I had more of a view of how high up we were, and how much farther I'd have to fall to hit the scalding waters of the geyser, and oh dear God. If I fell from this height, the water would probably have the same impact as cement...burning hot cement. And I'd probably be roasted from the steam burns long before then.

"Brit...c'mon, you did fine last time." Lloyd spoke up, breaking me out of my thoughts.

"I don't think so..." I muttered, sounding like a sulky eight-year-old kid. Whatever, I was scared, dammit. "W-We're going down now...what if I slip?"

"I won't let you fall. I promise," he said firmly, looking me in the eye.

"Okay..." I said quietly, grabbing on to his arm. Then I glared briefly at him. "Let me fall, and I'm haunting you, Lloydie. I swear I will."

"Relax, you dork!" He rolled his eyes, and then took a step forward on to the bridge, pulling me along with him.

...Well, the rest of the way went pretty smoothly, if I do say so myself. We made it down the bridge without any further incident (aside from the fact that my heart was hammering for the next ten minutes). As for the washtubs, well...it wasn't exactly pleasant, but nothing too eventful happened besides Raine flipping out as usual. When we reached the Thoda Dock, she was on her hands and knees for another minute or so.

"Hey, Professor, think about it," I said cheerfully, patting her shoulder. "That's the last time you'll ever have to ride in a washtub. Ever. And with luck, maybe it's the last time I'll have to cross a translucent bridge of death!"

I highly doubted the latter, but hey, anything to keep the happy mood going. I helped Raine up, hoping I'd just earned some brownie points or something, and then we all went back into the House of Salvation.

----

As everyone else gathered up some of the extra stuff we'd left in our rooms, I chatted idly with Kratos. What? Us, help with anything? Ha! ...Actually, we hadn't really left much behind, so we were just waiting for the others. Plus I had a feeling Kratos wanted someone to pick on him since Lloyd Junior was harrassing him again.

Sarcasm. Har har.

"Aw, how cute." I grinned, watching the kitten jump on to his lap and curl up into a contented ball. Kratos stared at him for a second, before reluctantly scratching him behind his ears.

"Look, Genis!" I said, seeing the young mage enter the room. "Lloyd is sitting in Kratos' lap!"

The half elf's eyes went wide and he immediately turned around and exited the room before he could witness the massacre that was surely about to occur. I felt a sharp pain at the back of my head as Kratos threw what felt like a dictionary at me, and fell over.

"Ow..." I winced, rubbing the bump on my head. That was gonna leave a mark.

Lloyd Junior immediately jumped off Kratos' lap, trotting up to me so that he could immediately start biting my fingers.

"You didn't like that joke either, huh..." I grumbled, shooing the kitten away. "It sounded funny in my head...Dammit, Kratos, I think you just gave me a concussion. I'm surprised I don't have amnesia on top of my amnesia. You know, I don't think that's physically possible. Do you want my brain to explode or something? You're such a--Kratos?"

He had left the room.

"Bastard."

----

"What in Sylvarant are you doing?" Raine gave me a bemused look; she'd found me, ten minutes later, still lying on the floor of the House's main room.

"Contemplating the inner workings of the universe," I answered blissfully, and she sighed.

"I suppose I don't want to know...Are you all ready?"

"Mmhmm. Could you First Aid me, though? Kratos threw a book at my head."

"..." She stared for a minute, unsure of how to respond, and then shook her head. "First Aid."

"Thanks a bunch." I beamed, feeling the pain already start to recede. Then I got to my feet, trying to ignore the sudden vertigo that came with the change in position.

She nodded. "Well, since you are ready...the only person we're waiting on is Lloyd. We'll all meet up here when everything's finished, and then we can leave. Can I trust you not to get hurt until then?"

"Yes, ma'am. I'll try to stay away from sharp objects." Namely, Kratos' sword.

With a final nod, the Professor left the room, probably to bitch at Lloyd for taking so long. Part of me wanted to go and eavesdrop, but part of me also wanted to chill for a minute. Given the fact that we were probably going to be traveling for th rest of the way, I decided to go with the latter part of my mind.

I sat in a chair, breathing out a sigh, and rested my elbows on my knees. Man, it had been a long day, even though we hadn't really done all that much...I was just glad that I hadn't had to fight. I had a feeling that if I'd fought Undine, I wouldn't have the energy to keep walking all day. And then everyone would get mad because I'd start whining about my sore legs and all that.

So...Sheena had finally gotten over her fear of facing summon spirits. Well, she was still afraid of Volt, but still...I liked to think that my little pep talk had helped at least a little, but it probably hadn't. Oh well. I mean, I probably could've done better, if I hadn't already been feeling like crap. Stupid Yuan.

Huh, speaking of Yuan...

My brow furrowed, and I dug through my bag for a moment until I felt the familiar smoothness of the metal locket. I pulled it out, staring at it quietly. I'd forgotten about it until now, but...hmm. My nosiness was taking over.

I placed a thumb on each side of the locket, attempting to get a grip on it, eager to open it and see what was inside.

----

**A/N: I'm mean, I know. XD**

**Sorry if the Undine fight wasn't exactly epic. I wasn't exactly enthusiastic about it to begin with, lol. Thankfully, it's donewith, and now we're on to MOAR INTERESTING STUFF THAT I WANT TO WRITE. Like, Hima stuff. And Tower of Salvation stuff. And stuff that happens in between that stuff (and believe me, stuff will happen. ohoho.).**

**Next time: Yuan's locket and stuff!**

**...and unicorns. and the pressing question: Is Brittany a pure maiden?! (coughsheiscough) **

**Now, bed time! -passes out-**


	25. Yuan's Locket

**A/N: I updated in less than a month! Go me! XD that's an accomplishment when you're working on three projects for school and a short story for creative writing class. Whew! Glad that stuff is (almost) all done now. And Thanksgiving break soon! (and my birthday's on the 20th! I want cyber cookies! ...or reviews. hurr hurr.)**

**Anyway. I actually didn't get to the unicorn in this chapter, because I got sidetracked with...well, you'll just have to read and see. ;D**

**Disclaimer: If I owned ToS, I'd make billions off Kratos&Lloyd hair products. Alas, I do not. I only own this story. ;_;**

**----**

...Goddammit, it was stuck. Biting my lip, I tried to get a better grip on the edges, hoping to pry it open somehow. It eventually started to work--I could see the halves giving just a little, and persisted.

"Ow! Professor, you don't have to hit me!" Lloyd's whine broke my concentration, and my head shot up.

I swore under my breath as I heard footsteps, and shoved the locket back into my bag. I'd just have to find a moment alone later or something; I couldn't have them asking all sorts of questions about it if they saw it. Plus Kratos might recognize it or something, which would be very bad...

Ah, I put the locket away just in time. No more than a second later, the rest of the group walked into the room, and I waved cheerily in an attempt to hide my annoyance.

"All set, guys?"

Raine let out a sigh. "I should hope so. Lloyd?"

"I'm ready, I'm ready!" He edged away from her, probably to avoid being hit again.

I gathered up my stuff, throwing my bag over one shoulder. "Okay, to Lake Umacy!" I declared, only to see that everyone else was already walking out the door.

"You coming, Brit?" Lloyd looked over his shoulder, and I facepalmed.

"Yeah, yeah..."

----

Needless to say, the next few hours weren't exactly eventful. As before, we just walked...and walked...and walked. I really needed to find some sort of game to play to keep us all busy while we were walking.

I remembered convincing myself that the Undine arc would take forever...just the traveling itself, I mean. It had taken a while, but still...the time had come and gone in the blink of an eye. And now we were heading back...with the Tower in our view. I couldn't ignore it anymore.

After we got the unicorn horn, we were going to Hima. There would be no more diversions; Kratos would see to that. There was nothing I could do to stall, nothing I could do to stop this from happening. I was going to go with the group to the Tower, and that was where I was going to die.

Because if Yggdrasill really did want to use me as the host for a Cruxis Crystal, I couldn't allow it. If there was any indication that we were going to lose the battle, any indication that I might be taken by Cruxis...I was going to throw myself on to Kratos' sword when we fought him. And if that didn't work, I would jump off the edge of the platform. The thought of suicide sickened me, but when it all came down to it, I would rather die than be used by that psychotic half elf.

I didn't have to go to the Tower of Salvation...I could stay behind. But wouldn't that just lead to the same result in the end? Judging from Remiel's reaction to me, I probably wasn't going to find peace if I separated myself from the group. Now I was caught up in all this bullshit, too.

...No. I was involved in this from the beginning, I just hadn't wanted to believe it. If I stayed back in Hima, Cruxis would come for me sooner or later. And then I'd probably hurl myself off the cliff anyway. Why bother delaying the inevitable? At least if I went to the Tower, I might get a chance to bitchslap Remiel once or twice.

Someone grasped my arm lightly, and I looked over to see Colette frowning slightly at me. She held up her notepad, where she'd scribbled a few words.

_'Is something wrong?'_

I blinked, realizing I must've had a grave look on my face. Damn, this was why I always left the group when I needed to do some serious brooding.

"Eh? No, I'm fine, Colette." I flashed a reassuring but fake smile. "Why? Do I look sick or something?"

She shook her head, writing her reply. _'You just had a strange look on your face. Are you sure you're okay?'_

I nodded. "Yeah, I feel fine."

_'Okay!'_ She smiled as I read her note, but I could tell she was still troubled. _'Sorry for bothering you.'_

"It's okay. You worry too much." I said, grinning, but feeling like total crap.

I could feel Lloyd's eyes on me. I swear, that guy was seriously persistent. He was better at figuring me out than the people that were actually suspicious. And that's saying something, considering Lloyd's IQ. I guess he just had a lot more people smarts than anything else. I had noticed lately that he'd been dragging Colette off to talk to her, too. The poor guy had way too much on his shoulders.

"Hakonesia Peak!" Genis exclaimed, his face lighting up as he noticed how close the mountain was. "Raine, are we staying at the inn there again?"

The Professor exchanged a look with Kratos, and then she nodded. "We'll follow the same path we did on the way here. Tomorrow we'll head for the House of Salvation."

"Finally," I sighed. "I'm getting tired."

I didn't want to think about the fact that the worst was yet to come--we would have to climb uphill for an hour or so before we could even make it to the inn. I hoped we wouldn't run into that guy with the clown nose when we walked past his shop...man, I was really glad I hadn't been around for that part. That guy was sketchy as hell.

We continued up the path, and I saw the familiar bend. The second we headed around it, there would be a clearing in the trees and the gate to the pass would be visible. Sweet!

Colette suddenly froze, her brow furrowed. Being the person walking next to her, I stopped as well, wondering what was up.

"Hm? What is it, Colette?" Sheena had noticed, too; now everyone stopped, turning to the blonde Chosen.

Kratos had already placed a hand on his sword's hilt, tense. He glared ahead warily.

_'I hear voices,'_ Colette wrote. _'And clinking metal...like armor.'_

"Should we turn back?" Raine looked around quietly. "We may not want to get involved with whatever's going on here."

"But what if it's the Desians?!" Lloyd hissed, alert.

"That wouldn't make any sense. We blew up the ranches--" I cut myself off as my eyes widened. Who else around here would cause such a ruckus?

"Drop your weapons." An authoratative voice with an English accent said from behind us, and suddenly we had soldiers wearing Desian uniforms surrounding us.

But they weren't Desians; I knew better. None of them held whips, and none of them had that trademark sneer on their face. They were all business. And shit, Botta. Weren't they supposed to be afraid of Kratos?! This didn't make any sense.

Some of us drew our weapons, only to be jabbed from all sides with Renegade swords. Kratos was Not Amused.

"And if we refuse?" He asked, looking like he had no intention of forking over his weapon.

Suddenly the blade of a sword was being pressed to my neck, a Renegade gripping me from behind. Botta continued his staring contest with the mercenary.

"The girl dies."

"Oh, come on! Why does it have to be me?" I complained, only to have the Renegade holding me cut my neck slightly. The feeling of blood trickling down past my collarbone shut me up.

"You bastard!" Lloyd growled, his fists clenched. "Kratos, we have to..."

Okay, Brittany, think fast. If they won here, Lloyd would be caught or Colette would die, meaning all hopes of getting home were screwed anyway. If I died...well, as I had been thinking earlier, why delay the inevitable? Besides, I'd be helping Lloyd and the others get out of a fix.

"Cut it out, stupid! Just fight them already! Don't get all sentimental on me!" I winced, feeling the blade cut further into my flesh.

"Idiot girl," the Renegade holding me grumbled.

"What the hell are you talking about? We're not just gonna let you die!" Sheena protested.

"They're Desians! They'll just kill me anyway!" I said, trying to sound convincing. "Don't you remember what happened at the House of Salvation before I was taken to the ranch?"

"Desians..." The guy behind me snorted, and I refrained from elbowing him hard in the gut. That'd probably play out badly for me.

The Renegade standing next to me jabbed me in the back of the leg with his sword, and it took all my effort not to yelp. He seemed about as Not Amused as Kratos...ah, was that blue hair I saw? It was probably only visible to me, but I thought I could see some blue under that helmet...dammit, Yuan. Don't make me break out that locket of yours. It's probably got a picture of you and Martel making out or something.

"Hmph." Kratos finally seemed to make a decison. I bit my lip, bracing myself for the pain--and then saw the mercenary throw his sword down.

...Wait, _what?_

Kratos threw his weapon down. His prime concerns were Lloyd and Colette, who the Renegades were after, and he just threw his weapon down. Oh my God...did Kratos actually have a conscience? Part of me wanted to hug him, while the other part wanted to punch him in the nose.

Following his example, everyone else immediately threw their own weapons down as the Renegades kicked them out of reach. Christ, sometimes I questioned the sanity of these people. Why couldn't they have just attacked and made their escape?

The Renegade behind me pulled Loki off my back, throwing it off to the side. Without my sword, I felt naked and vulnerable. We were really screwed here, weren't we?

"Gather their weapons," Botta ordered, and several soldiers approached to obey.

"Eruption," Kratos muttered, and suddenly everyone froze as the ground crumbled, fire bursting out of the cracks in the earth beneath the Renegades' feet.

The spell was much more powerful than usual; Kratos hadn't held back this time. Soldiers were blown back, burnt badly by the attack. Kratos immediately rushed forward, pulling his sword off the ground and slashing it in a wide arc, cutting down several Renegades that stood behind us. In the blink of an eye, we suddenly had an opening for escape. I should've known Kratos had something up his sleeve, the clever bastard.

"Go!" Kratos growled to us.

I reacted first, pausing to pick up a few choice weapons off the ground before grabbing Lloyd and Colette's hands. Tugging them along with me, I ran straight through the gap that had formed and into the cover of the trees. After a second or two they seemed to realize what was going on, and started to run with me.

I shoved their weapons at them as we ran, throwing my own sword over one shoulder. We'd have to take advantage of Kratos' temporary distraction. He'd be fine alone; after all, Yuan couldn't fight him without blowing his cover. All Kratos had to do was smack around Botta and his men for a bit.

Suddenly my mind registered the fact that I'd taken on the leadership position here, and I had absolutely no clue where to run to. We were running away from Hakonesia Peak, and trying to go around the battle scene wasn't an option. We couldn't turn around now...so where could we go? Maybe hide out in the mountains for a bit, where the forest was thicker. I looked over my shoulder to ask Raine her opinion, and then my mouth opened in a gape.

She wasn't there. No one was following us. I'd just assumed everyone else had listened to Kratos' instructions, but it looked like they hadn't reacted in time. They'd probably wasted a second considering who should stay behind to help Kratos or something. Dammit! This might complicate things. What if someone got hurt back there? Kratos couldn't look out for three other people when being attacked from all sides. I could only hope that they'd be okay fending for themselves.

"Wait! Professor Sage and the others..." Lloyd started to slow down for a minute, having noticed the same thing as me.

"It's too late," I said, tugging his hand to keep him moving. "Besides, it's you the Re--um, Desians are after. And Colette, probably. If we go back now, we'll only get in the way and piss Kratos off."

"...Dammit." Lloyd growled, and picked up the pace.

Colette ran silently on my other side, looking worried. I felt sort of bad for being such a control freak, but we really would be screwed if we went back there and tried to play the heroes. As it was, the Renegades were probably going to try and kill Colette outright. She hadn't become Martel's vessel yet, so she was still fair game. All it would take was--

Colette's head jerked to the left, her eyes widening, and I instinctively halted and tugged the two of them backwards. A crossbow bolt came whizzing inches past our faces, embedding itself in the trunk of a tree. Lloyd clutched my hand painfully tight as he almost fell on his ass with surprise. I scowled with frustration, as he was holding my sword hand, preventing me from defending myself right away.

The blonde Chosen lifted a chakram, hurling it in the direction the bolt had come from, and suddenly a Renegade jumped out into the open to avoid being hit. Colette caught her chakram again and stared at the man defiantly. He only smirked.

"You three match the description...red, white, and blue. Well, any last words before lights out?"

"Patriotic..." I mumbled, only half aware I'd said it. I was mostly focused on yanking my hand out of Lloyd's grasp so that I could reach for my sword. Colette had already let go of my left hand so she could grab her other chakram.

Lloyd's eyes narrowed in his typical 'I'm pissed and reckless' face. "We won't go without a--!"

He was abruptly cut off, making a quiet choking sound as the hilt of a sword connected with the pressure point on the back of his neck. Lloyd fell forward and to the ground, unconscious, and I realized that that particular Renegade was not alone.

I also realized that there would be no escaping this time. My last few thoughts were about the irony of Lloyd's words; I felt a vague, detached amusement as my vision blacked out.

----

"...the hell are we waiting for?"

"Lord Yuan specifically stated that we should wait for him before taking any action."

"But we're supposed to kill the Chosen anyway!"

My eyebrow twitched as I started to hear voices. The darkness of unconsciousness began to fade, and I nearly winced as I took notice of the uncomfortable bed I was laying on as well as the nasty bruise that was surely on the back of my neck. I experimentally cracked open one eye, and was unsurprised to see metal bars closing me into a small cell. This didn't look like a base, though. It looked sort of...shoddy, actually.

That's right...we were captured in the middle of the forest near Hakonesia Peak. Of course they couldn't have gotten us to a base right away...this place was probably a temporary hideout.

Well, there was no sense in pretending I was asleep. It wasn't like they'd wander unarmed into my cell for no particular reason. I wouldn't be able to launch some sort of crazy surprise attack. I sat up in the bed, rubbing my eyes lightly. The two Renegades outside the cell ignored me, continuing their bickering in quiet hisses.

"Now that you mention it...which one is the Chosen?" The calmer one questioned. Mr. Impatient hesitated.

"The one with the Cruxis Crystal," he answered.

"Both of those girls have crystals, you imbecile!"

A slow grin crept on to my lips. My Exsphere may have only been a crystal-in-progress, but apparently it was convincing enough since it was in the same place as Colette's crystal. I had a feeling these guys were just a couple of low-ranked, uneducated guards. They only had vague information about the Chosen, so maybe I could work this to my advantage.

My grin became a friendly one, and I stepped up to the bars, trying to look relaxed. "Hey, guys. Sorry about all the trouble this has caused."

The both of them finally took notice of me, and looked at me like I was crazy. Well, that was encouraging...but this was the only plan I had been able to whip up, and it was pretty half-assed.

"What the hell are you talking about, girl?" Mr. Impatient asked, crossing his arms.

I feigned surprise. "You mean you don't know? I'm the Chosen..."

He looked pleased at that statement, happy now that he knew which person to kill. Mr. Calm only frowned, though.

"You're dumber than I thought. Do you realize you've just made yourself a target?"

My eyes widened further in confusion, and then suddenly my brow furrowed as I pretended to think of something.

"Oh, I see..." I nodded. "Lord Yuan hasn't told you two." I really, really hoped the silence coming from the adjacent cells meant that Colette and Lloyd were still out.

"Told us what?" Mr. Impatient looked skeptical, but also a bit indignant at the thought of being kept in the dark by his superior.

"We were supposed to negotiate about the World Regeneration ritual," I said, frowning. "I was willing to give up the Cruxis Crystal in exchange for my life. Plus, Yuan said he'd found a way to beat the system, so killing me would be completely unnecessary."

Mr. Calm watched me carefully, unbelieving. "If that's true, why was it that we received the order to kill you?"

I crossed my arms. "You received the order to wait until Yuan got here. If he really wanted me dead, he would've just let you kill me right away."

I knew the real reason Yuan had given those instructions was because these guys couldn't tell the difference between the Chosen and a pile of sticks. Of course, I wasn't going to say anything about that, tempting as it was to insult their IQ level.

The impatient one seemed to relax a little, seeing some reason in this. "That does make sense, Sid," he murmured to his friend. "Lord Yuan wouldn't waste time with such an important goal..."

"You could have easily met up with us," Mr. Calm persisted.

I shook my head. "My companions don't know of my plans. They'd try to stop me, thinking I was forsaking the world. Besides, if Cruxis found out about this, they'd find a way to ruin everything. And that would put you Renegades in danger, too. We had to make it look like I was captured against my will."

As I spoke, I was surprised at how logical it all sounded despite the many holes in my story. I was learning a thing or two about being convincing, probably from Kratos. "You two probably weren't told for that reason. It's absolutely vital that nothing slips about this. Cruxis has spies everywhere, you know. There could even be one traveling with me."

The two of them took all of this in, frowning thoughtfully at me. I could tell that now was the time to get straight to the point, now that they were actually considering believing my bullshit.

"Look...Yuan should be getting back right around now, right? Why don't you two take me to him and see for yourselves?"

They stared for a second more, and then Mr. Calm nodded.

"All right." He dug in one of his pockets and drew out a ring of keys.

Mr. Impatient relaxed; he obviously relied on his companion to make the decisions. Now that the decision was made, he'd just follow along.

My heart went into overdrive as I saw Mr. Calm slip the key into the lock. I fought to stay composed as the lock clicked open. This was where my plan ended; I'd only thought as far as getting out of the damn jail cell. Now I needed to do some more quick thinking.

I stepped out of the cell, mind racing. Okay, so Mr. Impatient was more likely to be reckless in battle, so...

Before either of them had the chance to react, I lifted my leg and kicked Mr. Calm hard in the groin. He made an odd gagging noise as he crumpled to the floor, hands gripping his family jewels. I immediately turned to the second Renegade. He'd made the mistake of not already having his weapon out as I left the cell, and now he was going to pay for it. I shot the heel of my hand upward at his face, aiming for his nose under the helmet. The blow hit home, and I attempted to control my nausea as I heard the familiar crunch. When had I learned to hit so hard? The instinct for survival did crazy things to people.

The Renegade backed off, temporarily distracted with the pain of the injury. I used that opportunity to pull his sword right out of its sheath and run him through with it. I then swung around and sank the blade into his recovering friend.

I panted, my heart pounding. Somehow, I'd done it...

The blood on the Renegade sword dripped slowly to the floor. I leaned down and wiped the blade on the uniform of Mr. Calm, mumbling an apology as I did so.

I hadn't wanted to kill them. Honestly, the groin kick and the broken nose were enough, and would have made for an amusing escape story later on. But...if I had let them live, they would've told Yuan about what I said. Yuan would have found out that I knew a lot more than I should, and I couldn't let that happen.

I reached down and picked the keys up off the floor where the Renegade had dropped them. Then I approached the cell next to mine, and froze.

How could I have forgotten? Colette couldn't be knocked unconscious, because Colette couldn't sleep.

She was sitting on her bed, wide awake. She'd heard the entire thing. Oh, shit. It wasn't like I could just off her to preserve the secret.

I bit my lip. Well...this sucked.

"You heard everything," I said quietly. She nodded, looking confused.

I fumbled with the keys, sighing. "Colette...please don't mention that exchange to anyone. I can't explain anything about Yuan or the Renegades right now, okay? It'll only end up getting us killed."

She looked troubled for a moment, but then nodded in agreement, to my relief. I smiled, trying to shake off the feeling that this little mistake was going to bite me in the ass later.

I unlocked the door to her cell and gestured to her. "Okay. Let's wake up Lloyd and get the hell out of here before Yuan shows up." No sense in pretending I didn't know who he was at this point...

We walked over to the door of Lloyd's cell, where he was snoring lightly. Jeez, at least someone got a nice sleep out of this whole experience. I refrained from rolling my eyes as I unlocked his cell with a small click.

The sound of the door creaking open didn't wake him up, so I strolled over to his bed.

"Lloyd, wake up," I said quietly to him. He went on sleeping.

I reached out, poking him in the forehead. "Lloydie...."

After a few more pokes, he shifted in his sleep, muttering something about his unfinished homework. Colette looked a bit amused, until she saw me lean down so my lips were almost touching his ear.

"LLOYD!!" I yelled, and he shot up and fell off the bed.

"Wh-What's happening!?" He looked around wildly, reaching for swords that weren't there.

"Sorry. Your snoring was getting annoying." I smiled, not apologetic at all.

He started to make a face at me, but suddenly he frowned, looking around. "Where are we...?" His eyes widened as he saw the bodies of the Renegades outside the cell.

"I dunno. But I managed to beat the guards, so we should get out of here while we can."

"Yeah..." He nodded, getting to his feet and walking out of the cell with us. "I wonder what happened to Kratos and the others."

"Hopefully they made out better than we did," I said, scowling. I still couldn't understand how we'd been ambushed and captured like that.

After a few minutes of searching our general area, we were able to regain possession of our weapons and items. Once we were all set, we continued with our escape.

We chose a random hallway and moved down it for a minute or so, until Colette paused and held us back. We looked over at her, and she held a finger to her lips. Ah, she heard something again, coming from straight ahead. I bit my lip, pushing open the nearest door and leading the two of them inside.

The room was thankfully empty, and fortunately it didn't look like Yuan's office or anything.

"...I see. So the plan was successful." Speak of the devil. Yuan sounded pretty pleased with himself.

"Yes, sir. We managed to ambush them a safe distance away from Kratos."

"Good. I'll speak with them now, then," Yuan said, and there was the sound of them passing our door and continuing on down the hall. Their voices faded.

I looked over to Colette. "Are they gone?" I mouthed to her. She listened for a moment, and then nodded.

"Let's get out of here," I whispered.

"That guy..." Lloyd frowned. "He's--"

"We'll worry about that later," I cut him off. "If they catch up to us, we'll get our asses handed to us again. C'mon."

I poked my head out the door, cautiously looking both ways, before walking out in the direction Yuan had come from. If he'd come from outside, then...

The next door I opened revealed a path leading through the forest. Sweet freedom! There weren't even any guards, since that would make the place look conspicuous. Colette and Lloyd followed me out, and we proceeded to run as fast as we could in a random direction. We didn't take the path, for fear that more Renegades would be headed back to the temporary base.

"Where are we going?" Lloyd asked me as we ran.

"Beats me," I replied.

I took a look at our surroundings. The mountains were visible through the forest canopy, on our right. Okay, so...if we just ran along the mountains, we'd find the pass sooner or later, right? Unless we were already past it...shit, I didn't know what the hell I was doing. I was a sucky leader.

We continued running until we were too exhausted to go on. Normally for me that'd take between five or ten minutes depending on how determined I was, but with the help of the Exsphere, I didn't start to trip till around thirty. We'd heard a group of Renegades once during our escape, but thankfully we managed to stay hidden until they passed. Since then, there hadn't been any incidents.

At around the thirty-third minute of running, I finally slowed down, coughing.

"Okay, I'm gonna die. If we don't take a break, you'll be carrying my sorry ass, Lloyd."

He slowed to a stop, leaning against a tree and panting. "A break sounds like a good idea."

Colette nodded in consent, taking a seat on a large rock nearby. She only seemed slightly out of breath. Stupid angelic powers.

As we sat there and caught our breath, I looked up and noticed that it was starting to get dark out. The sky turned a pale orange as the shadows grew longer, the sun beginning its descent over the horizon. Damn...I had really been looking forward to spending the night in a nice, comfy inn bed...and eavesdropping on Lloyd and Genis again. Good times.

"So what do you guys wanna do?" I asked once I felt able to breathe again. "Should we stay here for the night or go looking for the others? We can't light a fire, the smoke will give us away..."

"This sucks," Lloyd groaned. "I wish those stupid Desians would leave us alone."

Colette sent me a look, as she was probably wondering what the difference between Desians and Renegades was. I shrugged.

"Well, on the bright side, soon there won't be any Desians left."

"Yeah..." He frowned, troubled, and I realized I'd just hit a touchy spot. World Regeneration meant weird stuff happening to Colette.

"Anyway," I said loudly, "We can probably meet up with the others in the morning. I bet they're waiting for us at Hakonesia Peak."

"I hope they're okay." Lloyd crossed his arms. "Speaking of which, didn't those Desians from earlier say something about Kratos?"

At that, something in my head clicked. "They did. I remember...we saw the leader of that group earlier at Kvar's ranch. He wanted to avoid Kratos then, so I thought it was weird that now they suddenly wanted to fight us."

My eyes narrowed, and I scowled. "They knew! They knew Kratos would find us an opening so we could escape."

"I get it..." Lloyd said, eyes wide. "If we left the group, Kratos wouldn't be able to protect us anymore."

"Exactly. They knew Kratos could bitchslap them to the moon and back, so they came up with this plan." I groaned. "I can't believe it. How were they even able to find us in the first place?"

"Wish I knew," Lloyd remarked, rubbing the back of his neck. "Ow.."

We were quiet for a few moments, staring at the ground between us in deep thought. After what had just happened, the earlier events of today had become a blur. My head was really starting to ache. I just wanted to call it a day and go to sleep, but I was too nervous to relax enough for that. It was one thing after another...seriously, couldn't we just go one day without drawing our weapons? Was that too much to ask?

A rustling in the bushes nearby caused all three of us to stiffen. Lloyd instantly drew his swords, pointing it towards said bushes, and I jumped to my aching feet.

"Wh-Whoa!" A high pitched voice came out of the shadows, and there was the sound of someone falling over.

Lloyd lowered his swords in surprise. "Genis?"

"Lloyd!" Genis seemed to realize who he was facing. He got to his knees, looking over to us. "Everyone! You're okay!"

The brunette smiled, relieved. "Of course we are, you dork. I was worried about you guys. Where's the Professor and the others?"

"Right here," Raine's voice rang out, and she stepped into our little clearing. Kratos and Sheena followed.

"Whew," I remarked, "I was hoping we'd reunite before dark. How'd you find us?"

"Corinne helped us out a bit," Sheena replied, grinning. The summon spirit was perched on her shoulder, giving me the disdainful stare of a spoiled cat. As I had lived with such cats all my life, the stare had no effect. Love you too, Corinne.

Huh. Speaking of cats, did Corinne ever cough up hairballs? He certainly had enough fur in that poofy tail of his to pull off such a feat. But then again, I'd never seen him licking himself like a cat. Squirrels didn't lick themselves, did they? His tail was sort of like a squirrel's. Or that weird Pokemon that I forgot the name of. Jeez, I hadn't watched Pokemon in ages...

"Brittany! Are you paying attention?" Raine's stern voice derailed my train of thought.

Nope, not really. I contemplated asking Sheena about Corinne and his hairballs to avoid the topic of my short attention span, but thought better of it. I didn't need an indignant little summon spirit trying to tackle me to the ground and make me go deaf with his squeaky voice.

"Um...yes?" I replied very convincingly, and regarded her balled fist with wary suspicion.

Raine seemed to realize that if she hit me too many times, she'd just create another Lloyd. Her fist relaxed, and she let out an annoyed sigh. "I was asking about what happened earlier. Lloyd says you three were caught by those Desians?"

"Oh. Um, yeah, we were. But we escaped, which is pretty obvious," I said helpfully.

"And how did you do so?" Kratos asked, watching me sternly. Jeez...for all I knew, he thought I was working with the Renegades.

But that still didn't make sense, because if he even so much as thought such a thing, he would've driven me out of the group long ago. Dammit, Kratos, you enigma.

"Well..." I said awkwardly, "I sorta sweet-talked a few of the guards and took 'em out."

"Sweet-talked?" Sheena asked, amused. "What did you say?"

I frowned, feigning embarrassment. "Th-That's not important! What's important is we got out."

"Right," Lloyd said, to my relief. "Oh...and what was it we were talking about earlier, Brit? About their plan?"

"We overheard one of their conversations," I added, with more confidence this time. "Apparently they're scared shitless of you, Kratos. They let us three escape because that meant we'd be separated from our strongest fighter."

The mercenary frowned at that. "...Hmph."

That's all he had to say? Jeez, it seemed like the only time Kratos ever talked your ear off was when he was flaunting his own knowledge.

"In fact," I said, wanting to get some reaction out of him, "they have posters all over their little base with your face on them. They call you The Purple Terror, and whoever catches you gets a million Gald and the secret to your hairstyle."

"Let's get moving," Kratos said, ignoring me. "We still have to reach the inn before dark."

The others gave me one last look before following. While Lloyd just grinned, Sheena shook her head, probably wondering why I kept trying to get myself killed.

"Kratos?" I called, sulking at the back of the group. "Hey, Kratos, acknowledge meeee!"

"...Do you hear something?" Kratos muttered quietly, looking slightly over his shoulder to the others.

"Oh, please tell me you aren't pulling that cheap--" I gaped. Was he actually cracking a joke?

"...Hm, it seems it was just the wind." He shook his head.

"You can't run forever," I grumbled.

"Yeah, it really is windy today," Lloyd remarked, grinning. Kratos looked over his shoulder again--was that amusement I saw in his eyes?

"THAT'S MY BOY!" Kratos yelled, hugging his son and crying tears of fatherly joy.

...Okay, he didn't, but it would've been funny if he had. Sweet, salty Kratos tears...

Oh man, I really needed to get some sleep before I started hallucinating.

----

We made it to the inn about an hour and a half later, just as it was truly starting to get dark. I felt so much like a zombie that I was honestly contemplating going off to live with the ones that resided on the outskirts of Iselia. My thoughts weren't exactly rational anymore and I was mostly on autopilot, mindlessly putting one foot after the other.

Of course, once we actually entered the inn room and I collapsed on my bed, I was much too sore to even think about sleeping. Now that I lay still, I finally noticed how much my muscles spasmed and throbbed with exhaustion, and it wasn't exactly helping me relax. After around ten minutes of this, I gave up and went to sit in my usual spot against the wall. Maybe a little eavesdropping would make me feel better. Sheena was out passing notes to Colette (and not sharing secrets, I hoped), so I could listen quietly without interruption. I just hoped I wouldn't have to listen to Genis bitch about me again. Listening to him and Lloyd having a casual conversation would be enough to relax my mind.

"...puzzles me is how those Desians found us." Raine's voice was the first I heard. "It seems odd that they would travel so far from their base in the Triet Desert, even if it is to find Lloyd."

"It is strange," Kratos admitted. "Their behavior indicated that they had not been waiting for us long, and yet there was no way they could have known the specific time we would arrive." He sounded irked; he didn't like the idea that the Renegades had any sort of advantage.

I frowned, pushing myself to my feet and away from the wall. As much as I wanted to, I couldn't eavesdrop on a conversation that Kratos was involved in. He probably knew very well how thin the walls were, and I was sure he'd heard me sit against the wall in my room. I thought it was pretty safe to assume that if I sat there any longer, Kratos would confront me later, or deem me untrustworthy in his mind--if he hadn't already done so.

Okay, what else could I do while I waited for my muscles to calm down...maybe the night air might help a bit. I'd already had plenty of it already, but...ah, well. There was something else I could check while I was outside, too.

I wandered out of the inn, my legs screaming with protest at every step I took. Looking around warily, I made sure not to walk too far out of sight. I knew there were Renegades about, and I really didn't want a repeat of that one incident the last time I'd wandered off here.

Rather than moving out into the woods, I walked around to the back of the building where no one else was. Okay, now I could do this without having anyone look over my shoulder.

I reached into my bag, pulling out the silver locket once more. After all the crappy events from today, I thought I deserved a peek at what was inside. Yuan might be pissed later, but honestly, he had been quite an ass to me. I still couldn't bring myself to hate him and his lovely hair, but this was my little personal act of revenge.

Holding the locket in my hands, I glared down at it. It would open this time, dammit.

After a few minutes of struggling with it, I managed to create a small gap between the metals, and grinned. Okay, now for the final touch...I pulled a Gald coin out of my bag, and wedged it in the gap, using it to slowly pry open the locket. After a second or two, the cover popped open with a click, and I inwardly cheered with victory. Excited, I moved the coin to see what sort of picture it was hiding.

I stared for a few moments, and my brow furrowed with confusion at the sight before me. What...What was this? This wasn't a photograph of Yuan and Martel, as I'd hoped for. It looked like...some sort of computer chip.

A dark green device was implanted in the locket, and a small, blinking red light flashed in the center of it.

My eyes widened in shock as I finally saw it for what it was--a tracking device. Yuan, that clever bastard, had intentionally dropped this!

"You've got to be fucking kidding me," I whispered, unable to believe my eyes. I knew how Yuan was, and yet I had still fallen for it. Anger and frustration welled up inside me, and I wanted to scream.

The entire day's events...the reason why the Renegades had found us...it was my fault! I had been helping them the whole time! And even as I sat here holding this thing, I was putting everyone in danger.

"I'll kill him!" I hissed under my breath, clenching my fists. "That stupid, snarky--augh!"

I snapped the locket shut again, thoroughly pissed off now. I was going to get rid of this Godforsaken thing, and I was never falling for one of those cheap tricks again.

Running into the woods, I approached a mountain stream we'd passed a little while earlier. I picked up a branch of driftwood and snagged the chain on to it, throwing it into the moving current. The wood floated downstream, carrying the locket with it. That ought to throw them off track for a little while, at least...if all went well, the driftwood would head all the way down the mountain to where the stream let off, most likely near the bridge to the Balacruf Mausoleum.

My simmering anger gradually dissipated as my exhaustion caught up with me. There was nothing I could do about it anymore, but I still felt completely indignant and stupid for letting Yuan get the better of me. If I hadn't outsmarted those Renegades earlier and helped Lloyd and Colette escape, I'd be feeling totally ashamed.

Letting out a heavy sigh, I trudged back to the inn and kicked off my boots, collapsing on to my bed. Okay, from now on...no more dealings with the Renegades, and no more talking to Yuan. Yeah, that sounded nice...

I finally closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep, vaguely hoping that seeing the unicorn in a few days would take my mind off all of these crazy events.

----

**A/N: Ha! You were all expecting a cute picture in the locket, weren't you?! Of course, OC Brit has bad luck and all that, so she got screwed over. :D I'd feel pretty used and pissed off if that happened to me, hence why Britbrit is grumbly.**

**So yeah! I always update when it's past my bedtime and I'm too tired to think. I'll try to revise this thing before going to bed, but...ugh. Wait, it's a little late to talk about revisions, you've already read it. ....My brain hurts. D:**

**Next time: I might stay on track and get to the unicorn! XD**


	26. Birthday

**A/N: New chapter! Finally! On the bright side...this is the longest one I've written yet. (and I still don't get to Lake Umacy? Wtf? I amaze myself sometimes.) ah, well...character development, sorta. random events, some of 'em good, some of 'em bad. Moar Kratos.**

**Whoa, it's December already. It's been almost a year since I started writing this. o_o Well, at least I know I've improved...my beginning chapters suck. DX I can't even read them anymore without wanting to bash my head against a wall. Maybe I'll rewrite them...never. XD I barely find time to write new chapters, never mind fix the old ones...argh.**

**Hey! If the improvement continues, maybe I'll be like a pro by chapter 60! XD probably not, but I can have dreams...ah! and one more thing before I shut up. I drew something just for you guys. ;D**

**http:// noa748. deviantart. com/ art/ New-Reality-Fun-With-Kratos-143871934**

**...without the spaces. Muahahahaha!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own ToS or its characters! And I've run out of jokes to put here! Aw, crud.**

----

As usual, we started bright and early the next morning. Our new goal was the House of Salvation near Asgard, where we could stock up on supplies. My bad mood from the night before washed away with a good night's sleep; even though I was hurting in places I didn't know I had nerves, I still found myself in a relatively good mood. After all, we were going downhill now, and the slope this time wasn't bad enough to make my aching legs worse.

Hopefully, we wouldn't have any more unexpected encounters with the Renegades. I'd gotten rid of their tracking device and now I knew better than to fall for anything else Yuan had planned. I would have to talk to Colette later, but she wasn't the most suspicious person around--I could always come up with some bullshit excuse.

I hated to say it, but...Colette's condition was serving to help me out here. With luck, the others wouldn't find out about my prior knowledge until after the Tower, and by then my fate would have been sealed anyway. By then I'd either be dead or stuck up in Welgaia, being experimented on or something weird like that. I'd never have to explain anything to them, and that meant I'd never have to endure being stared at like I'm a lunatic. Everyone wins!

...Well, except for the dying part. I'd worry about that later. After all, miles and miles of land still separated me from Hima and those godforsaken dragons.

With my thoughts all sorted out, I started to work on the explanation I'd have to give to Colette. I'd have to catch her alone at the House of Salvation...yeah, and then I could ask her to come to some secluded place with me, where Kratty wouldn't be able to eavesdrop.

"I'm bored," Lloyd said aloud, and all of my ideas died.

"Dammit, Lloyd," I groaned, "I had such a good train of thought going there."

"You've been all quiet for like an hour," he complained, "and I've run out of things to talk about with everyone else. And Kratos keeps ignoring me when I talk to him."

"That tends to happen," I shrugged.

"But unlike you, I don't see the point of rambling on for twenty minutes until he hits me," Lloyd pointed out, and I grinned.

"...So, you've come to bug me now?"

"Yup."

"Well, okay then."

"How much longer do you think we'll have to walk?" Lloyd asked.

"Beats me. I was wondering the same thing."

"Raine said we'll probably get there before dark," Genis said, falling back with us.

"Genis has joined the conversation!" I declared triumphantly.

"Do you have to do that?" The half elf rolled his eyes.

"Hey, that's great!" Lloyd said happily. "That means we'll have time to do other stuff!"

I snorted. "I dunno about you, but I'm getting extra sleep."

"What kind of other stuff would you do, Lloyd?" Genis asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Probably sneak a peek at one of my dirty books," I said slyly, and Lloyd made a face.

"Ew, no! Don't even start!"

I sighed. "Man, you guys have to hit puberty one of these days. What if we run into another topless summon spirit?"

Lloyd shuddered, and Genis shook his head. "You're never going to let it go, are you?"

"Probably not. But don't worry, I'm sure I'll find something else to amuse myself with later anyway," I said, grinning.

"Let's, uh...talk about something else," Lloyd attempted feebly to change the subject.

"We should do something fun later!" Genis suggested.

"Like?" I asked curiously.

"Hm..." he paused to think.

"Agh," Lloyd sighed, "there's nothing to do at those Houses."

I frowned for a moment, remembering something. "Eh, just come to my room. I'll figure something out."

"What happened to sleeping?" Genis asked, glancing over at me. I shrugged.

"Lloyd would probably wake me up with his whining anyway."

"True."

"I'm right here!" Lloyd grumbled.

After a few more minutes of conversation and occasional bickering, we fell silent again. I frowned inwardly, my thoughts returning to what bullshit story I'd make up and feed to Colette. Jeez, I never lied this much back on Earth...

My brow furrowed. Even though my memory of my last few days at home was pretty vivid (up until my last moments, anyway), I still couldn't help but realize that I'd been here on Sylvarant for quite a while. How long had it been?

"Yo, Lloyd," I said, a thoughtful look on my face. "What's the date?"

"Uh..." The brunette paused for a minute. "August nineteenth, I think. Why?"

I shrugged. "Just wondering." Man...I'd been here for three months? Even though it sounded like a long time, I still felt as if a year had passed.

He tilted his head a bit, staring at me. "Hey, that reminds me. When's your birthday?"

"Huh?" I blinked. Where had that come from? "November twentieth."

"So...three months. Got it," he said, nodding. I rolled my eyes.

"Lloyd, this journey will be over in three months." Translation: I'll be dead before then. I was going to die before my nineteenth birthday...

He grinned. "Well, we've gotta figure out how to get you home, don't we? I'm not just gonna abandon you once the world is regenerated."

"Yeah..." I almost frowned, but managed to keep my face blank. Dammit, Lloyd, why do you have to be such a good friend? It made lying to him a lot harder than it should've been.

Trying to keep the conversation on a lighter note, I attempted a smile. "So, when's your birthday, then?"

Lloyd ran a hand through his messy hair. "...Actually, it's in three days."

My eyes widened, and I punched his shoulder. "What?! You jerk! Why didn't you tell me?"

"I dunno. I guess I sort of forgot," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "It's okay, you don't have to get me anything."

"Shut up," I said. "You're turning eighteen. You're gonna be a man, Lloydie, and I'd be a jackass if I didn't get you a present on such a big day."

He rolled his eyes. "Seriously, don't worry about it, you dork."

"Too late, I'm worried." I crossed my arms. "Let's see...man, this is gonna be tough. Hmm, hmm...."

I noticed Kratos was frowning a bit--his slightly troubled look hinted at deeper emotions within him. He hadn't shown even any slight surprise at Lloyd's birthday being in three days, which meant that Lloyd had given the correct date. I guess even at three years old, Lloyd had been able to tell Dirk when his birthday was.

Hey...was Kratos going to give Lloyd a gift? Oh man, that'd be so cute. And he'd probably leave it on Lloyd's bed or something and run away so he wouldn't seem soft or anything. Heh...

"Your birthday's in three days, Lloyd?" Sheena looked over her shoulder. "Um...maybe I could figure out something to give you, too." She blushed slightly, and then looked away to hide it.

"Guys, don't make a big deal out of it..." Lloyd sighed.

"Eighteen, Lloyd," I reminded him. "You're gonna be all grown up! That's kind of scary, come to think of it..."

"You're eighteen," he grumbled. "Besides, you didn't suddenly start acting all adult the second you turned eighteen, did you?"

"Well, I--" I started out, wanting to tell him of what I'd done on my last birthday, and then cut myself off. "...I don't really remember," I shrugged.

"Oh...yeah." Lloyd frowned, glancing at the others, who were in easy hearing range. I couldn't whisper either, because of Colette and Kratos.

"So!" I said, "When's everyone else's birthdays? I don't want any more surprises."

Sheena looked over at me. "Well, mine's already passed...it was May first."

It was so weird to think that Sheena wasn't that much older than me...jeez, if we'd been born in the same world, we might've gone to school together.

I nodded. "Okay, Genis?"

"January twelfth. Oh, and Colette's was on March thirtieth."

"My birthday is on the fifth of February," Raine said.

Hah, everyone had been listening to our little conversation. I looked over at Kratos, knowing he wouldn't immediately volunteer the information like everyone else. Pulling out a small notebook from my bag, I jotted down everyone's birthdays before glancing at the mercenary again.

"Ohhh, Kratoooos!" I called. He grunted.

"You know, I still don't know when your birthday is," I remarked.

"I do not require a gift and the journey will be--"

"Over by then? Then there's no harm in telling me, right? Pleeeease."

He sighed. "Fine. I was born on December twenty-fifth."

"Seriously?" I asked, my eyes widening. He looked over his shoulder at me, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes. Is there something wrong with that date?"

I remembered that Christmas couldn't possibly exist here, and laughed nervously. "Uh, no, nothing at all. I was just...um...it's kinda funny how you were born in a cold month and have a cold personality! Ha...ha..."

He rubbed his forehead and returned his attention to the trees ahead of us, probably dismissing the strange remark as me being stupid again. Lloyd gave me a weird look, and I just shrugged.

Wow...Kratos was born on Christmas day. That was a funny thought. Kratos wearing a Santa hat...

----

"Yes!" I grinned when our destination came within sight.

Over the course of the previous day, I'd begged Raine to let us take the slightly longer route to Asgard so that I could go shopping for a present for Lloyd. I also reasoned that Lloyd deserved to sleep in a real bed on his eighteenth birthday, not on the cold, hard ground. Since I was fighting for Lloyd, Genis and Colette immediately backed me up. Sheena did, too, since she'd also decided to get him a present. Lloyd just sighed heavily in the background during all this, but I had a feeling he was secretly enjoying the attention.

Anyway, it was late evening, and we'd finally reached Asgard. That left us all of the following day to stock up on supplies and grab a gift or two for Lloydie. Kratos insisted that we leave the town on the afternoon of Lloyd's birthday, but at least he and Raine had caved enough to let us do this.

Even though I was really tired from taking the longer route, I was in a pretty good mood by the time we reached the town. Real beds...real food...yay!

Weird...I could remember a time where I'd turn my nose up at the old-fashioned facilities here. Now anything was a step up from sitting around a campfire night after night.

My good mood was also due to the fact that Genis had sort of stopped hating on me, and occasionally we'd been able to have a decent conversation. So, I was pretty sure I'd figured out his secret! Be nice to his best friend, and he'll be nice to you. What a shocker. Hopefully I wouldn't PMS at Lloyd again anytime soon.

"So! Just an idea, I think we should stay at the Cool Breeze again since Lloyd is so awesome," I indicated the most expensive inn, grinning.

"Yeah!" Genis added, and Colette smiled.

"Now I just feel like I'm being used..." Lloyd sighed from the back.

"You said you'd figure out something for us to do, right?" Genis asked, almost snickering at Lloyd's remark.

"Hm?" I thought for a moment. "Oh, yeah, when we were headed to the House of Salvation. Well, I guess we can still follow through with that plan...even though it's not much of a plan. Anyone who's bored later on, come to my room."

Sheena raised an eyebrow. "What exactly are you going to do?"

"Eh, you'll see," I shrugged.

----

Since it was late evening when we arrived, we basically had to go straight to the inn and get our rooms set up. But we were staying at one of the nicer places in town, so each of us actually got our own individual rooms, which was pretty awesome. Not that I minded sharing with Sheena, but still...this meant I could have privacy without leaving the inn.

Aaaand, naturally I'd picked today to invite everyone over to my room. Ah, well, it couldn't be helped.

Around an hour after we'd arrived, I ended up laying sprawled out on my bed, staring up at the ceiling. A few days from now, we'd be heading out to Lake Umacy again...I wondered what the unicorn looked like up close. Would I get to see it? I was a pure maiden (unless I'd totally missed something and pure-ness had nothing to do with virginity), so I should have been able to...unless maybe you had to be pure of heart and mind, too. Sheena and Colette were pretty pure of heart, in my opinion. I wasn't so sure about myself.

Well...I guess I could say I had pretty good intentions, right? But then again, I couldn't really deny that I had countless flaws. I was a coward, and I was pretty selfish to boot. Hell, I was even weak minded; every single time I had a train of thought like this, I found a way to bring myself down. Jeez...no wonder I pissed Lloyd off so much. Maybe one day he'd teach me to stop hating myself.

I yawned, stretching a little. Not that it really mattered...I honestly didn't care if I got to see the unicorn up close or not. Just seeing it from a distance would be cool enough. I just didn't want anyone to think I wasn't...as Sheena put it, "qualified" if I didn't go. That would just make me feel like a total slut, even though I'd never slept with anyone. Crap! I'd already pulled the dirty novel thing on Lloyd. I had to prove my innocence!

Agh. Couldn't anyone crack a dirty joke around here without being glared at? My friends and I had always laughed about stuff like that. Stupid Sylvarant people. Zelos would understand me!

A knock at the door broke my train of thought, and I looked up. "Door's unlocked."

They seemed to understand that that meant "come in," so the next sound I heard was the door opening. Colette took a step in, and I sat up.

"Oh, hey, Colette. You're a little early."

She smiled, and came to sit next to me on the bed, pulling out her notebook.

_'Sorry. Is it all right?'_ She wrote.

"Yeah, I don't have a problem with you being here. As you can see, I wasn't exactly doing anything productive before you came." I shrugged. "Anyway, so what's up?"

_'Actually, I wanted to ask you something.'_

My smile faltered a little. "Okay, go ahead."

She paused thoughtfully, and then scribbled down a question. _'What are the Renegades and who is Yuan?'_

I bit my lip hard at that question and looked around us, paranoid that Kratos would be leaning over our shoulders or something. I was pretty sure he was busy elsewhere...pretty sure. But I really couldn't afford to take risks, especially not with my notoriously bad luck.

After a moment or two, I let out a sigh. "Well...it's sort of hard to explain, to tell you the truth..." I really couldn't use the same trick I'd used on Lloyd...if I asked her to wait until after the world regeneration for an explanation, it'd just make us both feel like shit.

I thought for a few seconds, and then gestured for her to give me her notepad and pencil.

_'It's probably best for me to write this...I don't want anyone to overhear,'_ I wrote. Colette frowned.

_'Why?'_

I hesitated. _'I can't explain. Actually, I'm worried about explaining this, too. You have to promise not to tell anyone, it would put us all in danger.'_

She made sure to look me in the eyes before writing down her response. _'Okay. I promise.'_

All right. I couldn't explain the real thing...I couldn't risk ruining anything. Theoretically, telling the truth wouldn't hurt since we weren't supposed to encounter the Renegades or Cruxis again until the Tower of Salvation. But a lot of unanticipated stuff had already happened, so...

I thanked Martel...or whoever watched over this world that Colette wasn't the type to be suspicious. She trusted me, so she'd probably believe whatever story I fed her.

...There I went again. I was really becoming a bastard.

_'I'm not completely sure of the details,'_ I lied, _'but I learned a little about the Renegades during my stay in the Asgard Ranch. They're supposed to be this rebel faction of the Desians that lash out against the leader of the Grand Cardinals. The leader of the Renegades, Yuan, is determined to take over their position.'_

Man, that was such a load of bull...well, the rebel thing was kind of the truth, but...

_'Why are the Renegades after me?'_ Colette wrote.

I shrugged. _'The same reason the Desians are after you, I guess. If the world's regenerated, then all the Desians will disappear, right?'_

_'Does Cruxis...really have spies?'_ Colette's blue eyes were wide. I shook my head, sighing.

_'I don't know. A lot of what I said didn't make much sense to me, either. I was just using phrases I heard the Desians saying before...besides, it does make sense that they'd be scared of Cruxis. They're part of the whole regeneration thing.'_

She continued to stare at me, troubled. Clearly I'd missed something, and she was still unconvinced...I couldn't for the life of me figure it out.

But just as she picked up the pencil again to write, I heard footsteps coming down the hallway. Reacting instantly, I ripped the pages we'd just written on out of Colette's notebook and shoved them in my pocket. I'd rip them up till they were unreadable later. She gave me a questioning look, probably wondering why the hell I couldn't explain to anyone else, but I only shook my head. Hopefully she'd just trust me and stay quiet about it.

"Hey," Lloyd said, peeking his head in; the door had been cracked open an inch or so. "We're not too late, are we?"

He grinned, walking in with Genis. Sheena followed, too. I vaguely wondered what Raine and Kratos were up to, but shrugged off the thought. They still kind of considered us to be kids, after all. Even though we weren't, really. Except for Genis. Sucks to be him.

"Nah, you're right on time," I replied, stretching. I scooted back towards the pillows, making room for the others to sit on my bed too.

When everyone was situated in what sort of looked like a circle, Sheena gave me a curious look. "So, what was your brilliant plan?"

"Yeah, I wanna know!" Genis added oh so helpfully.

I smirked, pulling a deck of cards out. I'd had a few ideas of possible things to do, but this was one I hadn't expected to work. By some miracle, I'd managed to find a deck by asking around downstairs. Turns out, the innkeeper had the same love as me for a certain game...

"I know one thing I always like to play on rainy days..." I held the cards up and waved them lightly in the air. "Poker, anyone?"

Sheena groaned, facepalming. "Are you determined to be a bad influence?"

Colette tilted her head, oblivious, and Genis voiced the question I was sure she wanted to ask. "Poker? What's that?"

"Oh! I think I've heard of it before. Isn't it some sort of card game?" Lloyd asked.

I snorted. "Brilliant deduction, Lloyd. Precisely why I'm holding cards..."

"Shut up," he grumbled. "I was gonna say more. I remember dad saying I should never play it because I could lose a lot of money..."

"...Because it's gambling," Sheena finished, giving me a look.

"Hey, I never said we had to play for money," I remarked defensively...and after a pause, "This is gonna be strip poker, after all--OW!"

Sheena gave me a Raine-worthy smack, causing me to nearly fall off the bed.

"Was...k-kidding..." I mumbled, rubbing my stinging skin.

"...Strip poker?" Genis inquired, looking like he was unsure if he wanted to know. Lloyd seemed to get it, though, because he made a face.

"It's not important..." Sheena said, rubbing her forehead as if a migraine were coming on. I bet her Zelos senses were tingling. Jeez, the further we got in this journey, the more sure I was that I would definitely get along with him and his pretty red hair. Too bad I'd never get to meet him.

"Seriously, though, I just thought we'd play with really small amounts of Gald, or plastic chips...but I doubt we'll find any of those around here," I shrugged. Ah, if only we had my poker set from back home...

Some of them gave me a strange look at the mention of plastic chips, but I wasn't totally sure why. They were probably a much rarer sight here in Sylvarant, but I was sure Sheena knew what I was talking about. There was a casino in Altamira, anyway.

Sheena frowned. "Well...I guess that's all right."

I looked over at Lloyd. "Plus, at eighteen, you'll be old enough to do all this legally!"

"Ugh! Let's just play the game already!" The ninja glared, and I sighed.

"All right, all right..."

Despite her reaction, I wasn't too surprised to find out that Sheena already knew how to play poker. Zelos had probably forced her to learn at some point, being the charming man he was. We had to teach Lloyd and the others, but it wasn't long before we were immersed in the game and Genis had won most of our smaller Gald coins.

"Hey, this game isn't so bad!" He remarked, grinning.

"You only say that 'cause you're winning," Lloyd grumbled. Sheena and I stared at Genis' pile of coins, mildly embarrassed that we were losing to a twelve-year-old that had just learned how to play.

It was going pretty well, until Raine walked in. Needless to say, the game ended soon after that. She sent all of us to our rooms, sounding like an angry mother, and took some time to lecture me on the morality of teaching minors how to gamble. I felt kind of bad for getting Sheena in trouble when she'd tried to stop me, but oh well. Hey, I used to play poker with my grandma for pennies! What was the difference between doing that and doing this?

I should have yelled at Raine for implying that my grandmother was immoral, but I had a feeling she'd have no clue what I was talking about...plus I was supposed to have amnesia and all that. Yeah.

Well, so much for curing boredom...I'd have to move on to one of my other plans next time...

----

"Hey, Sheena!"

The ninja looked up, the morning light casting a violet sheen on her dark hair. She was standing near a few stalls, presumably looking for a gift for Lloyd. I'd been hoping to go shopping with her so we could try helping each other out.

"Um..." I paused when I finally reached her. "...Sorry about last night. I don't think the Professor believes me after that whole dirty novel incident, but I really intended for it to be an innocent card game. We could've played anything else, I just happen to like poker the most..." I shrugged.

"It's okay," she said, sighing. "I know you're not really serious about that stuff, usually. That's the thing that makes you different from that idiot..." Sheena added the last sentence in a mutter, and I had to hide a grin.

"Well, anyway...did you come up with any ideas yet?"

The ninja frowned, glancing over to the nearest stall. "Not really...none of these things scream 'Lloyd' at me."

I bit my lip, suddenly having a thought. "You know what? I forgot to ask the others what they got for him. Why don't we go find out, and meet up here later? At least then we'll know what not to get, and we might come up with some better ideas."

Sheena nodded in agreement. "That sounds like a good idea."

"Okay. I think Raine's at Linar's place...you'd better ask her, because I think she might still be a little ticked at me," I said.

"I'll ask Colette, too, then," she said, "since I think I saw her going to that side of town."

"Then that leaves me with Genis, and...well, I might prod Kratos into getting a gift while I'm at it." I grinned, and Sheena rolled her eyes.

"Good luck with that." She turned away, her ribbons fluttering in the wind. "Anyway, see you in...twenty minutes?"

"All right. See you then." I waved, and then turned around to glance around the town for a moment.

Genis...where would Genis be hanging out? He liked cooking, but not the food shop...the one here had a racist owner, if I remembered correctly. Even if Genis wasn't a half-elf out in the open, he probably would avoid that shop out of dislike.

Crap, hopefully Genis wasn't hanging out with Lloyd....that was more than likely. Dammit.

I walked around the streets of the town, checking at various ruin sites. If only I hadn't gotten Raine mad at me...I could've just made Sheena find Genis, and I could've gone after the Professor. Genis wasn't bored by ruins like Lloyd, but he wasn't exactly excited by them, either. I doubted I'd find him in the more historical parts of Asgard, especially if he was with Lloyd...

All right...maybe figuring out where Lloyd was would be easier. I frowned, thinking to myself. Maybe the weapons shop? He usually liked to drool at all the shiny, expensive swords that were way out of our group's price range.

Remembering where the shop was from our last visit here, I quickly jogged over in that direction and took a quick peek in the window. Just as I'd thought, Lloyd was standing near the counter, asking the owner all sorts of things about a specific pair of blades. To be fair, they did look pretty cool. Just watching Lloyd sort of made me want a new blade of my own.

Augh, I was here for Lloyd, not me! Right, so Genis wasn't in there, so--

"What are you doing?" Oh, speak of the prepubescent devil.

I turned around, and the half elf was regarding me with a strange look. "Um...just spying on Lloyd, that's all." I grinned.

"Right..." The look got worse.

"I'm kidding! I was actually looking for you. I need to ask you a question."

"A question?" Genis frowned curiously. "What is it?"

"Let's get away from the window first," I said, glancing over to make sure Lloyd hadn't noticed us. We walked away from the weapon shop a bit, out of hearing range if Lloyd happened to leave.

"So, um...Sheena and I thought it'd be a good idea to figure out what everyone else got him before we went out and bought something," I said.

"You want to know what I got Lloyd?" Genis asked. "Okay, but you can't copy me."

I rolled my eyes. "That'd kind of defeat the purpose if I did, you know."

He ignored my remark. "Well, his carving knives were getting pretty old, so I got him a new set."

"Carving knives?" I tilted my head in inquiry. "Are those the tools he used on my Key Crest?"

Genis nodded. "Yeah. The last set he had was given to him by Dirk five years ago. He meant to get new ones a while ago, but he kept putting it off."

"Okay...so carving knives, got it." I put a finger to my lip, thinking.

"Do you have any idea of what to get him?" Genis asked curiously. I shook my head.

"Not quite yet...Sheena's out asking Colette and the Professor. Maybe once I hear their answers, I'll get more of an idea." I crossed my arms. "In any case, it's gonna be another fifteen minutes or so before I have to meet up with her again...maybe I'll pester Kratos."

Genis groaned. "I don't get what's so fun about that...it's like poking a rabid dog. You just don't do it!"

"Poking a rabid dog? I might have to tell him about that little analogy," I said, laughing. "See you later, Genis!"

I left the bemused mage behind, continuing down the dusty road I was on. I really wasn't sure whether I intended to actually bug Kratos or not, but as I walked down the path I decided that I'd at least see what he was up to. A small part of me hoped I'd catch him in the act of buying Lloyd a birthday present, but I knew that was highly unlikely. What did Kratos do in his free time, anyway? He couldn't brood _all_ the time, right? I didn't have to pester him, maybe I'd just watch him for a second or two to satisfy my curiosity...

Man, I was becoming a stalker. Somewhere back on Earth right now, rabid Kratos fangirls were twitching angrily in their sleep.

I quickly realized that annoying Kratos had quickly become one of my free-time hobbies. How pathetic (yet oddly amusing) was that? Ah, well. I was gonna be impaled on his sword in the end anyway, so why not have some fun beforehand? Ha, that's what she said.

I stopped, frowning thoughtfully. Kratos...he'd probably be in the most secluded place he could find. My frown fell as an answer came to me instantly. The dais, of course! He'd be standing all mysterious-like up there, staring out over the mountains.

By the time I made it to the top of that ungodly staircase, I was nearly panting, even though I'd walked extra slow for my own sake. I had...eh, probably ten minutes left before I had to go down and meet Sheena. She might let it slide if I was a minute or two late, if I could make up a good reason.

A quick scan of the area did not reveal any purple mercenaries. Aww. Oh well...bugging him was a bad habit to begin with. Seeking him out for the sole purpose of bugging him...yeah, maybe that was crossing the line.

I let out a quiet sigh. Maybe what I needed was a change in targets. Bug Lloyd, then? No...it was almost his birthday. Sheena? No, I'd get smacked. Colette? She wouldn't be any fun and it'd just make me feel bad.

My eyes widened slightly at a new realization. Out of all the people here...could it be that Kratos was the most tolerant of my annoying-ness?! Whoa. Come to think of it, he was the only one besides Lloyd and Colette that wouldn't usually act pissy at me for a day or two following my stupid remarks. Except for that one time, but...yeah, I really had deserved that.

Running a hand through my hair, I walked closer to the dais. That decided it--I was gonna give Kratos a break since he was actually pretty awesome to me despite all the abuse. And unlike that day in Hima, I was actually gonna follow through with the plan. Hopefully.

Okay...around eight minutes till I had to meet up with Sheena again. It'd only take around two or three to get back to our meeting place, so maybe I could just kill some time up here. Yes! Commence Operation: Not Annoy Kratos!

I walked around the edge of the dais, intending to make it to the other end and do that whole mysterious thing for a bit, staring wistfully over the mountains while the wind ruffled my hair. When I reached the final corner and heard quiet voices, I suddenly paused. Jeez, was Harley gonna try blowing up the dais again for shits and giggles?

Then, I listened more carefully. No...that deep voice was definitely not Harley.

Well, Operation: Not Annoy Kratos had a good run. It looked like Operation: Get Brutally Murdered by Kratos was going to begin a few weeks early...

...Because a very quick peek around the corner told me that he was conversing with a Cruxis angel. If the wind hadn't been blowing so hard up here, he would've heard my approach and probably sent the angel away. But noooo, naturally I had to catch him in the act so he'd have to kill me to keep me quiet. I couldn't exactly tell him "no it's cool, I knew all along" and expect him to believe me.

The wind was still blowing hard enough that I couldn't make out what they were saying. Curious as I was, I wasn't about to creep closer so I could hear.

Focusing hard on the sound of Kratos' voice, I started slowly backing away from the scene. If I heard him pause or falter, I would at least have some warning that he was about to silence me for good. Not that I thought fighting back would do any good, but it'd make feel a little better if I at least saw it coming. Wait...no, maybe he wouldn't kill me. Shit, what if he just turned me over to Cruxis instead?

I had to get out of here. Hardly breathing, I continued to back away, hugging the edge of the dais.

Kratos' voice stopped, and I froze. I looked up in time to see the flutter of wings, and then an angel warping away in much the same manner as Remiel.

Oh, no. If their meeting was over, that meant Kratos would be coming around the edge of the dais any second now. Please, please go around the other way...

I saw a spike of auburn hair appear from around the corner, and knew I had to act. Moving as fast as I possibly could, I dove over to the side, where the ground slanted downward towards the mountains. I moved behind a large boulder, digging my heels into the ground so I wouldn't slide downwards. There was a sheer drop at the end of this slant--if I slid too far, I'd fall off and die. Yeah, my fear of heights wasn't exactly helping me stay calm right now.

My movement shifted a bunch of rocks and pebbles out of place and caused them to tumble down the cliff, kicking up a cloud of dust. My whole body tensed. I was dead. There was no way Kratos hadn't seen or heard that, especially with his heightened senses.

The wind died down a bit, enough that I could hear his oncoming footsteps. When he was about to pass the boulder I hid behind, he paused. I could hear my heart pounding in my ears; I squeezed my eyes shut as I had the irrational thought that Kratos could probably hear it, too.

Several very long seconds passed. I was sure he stood there for at least ten, but it felt like an eternity. And then, I heard his footsteps continue until there was the telltale sound of him descending the staircase.

When I could no longer hear him, I let out a breath that I hadn't realized I'd been holding. My tense muscles relaxed, and I almost slid off the cliff because of it.

"Shit," I grunted quietly. I managed to pull myself back up on to the grass, and just lay there for a moment.

That...had been one seriously close call. I still couldn't believe he hadn't realized I was there.

He hadn't...right? But still...how could he not have noticed my presence with his angelic hearing? It just seemed impossible. Maybe he thought the sounds he heard were caused by an animal? That didn't sound right...he never dismissed things so quickly.

Augh, I was just overthinking it. I was just happy that I got to live for a little while longer. But I had a feeling I would be avoiding Kratos for a little while...

My hair blew into my eyes as the wind picked up again. I pushed myself up on to my feet, brushing myself off, and looked over to the stairs. I couldn't have had more than four minutes left...Sheena would be waiting for me pretty soon. I attempted to push my bangs behind my ears, and was annoyed when some stray locks were just long enough to fall in front of my eyes again.

Well, it was about time I headed back. I started down the long staircase, and suddenly got a sense of vertigo. Oh, yeah...no safe railing to hold on to. How the hell had I done this last time I was here? I remembered having a few people in front of me, so that had sort of blocked the view of all the stairs ahead...but now I was totally alone, and the wind was blowing. My confidence plummeted with every step as I thought of all the injuries I could get from falling down these stone stairs.

I gulped, and tried to place each foot carefully. If I thought this was daunting, I couldn't imagine what it'd be like flying to the Tower of Salvation.

After another couple of minutes, I finally reached the bottom and let out a sigh of relief. Sweet, level ground...

All right, I had wasted enough time. Hell, I was probably already late, with how long I'd taken to get down those stairs. Me and my brilliant ideas... I shook my head at my own stupidity and looked up, ready to head back down to the stalls.

My eyes caught a glimpse of purple, and suddenly I had locked eyes with Kratos.

He was standing a bit of a distance away, near one of the cheaper inns. I quickly looked away, feebly trying to pretend that I hadn't seen him in the first place. Walking a little faster, I headed down to the shop stalls where I saw Sheena standing.

That look in Kratos' eyes...did he...?

"What took you so long?" Sheena asked as I approached. She didn't look upset, though.

I shrugged. "Genis is an elusive little guy."

The ninja cocked an eyebrow at that, but didn't press any further. "Well, what'd you come up with?"

"Carving knives. Like, for all that craftsman stuff Lloyd does. That's what Genis got him," I answered. "What about you?"

Sheena crossed her arms, a thoughtful look on her face. "Well, Colette said she got him a Talisman."

"Uh...what do those do again?" I thought for a moment. "Something with defense..."

"They raise defense a little bit," Sheena replied, smiling with amusement. "With how much trouble Lloyd gets into, I think he'll need it."

I grinned a bit. "What about Raine?"

"She turned it into a learning experience, naturally."

"Books?" I asked skeptically. Sheena shook her head.

"She got him a bunch of potions. You know...Flare bottles, Guard bottles, Acuity bottles..."

I laughed. "Now he'll have to learn what all of them do in order to use them. Pretty sneaky, Professor."

"No kidding," Sheena said. "So, I think we've got everyone accounted for. Unless you actually did go after Kratos...?"

"Well..." I paused, looking past her and over her shoulder. Kratos was nowhere in sight. "...No, not really."

He'd been standing near that inn...had he been watching me as I walked down the--

Oh.

There was only one stairway to get to the dais and back. Even if he hadn't seen me up there...he'd seen me walk down those stairs. He had to know now; he knew that I had seen him.

Shit. What was I going to do?

Now that he was no longer in my sights, I felt as if he'd pop up and stab me from behind any minute now. Even though he'd never do that in front of people, I just couldn't get the irrational fear out of my system.

"Brittany?" Sheena's voice cut through my thoughts. "You don't look so good all of a sudden. What's wrong?"

I quickly shook my head. "I...I'm okay. I just felt a little dizzy for a second there. Maybe it's because I haven't eaten breakfast yet."

She stared at me, concerned. "You're really pale. Let's talk about this over some food, then. Come on, I don't want you passing out on me."

I cracked a weak smile, following Sheena up to the doors of the Cool Breeze. I had a feeling food wouldn't help me very much, but maybe it'd at least distract me from the issue at hand...

----

"Haaaappy biiirthday dear Lloydoooo...."

Colette and Genis grinned as I serenaded a bleary-eyed Lloyd with everyone's favorite birthday song. We were standing around his bed, holding a plate of Genis' delicious pancakes. Waving said pancakes under the teenager's nose for a second or two had woken him up a little more.

Now he sat up in bed, his messy hair flopping down over his eyes, and stared up at me.

"Haaaapy birthday to youuu--"

"Ugh..."

"Lloyd! You ruined it!" I scolded him, but couldn't hide my own grin. He rubbed his eyes sleepily.

"How early is it?"

"Actually, it's already ten. Raine said we couldn't let you sleep any longer," Genis said.

Lloyd yawned. "All right, I'm getting--hey, are those pancakes?"

"For a growing boy," I said in a motherly tone.

"I'm a man now," Lloyd pointed out in a bold voice, a goofy smile on his face.

"You're right!" I said, dismayed. "Lloydie's all grown up...I'm gonna cry!"

"Cut it out, dork," Lloyd laughed, taking the plate of pancakes from my hands. "Genis, did you make these?"

"Of course!" Genis said proudly. "You didn't think I'd let Raine near the kitchen on your birthday, did you?"

"What was that?" Raine's voice came from behind us, and Genis flinched.

"Uh, hey sis..."

She gave him a look, but thankfully let it slide this time. She turned her attention to Lloyd, who was quietly inhaling his breakfast. "I don't want to rush you, but get dressed and meet us downstairs when you're done. We're leaving around noon."

"Mmhmm," Lloyd said, his mouth full of pancake.

"That goes for you three as well," she said to us. "I'll see you in a little bit." Raine smiled at Lloyd, and then exited the room.

"Well, at the rate you're eating, we'd better start getting dressed," I said to Lloyd, shaking my head. "Anyway, I'm probably gonna be slow, so...see you guys downstairs."

Waving, I followed out after the Professor, and headed for my own room.

I was still wearing pajama pants and a tank top, things I'd bought in Luin back when it was still standing. Shutting the door behind me, I prepared to get into my usual gear. Putting all that crap on was a bit of a process every morning. I still felt kind of weird putting on the same outfit every day...but to be fair, I had a couple pairs of underclothes that I switched up. That was sorta sanitary, right?

Ugh, Sylvarant.

After I was finished getting dressed, I went downstairs into the inn's roomy lobby. Raine, Sheena and Kratos were sitting on some sofas that surrounded a small coffee table. Everyone had placed their presents on to the table, and the wrapped gifts seemed to brighten the already cheery room. I took the seat next to Sheena, since it was farthest from the grumpy mercenary.

"Is everyone else almost ready?" Sheena asked, looking over at me.

"I think so. Lloyd practically vacc--uh, inhaled his breakfast, so he's probably getting dressed right about now." Did vaccums exist in Sylvarant? Probably shouldn't risk it.

Right on cue, I heard the pounding of feet coming down the stairs as Lloyd and Genis entered the lobby. There was another set of softer footsteps, and I knew that would be Colette. Everyone took a seat around the table, Lloyd eyeing the presents with curiosity. It was too bad we didn't have any cake, but...yeah, it wasn't really a breakfast food.

"Lloyd! Um...happy birthday," Sheena said. He grinned.

"Thanks. Man, I can't believe you guys did all this for me..."

Admittedly, it wasn't much. But after all the crap we'd put up with, a little party like this was pretty damn good and it was the best we could do.

I was highly tempted to ask Kratos to sing a "Happy Birthday" duet with me, but after yesterday I was feeling a little nervous around the guy. I was waiting for him to just get up and stab me sometime soon. Agh, focus on Lloyd, pretend nothing's wrong...

"Open mine first!" Genis insisted, and I managed to turn my thoughts away from the problem at hand. If I kept thinking about yesterday, sooner or later I'd glance up at Kratos; then I'd probably make eye-contact unintentionally and get scared and want to pass out.

"All right, all right..." Lloyd laughed, and one by one he opened our gifts. He loved Genis' present, as I expected him to.

"Huh? What's this do?" He asked curiously when he made it to Colette's gift. She smiled.

"A Talisman," Kratos offered, looking mildly amused. "It is an accessory that raises the defense of those who use it."

Colette pointed to it, holding up a note she'd written. _'I put a red string on it so it matches your coat!'_

I almost laughed when I leaned over to read it, glancing at the Talisman to see that the thick string Lloyd could use to tie it around his neck was indeed a shade of crimson.

After he was done thanking Colette for her present, he opened Raine's...and immediately looked confused, and a little scared of the evil smile on the Professor's face. She began to lecture him on the uses of each bottle.

"H-How am I gonna remember all that?" He whimpered. "Maybe I should label them..."

"Uh, Lloyd, you're not gonna have time to read the labels in the middle of a battle," Genis pointed out.

"Oh, right..." his face fell. "Professor, could you explain them again? You kind of lost me..." She'd made the mistake of explaining in too much detail, successfully boring me as well.

She twitched, probably ready to scold him, but I sighed and held out a hand, scooting closer to Lloyd. I placed a finger on a red bottle, and was a bit surprised that it felt warm to the touch.

"That's a Flare bottle. It temporarily raises your attack power," I said simply.

"So I could beat enemies faster with this?" Lloyd asked, already excited at the idea of it.

"You probably shouldn't waste it on regular monsters," Genis commented.

"I won't!" Lloyd said, but the grin on his face didn't falter. "What's this one do?"

"Guard bottle," I said. "Temporarily raises defense."

"And this one?"

I continued to name off each of the bottles he had been given, and I had a feeling I was just feeding him the game's description of the items word for word. Man, I played video games too much back home...

"I'm impressed," Raine said when I was done, though there was a questioning tone to her voice. "You seem to know a lot about these potions, Brittany."

I shrugged, rubbing the back of my neck. "Well...I used to run a lot of errands for the item shop owner back when I was staying in Luin. I guess I picked up on the names and uses of everything while I was at it." Well, it was half true. I probably would've learned all that if I hadn't already known it.

...That weird feeling...someone's intense stare was burning into the side of my head. Don't turn and look, Brittany. Kratos can see into your soul. He knows when you are sleeping, he knows when you're awake, he knows if you've been bad or good--

Oh God, I was never going to get over that Christmas thing, was I...

"This stuff is great! Thanks Professor!" Lloyd piped up, and Raine's attention was diverted.

I gave him a grateful look, having a feeling that he'd noticed the puzzled tone to her voice. I should've just kept quiet, but ever since that epic failure on the quiz Raine gave me, I often felt the need to prove that I wasn't a complete idiot. Still...I could understand where she was coming from. It made no sense that I was clueless about much of Sylvarant, and yet suddenly I have a bunch of knowledge on potions.

Raine smiled, pleased that Lloyd liked her gift, and didn't press the topic of my knowledge. Lloyd moved on to the last gift-- the one Sheena and I had bought the previous day. It was a long, rectangular box, the largest in size out of the presents.

"That one's from us," Sheena said.

The brunette curiously ripped away the wrapping paper, revealing a wooden case. He opened it up to see a pair of bright silver swords.

"I saw you looking at some yesterday, but we couldn't afford them," I explained.

"So we pooled our money and got you the next best thing," Sheena finished.

I smiled sheepishly. "Hope that's all right."

"These are..." Lloyd stared at them, wide-eyed. "...so cool!"

He stood up, pulling them out of the case to examine them, turning them over so the light hit the blades at different angles. They were shiny enough that I could clearly see my own reflection in them.

"Kratos! Let's train!" Lloyd said suddenly, looking excited. "I'll beat you now that I have these!"

The mercenary cocked an eyebrow, amused. At the look he received from Lloyd, he let out a sigh. "...I suppose I could spare a few minutes," he said; the way he said it reminded me of how my own dad would talk to me when we decided to do anything together. He always spoke with mock reluctance, pretending he was doing me a great favor even though he wasn't opposed to the idea either.

Even though Kratos was a dad, it was weird comparing him to mine. They were polar opposites. My father was a people- person, the friendly type of guy that everyone generally liked. Whenever I had a problem or I was stressed out, just talking to my dad was enough to calm me down. He was a complete dork, but calm and rational whenever I needed him to be. Although he seemed to know everything about everything, he wasn't arrogant about it, and always used his knowledge to help me out when I needed it.

"We'll see how long your enthusiasm lasts," Kratos' voice cut through my thoughts, as an eager Lloyd followed him out the door.

"Oh, and thanks again, guys!" Lloyd waved hurriedly, clutching his swords under one arm.

A frown tugged at my lips. I missed my dad...I was so used to him being the safety net I could fall back on whenever I really screwed up. There was nothing he could do to help me now...

"Well, that was quick," Sheena said, grinning. "I could be wrong, but I think he might have liked our gift..." She suddenly paused. "Brit? Is something wrong?"

I blinked, remembering myself, and immediately shook my head. "Huh? No, I just zoned out for a minute there. But yeah, I'm glad we didn't blow it." I offered a fake smile.

"You can't really mess up when getting Lloyd swords," Genis remarked, laughing.

Raine and Sheena frowned at me for a moment, and I had a feeling both could see through the smile on my face. I stood up, suddenly feeling exposed and uncomfortable.

"Anyway, I think I'm gonna go for a walk around town while we wait for them," I said, approaching the door. "Meet you guys back here later, okay?"

The troubled look left Raine's face a little too quickly, and she smiled. "Don't be too late."

I nodded, waving, and left the inn.

----

"Man..." I sighed, walking alone through the dusty streets of the town. Ever since yesterday, I'd felt completely off-balance, like everyone was going to figure out my secrets just by looking at me.

What was wrong with me? Almost everyone here gave me the occasional troubled or suspicious look--I did a lot of strange things. I wasn't suspicious enough for them to act on it, though...besides, I liked to think that some of them were sorta my friends by now. But still...that thing with Kratos was really bothering me. I was just waiting for him to confront me.

What was I going to do when that happened? He was going to kill me. There'd be no point in begging for my life, if I knew I was going to be killed at the Tower of Salvation...and by the same person, no less. Maybe I could strike some sort of deal with him? Or...I could blackmail him into helping me survive!

Christ, the very thought of it made me feel dirty. Would I really have the guts to do something as cruel as that? No...ugh, I was so stupid. Despite the fact that he was the guy who would probably kill me, I still had too much respect for Kratos to be running around stabbing him in the back like that. Even though he was about to screw us all over...

"Oof!"

Suddenly I bumped into someone, stumbling backwards.

"O-Oh, I'm so sorry, I wasn't paying attent--" I suddenly stopped, seeing the woman standing before me. She had short blonde hair and bright, expressive blue eyes. "Elena?!"

The woman stared at me in shock, and my face fell when I examined her closer. This clearly wasn't a teenager...and although there was a striking resemblance, it wasn't the girl I used to know.

I averted my gaze. "Sorry," I said again, backing away a little. "I mistook you for someone else."

As I turned to leave, feeling awkward, the woman called out to me. "Wait!"

I paused, turning to face her again. "Wh-What is it?"

Her face was strained, and she came closer to me, gripping my shoulders. "I have a daughter named Elena. She was taken to a Desian ranch several months ago. You've seen her? Do you know where she is? Please, tell me!"

My eyes widened with disbelief. This...this was Elena's mother?! What...what was I supposed to say?! No, I couldn't...! She looked so hopeful, so desperate...

"I...I have to go," I said quickly, lowering my gaze and pulling away from her.

"Please! Wait!" She called, distraught, but I bolted, dodging through a crowd of people.

I knew she didn't chase after me, and yet I kept on running, having a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. I ran to the only secluded place I knew of in town--the stone dais.

After bolting up the stairs and running around to the other end of the stone platform, I sank to the ground. My body shook as I panted heavily, finding it difficult to breathe because of the lump that had developed in my throat.

I had forgotten...Elena had told me that she was from Asgard. I hadn't expected to run into her family here...oh, what was I going to do? If I told her mother what had happened, it would break her heart. But if I didn't say anything, her family would go on worrying about her...

Clenching my teeth, I tried to force back the tears that wanted to form. I didn't want to think about Elena and how she had died...I still couldn't forgive myself for my total helplessness at the time. I couldn't forgive myself...because only a few weeks later, we had gone back and rescued the rest of the prisoners.

Why? Why had I just stood there and watched? I should have done something...anything! But...I had been too scared...and by the time I had realized what needed to be done, it had been too late. I was so...powerless.

"If you have time to be sitting up here, you should be getting your things together at the inn," Kratos' voice came from behind me, and I tensed, before clenching my fists. Apparently his training session with Lloyd was over.

"...Go away," I said. "I just want to be left alone for a minute. I'll be down in a bit."

There was a short silence, and I could tell Kratos was watching me with a frown. "Hmph...very well. You have five minutes." He turned to leave, and I bit my lip.

"Actually...n-no, wait," I said hurriedly. He paused, not looking at me.

"I...can I ask you a hypothetical question?"

Kratos didn't move, and I took that to mean that he was waiting for the question. I sighed, staring down into my lap. I couldn't believe that even after what happened yesterday, I still felt compelled to ask him this...

"What if...someone died, and you were the only one that could break the news to their family? How would you do it? Wouldn't it be terrible...to break their hearts like that?" I winced; I knew what the morally correct thing to do was, but...but...

I heard the sounds of footsteps on the grass, and suddenly Kratos had taken a seat next to me with a solemn look on his face.

"That is not a hypothetical question."

I flinched. "...You're right. It's not..."

"Explain."

Hesitating, I bit my lip. "...When I was imprisoned in the Asgard Ranch, I became friends with one of my cellmates, Elena...she was one of the only people they hadn't...well, broken yet. We planned to escape with Pietro. But then, when the day came, she vanished from her cell. When we finally managed to find her...she was on that damned conveyer belt." I knew he would know which one I was talking about. "I couldn't do anything to save her."

"And you met a member of her family today," Kratos finished for me, his eyes narrowed slightly.

"Her mother," I said quietly, and then put my face in my hands. "I don't know what to do. Those two had such a resemblance that I blurted out Elena's name...her mom started asking me about her, but I just couldn't say it! So I ran away...like a coward."

"You would be a weakhearted fool if you chose not to tell her," the mercenary said firmly.

"I..."

"It isn't your choice to make. If you withhold this information, her family will continue to suffer for the rest of their lives. Although inevitably they will come to the same conclusion, they will never find closure, always wondering if she died in peace or if she suffered till her last breath." Kratos' eyes were hard, and I couldn't meet his gaze. I knew he was thinking about how he had felt when he thought he'd lost Lloyd.

I thought about my own family...and I knew he was right. I would have given anything to tell them I was all right. They probably thought I was dead...and when people disappeared on Earth, it was usually because they were murdered in cold blood. There were hundreds of sick, brutal ways in which I could have died...and I was sure my family thought about each and every one of them. My mother would be all alone, hundreds of miles from where the rest of our family lived...and I was sure she would cry each and every night.

"I'm sorry," I said quietly. "It was a stupid question..."

Kratos closed his eyes. "You have been on this journey long enough to understand adult responsibility. If you truly cared about this person, then you will find the strength to tell them."

"Yeah..." I got to my feet. "You're right. I'll go tell them now.

I turned, walking around the edge of the dais, and heard the sound of Kratos getting to his feet as well.

"Brittany."

I paused, looking over my shoulder. "What?"

His stare was penetrating and scrutinizing. "...Don't worry about it. Go."

Frowning deeply, I nodded and began to descend the staircase.

----

I knocked on the wooden door, standing in front of the house I'd seen Elena's mother enter while walking around town. The lump in my throat came back, but I forced it down, and took a deep breath.

The door opened, and the blonde woman froze at the sight of me.

"...It's you," she said hesitantly.

"I'm sorry about earlier," I said quietly. "I just..."

Faltering, I clenched my fists and forced myself to look Elena's mother in the eyes.

"It's about Elena. Back in the Desian ranch, she...she's--"

Her mother saw the look in my eyes, going white. She collapsed before I could even get the word out.

----

"I'm really sorry," I said miserably, sitting at the kitchen table in Elena's home.

Elena's father, a brown haired man with the arms of a blacksmith, sat across from me. He held his wife in his arms; she was weeping silently as we spoke.

Elena's older sister had shut herself in her room upon hearing the news; we could hear the occasional crash as the twenty- year-old threw things at her walls, crying with frustration and helplessness. It hurt just to be in this house.

I had explained the details about her death...the complete truth. The only thing I could say to console them was that she undoubtedly died quickly...but that couldn't mask the constant suffering and torture she had gone through in the weeks before.

"Thank you for telling us," her father said quietly. In contrast to the others, his face was grave. He would undoubtedly shed tears later--I could see it in his eyes. But for now...he was being strong for his wife and remaining daughter.

"We heard the ranch was infiltrated and its prisoners rescued," he said. "Please excuse my daughter...she went to Luin to look for her sister, and came back devastated. We knew something had happened to Elena...but we did not want to accept it."

"The Desians have made a lot of people suffer..." I whispered, and then somehow managed to meet his gaze. "If it makes you feel any better, I'm traveling with the Chosen's group. Someday...things won't be like this. We're going to save Sylvarant from the Desians. I promise."

He smiled weakly. "Thank you...I'm sure Elena would have liked to hear that."

There was the sound of smashing glass coming from upstairs, and Elena's father let out a sigh.

"I'm sorry...but I think now we may need time to grieve on our own."

I nodded, standing up. "I...I understand."

Stepping outside, I shut the door behind me, and wanted to scream.

----

It only took me a few minutes to make it to the Cool Breeze; I went straight to my room, avoiding everyone. Once there, I laid on my bed and stared at the ceiling for what felt like hours.

There was a knock on my door, and I didn't answer. Lloyd let himself in.

"Hey, are you sleeping or something?" He stood over me, curious, and saw that my eyes were open.

"Come on," he grinned. "We're leaving now. Think about it--in a few days we're gonna see a unicorn!"

"Be out in a sec," I mumbled. That was when he seemed to notice the blank look on my face.

"What's wrong?" His grin fell, and I shook my head.

"Nothing, just tired," I replied, and smiled. It felt forced. "Did you have fun training with Kratos?"

Lloyd's face brightened at that. "I couldn't beat him, but he taught me all sorts of new stuff! I'll show you during training tomorro--"

"Lloyd, Brittany, we're leaving!" Sheena called up the stairs, and we both looked over towards the door.

"Guess it's time to go," I shrugged, trying to act normal.

He nodded, heading for the door. Just before leaving, he looked over his shoulder at me. "...You sure nothing's wrong?"

I feigned amusement. "Lloyd, it's your birthday. Worry about yourself for a change, will ya?" I thumped him on the shoulder, and pushed him out into the hall. "Let's go see that unicorn."

He looked troubled for a second, but then seemed to shrug it off. "Yeah."

And so, our long days of travelling began once more...

----

**A/N: yeah, I really was thinking I'd get to Lake Umacy. Oh well...no more distractions next chapter! Getting Umacy out of the way, and then it's straight to Hima. :D I'm pumped, but OC Brit isn't. **

**Yes, Kratos' birthday is on Christmas. He is the spawn of Santa Claus and Chuck Norris...**

**Review, and I'll give you some of Genis' pancakes! **

**He makes them with Stalagmite...-shifty eyes-**


	27. Too Late

**A/N: Holy...freaking...crap. Yeah, I totally updated on time again, and with another ultra-long chapter! 8D This was just...so fun to write. Finally, significant events! Basically, this chapter is Brit freaking out because oh God, the journey's practically over.**

**The writer's block died completely, turning me into a zombie who could not stop writing if her life depended on it. No, seriously, I wrote like this entire chapter over the past few days and hardly left the computer at all. (no life? hmm.) ****If the Hima portion was this bad, I hate to think what will happen to me when I start the Tower of Salvation. I'll probably starve myself to death due to my inability to detach myself from the laptop. o_o **

**Hurgh, I'm so excited. Anyway, here you go. XD Enjoy, everyone!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own ToS.**

**----**

Although at first I felt like I'd never escape the depression I'd fallen into, that feeling quickly subsided. Elena's death and the thought of her grieving family would always upset me, but at this point in the journey I was able to put that to the back of my mind. I'd seen so many things so far that if I let myself sink into a week-long depression every single time something bad happened, I'd never stop feeling like crap. Everyone would move on in the end...and for the sake of my own sanity, I had to force myself to do so a little early.

Needless to say, though, it just added to the amount of things nagging at the back of my mind. At first, my only goal was to get back home to Earth. When I first remembered everything, I had been completely at Kvar's mercy; at that moment, if I'd had the chance, I would've gone home and totally forgotten about everything. I might have even passed it off in my head as a bad dream.

As time went on, my thoughts changed. After escaping from the ranch, I still would have gone home if I could, but I would have thought about my time in Sylvarant for a while afterwards.

And now...my thoughts continued to change. If I could go home right now, at this very moment, would I? There would be the undeniable urge to, yes...but I don't think I would have been able to sleep at night if I'd just left the world as it was. I'd already changed some stuff by being here, so I couldn't just make the excuse that me leaving would be for the best. Even if it was unintentional, I still had to take responsibility for whatever crap I'd screwed up. I didn't know what I'd really done yet, but I was sure I'd find out eventually.

I really hated to admit it, but I had developed an attachment to Sylvarant, Lloyd, and the others. I had seen so many people suffer under the Desians and Cruxis. I had grown to hate the regeneration system and how it toyed with the lives of innocent people.

I hadn't just seen Elena die in that ranch...I'd seen the consequences of her death. If someone died, that wasn't just the end of it. It affected many more people than just that single individual. Their families grieved...and you couldn't really understand the extent of the pain inflicted until you'd seen it for yourself.

This journey had taught me a lot of things...above all, the value of a person's life. I think I finally, fully understood what Lloyd meant when he'd said there was no meaning in dying...

I sighed; I was getting ahead of myself. He hadn't even said that yet...and I was totally going off on a tangent. Point was, if I could leave right now, there was a chance that I wouldn't. I had gotten far too involved...and it seemed like there were far too many questions I didn't know the answer to.

Actually, the main question on my mind right now was...did I really want to die at the Tower of Salvation?

"Look! It's up ahead!" Lloyd pointed out eagerly, recognizing the familiar forest that surrounded Lake Umacy.

"Finally...my feet are starting to hurt," Genis said cheerfully.

"A unicorn, huh..." Sheena mumbled to herself. I frowned, my thoughts broken up, and attempted to reorganize them.

...I didn't want to die, of course. I just didn't see any point in hoping that I wouldn't. I wasn't on par with this group when it came to fighting skill, for one thing. Not only that, when the group got to the Tower in the game, even that had been insanely hard. Kratos was almost impossible to beat unless you leveled up your party a bunch before heading up there. Even if you'd lost to Kratos in the game, though, the battle was automatically cut off. We didn't have that kind of convenience in the real world. It was going to be very dangerous, and some of us in the group might even be severely injured or killed. I'd give it a shot, but I had a feeling I was going to fall into the 'killed' category.

If by some miracle we actually defeated Kratos, well...then I might have to reconsider my options. Even after that, Yggdrasill would still attack us, and, well...yeah. Like I've said, I wasn't going to get my hopes up.

The others continued to talk amongst themselves as we drew closer and closer to the forest. Kratos remained silent, as usual, and I continued to brood from my position near the back. Lloyd usually got annoyed when I acted like this, but at this moment I really couldn't think of anything to say. Unicorn, woo.

As usual, it had taken us a couple days to reach Lake Umacy. There's no point in telling everything that happened, since...well, not much happened at all. It was just the usual; Lloyd complaining of boredom, Noishe giving me dirty looks for no apparent reason, and all of us sleeping on the cold, hard ground.

One thing really did bother me, though...Kratos' confrontation had never come. I was absolutely positive that he knew I'd seen him; only an idiot wouldn't have made the connection after seeing me walk down that staircase. I would have to be incredibly naive to assume that he was oblivious to what had gone on that day.

He watched me a lot more often, and I felt like his suspicious looks were more frequent than before. And one time, he'd said my name as if he were about to ask me something, but then he'd shaken his head and told me to forget about it. I had a feeling that that time we'd spoken up on the dais, he'd been about to say something to me then, too.

It really bothered me...why hadn't he said anything to me? What was holding him back? Was I missing some vital information here?

I shot the mercenary a glance, only to find that he'd already been staring at me. Blinking, I hurriedly looked away. Okay, that was awkward...Christ! If this went on, one day I was just gonna run up and confront him myself before the whole waiting game drove me insane.

Kratos eventually moved up ahead to where Lloyd was walking alone; everyone had given him space since he'd drawn out his swords. He was trying to remember the formation to a certain tech, it looked like. I watched with curiosity as Kratos sighed, showing Lloyd step by step.

Now that I was thinking about it, Kratos had taught Lloyd a bunch of new techs on his birthday. I had a feeling that was Kratos' form of a birthday present. Normally I'd call it cute, but right now I was on pins and needles when it came to the mercenary. I appreciated his help with the Elena issue, but I was still a little wary.

"...Brittany?"

"Huh?" I looked up, and realized Sheena was talking to me. "Sorry, I didn't catch that."

She rolled her eyes. "If you keep walking around with your head in the clouds, you're gonna walk right into a monster one of these days."

"Comforting thought," I remarked.

"Anyway, I was asking you what you thought about meeting the unicorn. We couldn't get a good glimpse of it last time, but I hear they're really beautiful." Sheena smiled slightly. "I've only seen pictures of them."

"Yeah, same here," I said, smiling. "If you think about it, this might be the only chance we ever get to see a unicorn."

Sheena tilted her head. "Well, we could always come back and visit this one, right?"

I faltered. "Um...yeah. You're right."

Awkward...I had forgotten, she didn't know it would die once we took the horn. Raine and Kratos were witholding that type of information because it might discourage Sheena from going to the unicorn.

Sheena looked puzzled at the hesitance in my voice, but didn't question me on it. Kratos looked over his shoulder at me, and I just frowned. He let out a sigh and returned his attention to the forest ahead.

Dammit, Kratos, interrogate me already! Was he intentionally trying to make me uncomfortable?!

I watched the mercenary's back, hiding a scowl. Fine, if that was how he was going to be...I was just going to forget about it. The unicorn was more important right now, anyway. Focus on the unicorn...

Within the next few minutes, we were deep within the forest, skirting the edge of the lake. I recognized the spot where we'd fallen in a few weeks ago, and reminisced on better times. It amazed me how quickly the days had passed...

Since we already knew where the unicorn was, it didn't take us much longer to reach our destination. In a moment or two we had reached a clearing, and everyone approached the edge of the water to gaze down at the creature trapped below the surface.

Lloyd grinned. "All right, finally! Go on, Sheena. Ask the unicorn to take us over there."

"That's not going to work," Kratos remarked, crossing his arms. Everyone turned to look in his direction.

"Why not?" Genis asked.

Raine closed her eyes. "The unicorn...can only be approached by a pure maiden."

"At the very least, Lloyd, Genis and I are out," Kratos said.

The brunette's face fell. "So only girls can go? Man..."

"So then, just Raine and..." Genis started, but his sister cut in, frowning.

"I'll pass. But we can't send Colette alone while she's like this..." The Professor looked over at me. "Brittany, would you--"

"Hey!" Sheena snapped, her cheeks turning pink. "What about me?! Are you saying that I'm not qualified?!"

"...Qualified?" Lloyd and Genis said, eyebrows raised. Sheena huffed.

"You don't have to both say it at once!"

Kratos sighed, beginning to look exasperated, especially now that I was grinning like a total idiot at the whole scene. "...Then we shall send Colette and Sheena," he concluded.

"Wait," Lloyd said, frowning. "Why can't the Professor go?"

"Because I'm an adult," Raine answered vaguely. I turned away, snorting, and received a hard smack on the back of the head.

"...I don't get it," Lloyd said, looking between us with a clueless expression on his face. "Aren't Brittany and Sheena adults too? I didn't know a pure maiden had to be a kid..."

"Lloyd..." I said, throwing an arm around his shoulders. "Lemme take you over there for a second, I'll explain--"

"We don't have time for that," Raine said, giving me a death glare.

I gave her a pouty look. "But Professor, he's eighteen. If he's sheltered like this all his life, he's never gonna get a girlfr--"

"Um, I'm going to summon now!" Sheena declared, cutting me off before Raine's angry twitch could get any worse.

"I'm so lost..." I heard Lloyd mutter, hanging his head. Genis had given up trying to understand long ago, and Colette was just standing there with a cheerful smile on her face.

"Wait, why can't I go to see the unicorn?" I asked hurriedly.

"...Because you're an adult?" Lloyd tried answering, and the Professor buried her face in the palm of her hand.

"Christ," I muttered. "Professor, if we keep talking in codes like this, the unicorn will think we're implying it's a pedophi-- OW!"

Raine lowered her fist as I nursed the sore spot on my head. Such abuse...

Sheena cleared her throat loudly, frowning awkwardly. "Anyway..."

She shook her head, approaching the lake, and then her face became more solemn. "I call upon the Maiden of the Mist. I summon thee...Come, Undine!"

Aaaaand, cue topless summon spirit. I suddenly felt Lloyd press his forehead against my shoulder, and hoped he wouldn't nosebleed all over my coat or something.

"Please, Undine," Sheena said as Colette came to stand beside her. "Take us to the unicorn."

I almost voiced another complaint about not being able to go with them, but decided against it. A third person wasn't really needed; I had a feeling that was why. Besides, I was having too much fun with Lloyd back here.

"As you wish," Undine said, nodding. "To the lake..."

We looked ahead to see that the unicorn had been lifted above the surface of the water, freed from its imprisonment. It stood in the middle of the lake, tossing its mane to one side. The action flung small water droplets into the air; they reflected sunlight and briefly shined like jewels before falling into the lake.

I stood humbled and in awe of the graceful creature; through its many reincarnations, it was likely as old as time itself. This was nothing like a summon spirit...this creature was a physical manifestation of purity, incapable of committing sin or harming another. Good will and gentleness seemed to radiate from the unicorn, and I remained quiet out of respect. Lloyd looked up and leaned forward, squinting to get a better view.

Undine floated over the lake water, waiting for our business to be done. Hesitant, Sheena stepped forward and placed a foot on to the water; it remained solid under her feet. The ninja looked over, nodding to Colette, and they both continued onward to meet with the unicorn.

As Sheena and Colette conversed with it, we waited at the shore. I was sure only Kratos could hear the details of the conversation.

"Incredible..." Raine murmured, staring ahead quietly. "I never imagined I would get to see such a creature for myself, even if it is from a distance."

"Will the unicorn horn really be able to help your healing arts, sis?" Genis questioned, keeping his voice quiet as well.

She nodded. "I'm sure of it. I should be able to help Pietro...and Clara, as well."

"Clara..." I spoke up. "She's that...that thing we saw in Luin, isn't she? An Exsphere victim."

"Yeah," Lloyd confirmed. "She turned into a monster when her Exsphere was taken off..."

Kratos remained silent, staring ahead. I frowned slightly; how could he possibly feel after hearing there was a way to save an Exbelua? The knowledge that he could have saved Anna, had he done something different...that must have been painful.

"We'll have to look for her, then. I hope she's all right," I remarked.

"It will have to wait," Kratos finally spoke. "As of right now, our primary duty is to complete the world regeneration. If we do not, there will only be more people like Clara."

There he went again. I'd almost been hoping that we could get sidetracked again and look for Clara first, but it looked like that wasn't how it was going to go.

"The world regeneration..." Genis said quietly, looking troubled. He was probably remembering the conversation he'd had with Lloyd a while ago.

"Hima's our next destination, isn't it?" I asked, keeping my voice steady. "What then?"

"There was a man advertising dragon rides the last time we were there. He claimed the business would be set up in a week or so; we should be able to make use of his dragons now," Raine said.

I nodded. "Okay, dragons. Great."

Lloyd glanced over at me. "...You're okay with that?"

"Nope," I answered, shrugging. "But I'm not gonna be a pansy and back out at the last minute when I've come this far. Don't worry, though, you'll probably get to see me freak out when we're actually about to do it."

The brunette looked like he wanted to say something more to me, but suddenly we noticed that Sheena and Colette were walking back over the water to us. The unicorn was gone.

"You guys okay?" Lloyd asked, frowning. Sheena had lowered her head just enough so that her bangs concealed her eyes.

"...Sheena, are you crying?" Genis asked, looking surprised.

"The unicorn...gave us his horn," she answered simply, her voice soft.

"...I see," Kratos said, a solemn look on his face. "Then the unicorn is dead."

Sheena rounded on him, her eyes narrowed. "You knew?!"

"When a unicorn loses its horn, it dies," Raine explained. "By dying, a new unicorn is born. That's why the unicorn is the symbol of death and rebirth."

I'd always thought it was the phoenix. I mean, we didn't use Unicorn Downs in Final Fantasy, did we? That just sounded retarded. Then again, that was probably because a unicorn didn't have down feathers. Agh, useless train of thought.

"A new unicorn will be born?" Lloyd asked.

"Yes. I'm sure one has been," Raine answered, looking out over the lake. Sheena wiped away her tears, taking comfort in this fact.

"We should make good use of the horn, then," the brunette said. "The unicorn gave it to us at the cost of his life."

"Yeah, Colette! Now we might be able to get you back to normal!" Genis said cheerfully.

Colette shook her head, scribbling down something on her notepad before Lloyd could ask why.

_'I still haven't finished regenerating the world, so please use this for Pietro and Clara.'_

"But Colette..." Lloyd said, and his face fell when she gave him a fake smile. He stared at the ground. "...All right. If that's what you want."

Colette nodded, and walked over to Raine. She reached out to place the horn in the Professor's hand. It glowed for a brief moment, seeming to react with the mana of a healer.

Raine examined it, looking intrigued. "It seems I'll be able to use some new healing arts, thanks to this horn."

"We can save Pietro now, right?" Sheena asked. "We don't have much time to lose."

"That's right," the Professor said, "we don't know how far his illness has progressed since we last saw him."

Lloyd looked up, and it seemed like he'd managed to compose himself. "We should get going right away, then. We promised we'd save him, after all. Right, Brit?"

I almost flinched. "Um, y-yeah."

Kratos nodded, turning away, and started back down the path. "We still have a few hours before nightfall. Let's get moving."

Biting my lip, I reluctantly began to follow. Yeah, Pietro was a friend, but on the other hand I wasn't exactly eager to go to Hima...

Raine let out a sigh, shaking her head, and began walking as well. The fact that Kratos almost always made the final decision irritated her. After a second or two, everyone else started to follow. We continued onward down the path, out of the forest, toward the rocky cliffs that looked upon the Tower of Salvation...

----

It took us about a week to make it to Hima, but it felt like only a day had passed. Nothing truly significant happened, save for the usual. Lloyd, Genis, and Sheena became more angsty and doubtful, but that was to be expected since they were totally kept in the dark. Most of the time, though, we were all getting along normally. Colette's smiles became even more fake, if that was possible.

Oh, and the confrontation with Kratos still didn't come. I eventually gave up, accepting the fact that it just would never come. I was just tiring myself out by questioning his thoughts and motives constantly. The end of my journey was drawing near; soon none of this would matter, anyway.

It felt like someone had pressed the fast-forward button on my life. Before I knew it, we were standing at the foot of the steep pathway that led up to the village.

Though the others talked as we traveled up the path, I trailed silently at the back once more. It seemed like apprehension and Hima went hand in hand...last time we were here, I'd been nervous about heading to the Asgard ranch. I couldn't believe I'd actually made it this far.

Because the image of the Tower loomed above us despite the height of the cliffs, I kept my eyes to the ground ahead of my feet. The ore on the rock walls did not shine today, because it was currently late afternoon and the sun wasn't setting yet. I couldn't distract myself by listening to the conversation of the others, because Raine was telling Colette and Sheena about the dragons we would probably end up using.

"So..." Lloyd, as always, had caught me brooding. Little bastard always snuck up on me at times like this, too. "If we're using dragons, then this must be our last stop. Can you believe the journey's so close to being over?"

"Time flies when you're having fun," I answered with a humorless laugh.

He frowned, looking ahead. "You know, I always thought I'd be really happy at this part," he said quietly.

"Aren't you?" I asked.

"Not when Colette has to be like this," he murmured. "Did we really do the right thing?"

"It's too late to turn back," I said. "Having regrets will only weigh you down. Learn from your mistakes, Lloyd, and you can use that knowledge to better yourself as a person."

"...Whoa," Lloyd said after a pause. "That was pretty deep. Did you hear Kratos say that or something?"

I smacked my forehead. "Hey! I'm capable of thinking for myself, you know!"

"I'm not saying that, you just really sounded like--"

"Kratos isn't the only one capable of giving good advice around here!"

"But you never say stuff like--"

"Would you two stop bickering back there?" Raine called over her shoulder, rolling up one sleeve; that simple action instantly quieted us down.

"Sorry, Professor..." We said in unison. Kratos just gave us a look, probably wishing we wouldn't include him in our conversations.

We were silent for a few minutes, and Lloyd had a thoughtful look on his face. He looked over at me.

"Hey, about what you said...does that mean you think we messed up?"

"It doesn't matter what I think," I replied. "It's not like we can go back in time and do it over." That only happened in video games. Ha-ha.

Lloyd frowned, troubled, and lowered his voice some more. "Colette's...going to be okay, right?"

I blinked, surprised that he thought I knew the answer. Maybe the question was more to himself than anyone else. After a hesitation, I answered anyway, hoping to at least help him a little. He'd done a lot for me in these past few months, and I felt bad that I was going to repay him by getting myself killed.

"Just don't screw up again. Colette's got the weight of the world on her shoulders; we're in this situation because we forced everything on her. If you want to fix this, you've gotta remember that she's only human, too."

Only human...and far from perfect. If Lloyd wanted to undo his mistakes, he'd have to fight like hell at the Tower. I knew Kratos would give similar advice later on when they spoke.

Even though we were pretty far behind, I knew Colette could probably hear my every word. I wished she would realize one of these days that she was allowed to have flaws, even if she was the Chosen...

"What could we have done differently...?" Lloyd murmured.

I shrugged. "Who knows, really? Anyway, there's no sense in worrying about it now. Look, we're here."

The brunette looked up, and suddenly our group was gathered near Hima's small inn. We were finally here...our last stop.

The Professor turned around to face us. "All right. I should be able to save Pietro now."

Kratos nodded. "I will go speak with the man in charge of the dragons. The rest of you, go ahead." He turned, walking away in the direction of the path that led up the cliff.

Raine watched him go for a moment, and then turned and began to walk in the direction of the inn. The rest of us followed.

When we entered the inn, we immediately found Sophia speaking to the innkeeper. She looked like she nearly had a heart attack when she saw us suddenly standing there, staring at her.

"E-Everyone!" She said, and then seemed to remember herself. "The healing technique...?"

"We found it," Sheena assured her.

"I'm going to try it now. All right?" Raine asked, and Sophia immediately nodded.

"Yes! Please! He's upstairs; follow me."

We followed her into Pietro's room, gathering at the foot of his bed.

"Oh..." I choked, having to look away.

Needless to say...Pietro didn't look so good. He seemed to have wasted away since we last saw him; now he was nothing more than skin stretched over bones, a living skeleton. This was worse than the conditions I'd seen in the human ranch, and that was saying something. His eyes were closed, sunken in to his face, and his hair was stringy and falling out in some places. The only sign that Pietro was alive was the barely noticeable rise and fall of his chest. In this condition, I doubted he could even move at all.

Colette covered her mouth with her hands, and I noticed that Genis chose to look away, too. Lloyd and Sheena lowered their gazes.

"Please..." Sophia said quietly. "I...I don't think he has much time left."

The Professor gripped her staff more tightly, looking grave at the sight of Pietro's condition. I wondered...even with the unicorn horn, how could anyone hope to save someone who was already standing at death's door?

Raine walked forward, approaching the side of Pietro's bed. She raised the staff, closing her eyes in solemn concentration. We waited, tense.

The head of her staff began to glow, along with pale runes beneath her feet. The light softened Pietro's sharp, bony features, and caused him to exhale a feverish breath.

"Resurrection!" Raine said, opening her eyes. Suddenly Pietro was bathed in the light, and we all had to shield our eyes.

When the light faded and we could look again, I nearly gasped. Such an instantaneous change...it shouldn't have been possible. It was...incredible...

The Pietro I had just seen was now nothing more than a memory. He now looked healthier than I'd ever seen him; Raine's healing magic had done him more good than months in a hospital would have.

Pietro opened his eyes, sitting up; it was something he wouldn't have been capable of doing just moments before.

"Where am..." He trailed off, putting a hand to his forehead.

"He woke up!" Sophia breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness!"

"Sophia!" Pietro said, looking over at her in surprise. "Then...I reached Hima?!"

"Yes, Pietro! Sheena...she saved you," Sophia said.

He nodded. "...I remember! After leaving Luin, we were attacked by Desians...then she...thank you so much!"

"Ah, don't mention it," Sheena said sheepishly. "Besides, the reason you regained consciousness is because of Raine here. If you're going to thank someone, thank her."

"I see..." Pietro nodded to the Professor. "You have my sincerest thanks."

After a moment, he seemed to notice me standing there. His eyes widened. "Brittany? So you didn't suffer the same fate as me...what a relief." He smiled. "Weren't you going to stay in Luin?"

I winced. "Pietro, Luin is..."

"It was attacked by Desians," Raine finished for me. "We were able to rescue most of the townspeople, but the town itself is in shambles right now."

Pietro looked over at me, shocked. "Brittany...is this true?"

I nodded. "Yeah..."

He stared into his lap. "All because they sheltered us...they gave so much for people they didn't even know." When Pietro looked up, a new determination shined in his eyes. "Thank you, all of you. I want to use this life that you saved to rebuild Luin."

"Pietro..." Sheena said quietly.

"Pietro, please..." Sophia spoke up, "For now you need your rest."

Raine nodded. "It wouldn't hurt to get some sleep first. Luin can wait an extra day."

He hesitated, and then agreed. "Yes...you're right."

"We'll let you rest, then," Sheena said with a smile; we left the room, shutting the door softly.

The Professor turned to Sheena, holding out some money to her. "I'm going to see how Kratos is doing," she explained. "I'll trust the rest of you to get some rooms. There should be enough here for everyone."

"Okay," Sheena said, and Raine left.

We managed to get some rooms without too much trouble, and I found myself sharing with Sheena, as usual. We didn't have long to wait before Raine and Kratos returned, explaining that the dragons would be ready by the following morning.

"We can split up for tonight, but don't go outside the village. When the sun starts to set, we'll meet for dinner. All right?" The Professor said, and we nodded.

And so, the group separated, and I found myself alone...

----

Sheena and I had the same room as before, and I wished I could return to that night so long ago when we had been able to wash away our troubles with a midnight snack. Even though Kratos had spoiled it, it was still an amusing memory in my mind.

Sitting on my bed, I let out a sigh. Tomorrow...I couldn't believe how close it was. Even as I sat here, the seconds were ticking by, taking me closer and closer to the fateful event. Wasn't there anything I could do?

I frowned, noticing that a large mirror had been hung on the wall; it hadn't been there the last time I was here. It was a nice addition, as mirrors were a lot harder to find in Sylvarant than they were on Earth. I hadn't stood in front of one since...well, since I'd modeled my new outfit when I was staying in Luin.

I walked up to the mirror, examining myself. Well...I did look a lot better than I had a few months ago, at least. I actually looked healthy. Pretty dirty from traveling all the time, but healthy nonetheless.

My frown grew; I examined my reflection for another moment, and suddenly my old self stared back at me, brought on by my memories.

Soft, dark brown eyes, framed by mascara-enhanced lashes and black eyeliner... My skin was slightly tanned, smooth and unblemished. My long brown hair had been recently washed and straightened, and was meticulously combed so that not a single strand was out of place. I wore a black t-shirt with the logo of the New England Patriots on the front, and pale boot cut jeans. There was the telltale rectangular bulge of a cell phone in my right pocket. Part of a Boston Bruins lanyard, which held my car keys, hung from my left.

I blinked, and the image was gone.

Unable to look at my real reflection after seeing my old one, I turned away from the mirror. Back in those days...it felt like I'd spent more time on my appearance than I'd spent doing actual productive things. I wouldn't have called myself vain, though; compared to other girls my age, I had hardly spent any time in front of the mirror.

I let out a sigh. I missed being a perfectionist about my appearance...I missed shopping for new clothes and texting my friends and listening to music and doing all those stupid things teenage girls did. I missed watching sports with my dad and sister, jumping up and cheering whenever our Boston teams were in the lead. Hell, I even missed work. Pouring coffee wasn't exactly a glamorous profession, but at least it was normal and safe.

As I stood there, it occurred to me that if I died tomorrow, I was never going to get that life back. What about all of the hopes and dreams I had? What about all the aspects of life I had never experienced? I'd never get to go to college, finish that novel I'd started, open my own business, buy a house of my own...

Feeling dizzy all of a sudden, I sat back down on the bed.

Tomorrow would be the end of everything. Everything. It felt almost like I hadn't quite understood the meaning of death till now.

What kind of suicidal idiot was I? Death wasn't going to bring relief. I had too much unfinished business for it to be a relief. If I died tomorrow, I would take my regrets to the grave, and they would be with me forever.

"Hey, Brittany. You in there?" Sheena's voice suddenly cut off my thoughts, and I knew she was peeking in through the doorway. I was suddenly thankful that my back was to her, so she couldn't see my hands trembling.

"Yeah." I turned my head slightly, amazed at the calmness of my voice. "What is it?"

"Dinner's ready," she answered.

"Okay, be down in a second," I said. She nodded and left.

After taking a few deep breaths to compose myself, I stood up and went downstairs.

Everyone was gathered around the table, where a large dinner was prepared. It looked almost like a Thanksgiving feast; I hadn't seen so much food in one place since last Christmas.

Had I been in a better mood, I would have laughed at the look on Lloyd's face. He was going to start drooling any second now.

"We'll probably be going our separate ways after the world's regenerated," Genis said, shrugging. "So I thought I'd make our last dinner together a good one!"

Colette was totally unfazed by her condition; she took a seat at the table, looking happy that everyone had been significantly cheered by the good food. Well...okay, mostly everyone. Kratos still had that bored look on his face, and I was pretty sure that my smile wasn't too convincing.

And so, everyone started eating. The food looked really good, so I sat down with a full plate. Unfortunately, it wasn't till after I did this that I realized I had virtually no appetite. I popped a bite of it into my mouth and chewed; it tasted really good, too. Despite this, and the fact that I hadn't eaten since that morning, my body still didn't ache for more.

Only half listening to the others' conversation, I frowned, trying to eat more of the food and hoping I'd work up an appetite. After a few more bites, I felt strangely full and found that I just couldn't eat any more.

I sighed. Well, it was no use... Rather than eating my food, I started to push it around on my plate as I listened to everyone else talk.

"Remember how Noishe snuck into the schoolhouse that one time?" Genis asked with a laugh. They were sharing stories of Iselia, taking comfort in the warmth of their memories.

Colette smiled wide, as Lloyd grinned.

"Yeah," the brunette said. "It was raining really hard outside, and he tracked mud everywhere!"

Sheena tilted her head with amusement. "Why'd Noishe sneak in?"

"Dad accidentally let him out of his pen," Lloyd explained. "I guess he really wanted to see me, too. We even got out of class early 'cause the Professor had to clean up!"

"Don't remind me," Raine sighed. "That was a disaster."

"Lloyd got detention the next day because of it," Genis added, snickering.

"I still don't see how it was my fault that Noishe got out," Lloyd whined, and they all shared a laugh.

After a minute or two, things quieted down as everyone savored the food and Lloyd very skillfully avoided anything that looked like it might have tomatoes in it. Kratos was a little more subtle about it, but I didn't see anything red on his plate either.

"Hey, Brittany," Genis said, making me look up. "You're not eating much. Don't you like the food?"

I smiled weakly. "The food tastes great, Genis. I don't know...I just don't have much of an appetite right now."

"Eat," Kratos spoke up. "You may not be hungry now, but you'll need the energy if you're coming with us tomorrow."

Tomorrow. At the meaning behind that word, the food lost any appeal it had left.

"But Kratos, I--"

"Brittany," he warned, his tone clearly implying that this was the end of the discussion.

"...Okay." I let out a sigh, forcing down another bite of food. It still tasted good, but for some reason I just couldn't seem to enjoy it.

The dinner continued, and I no longer wanted any part of it. The room suddenly felt claustrophobic and overcrowded, and I just wanted to leave.

I made myself eat the food at a normal pace, and didn't ask for seconds when I cleaned my plate. I felt all right, despite how difficult it had been to force myself to eat, so I sat at the table and attempted to think of some input for the conversation.

Genis left the table briefly once everyone had pretty much finished, and then walked back in from the kitchen with a large platter of something.

"I made cherry cheesecake for dessert," the mage said, and Lloyd cheered, thrusting a clean plate out in Genis' direction.

"Me first!" he called, and the group let out a collective sigh.

Genis laughed, putting the platter down on the table. I leaned forward, a little curious. Cheesecake was one of my favorite desserts, after all...maybe I could make room for a slice. Maybe I could work up an appetite for something like this...

The top of the cheesecake had a generous covering of cherries, which dripped down on to the platter and pooled around the cake itself. Normally my mouth would have watered at such a sight, but for some reason all I could think was that the red syrup the cherries had been served in looked remarkably like blood.

Blood. Nauseating, thick, syrupy red blood.

I stood up abruptly, somehow managing not to knock my chair over, and everyone looked over at me.

"E-Excuse me," I said, my fingers hovering tentatively over my lips. Oh, God, that feeling, I knew that feeling...

Without waiting for permission, I ran out of the room.

----

There was a knock on the door, and I winced as the sound rang in my ears.

"Brittany? You okay in there?" Lloyd's worried voice came.

"Go away," I croaked.

I was glad the door had a lock, because the last thing I wanted right now was for anyone to see me like this. I was currently on my knees in an outhouse, which served as the inn's sole bathroom. It was at times like this that I cursed Sylvarant's primitive technology. Back on Earth, I had avoided outhouses like the Plague, even if it meant holding it for hours on end.

I had never vomited in an outhouse toilet before. It wasn't a pleasant experience. As soon as I thought I was finished, the overwhelming smell hit me and I started all over again. So much for forcing down all that food...before I knew it, I was dry heaving and coughing up bile. My throat burned, my eyes watered, and I could hear flies buzzing around somewhere.

"Look," Lloyd said, "you've gotta come out sooner or later."

"Go away," I repeated. I heard him sigh, and finally there was the sound of him leaving. I had a feeling that he'd be watching the outhouse from a distance, though.

After a second or two, I pushed away from the toilet and let out a shaky breath. I still felt nauseous, but there was nothing left to puke up besides my own spit. There was no sense in staying in here; I'd probably catch some nasty disease from breathing in the fumes for too long.

Somehow managing to stand, I wiped my mouth and pulled a canteen of water out of my bag. I rinsed out my mouth, and then took a long drink to soothe my stinging throat.

Okay...I felt a little better. Taking another breath, I opened up the outhouse door and stepped outside. The red light of the sunset made me squint for a second, but as my eyes adjusted I was able to make out my surroundings once more. Ah, the air was so much nicer out here...

I didn't see Lloyd anywhere. Sighing quietly, I walked over to an area on the rock wall and leaned against it, trying to relax a little.

My hands were shaking again. What was wrong with me? My stomach felt like it was turning over on itself, I felt almost too weak to stand, and I got a weird sense of vertigo every time I walked too fast.

Placing a hand to my forehead, I let out a quiet groan. That was it...this was happening because the reality of death had finally hit me with full force.

I didn't want to die.

I had never wanted to die. Throughout the journey I had just accepted my death as inevitable, finding reasons why I shouldn't get my hopes up. Why had I been so stupid? All this time, I could have been thinking of ways to get around it. There had to be a way. Going in without a plan was the worst possible thing I could do, and now I was going to be forced to do just that. There was no time left to think of an alternative.

I was shaking uncontrollably now. I couldn't just stand here where people could see me; I needed somewhere I could be alone.

Walking slowly, I approached the inn, hoping to take refuge in my room. When I passed an open window, however, I heard voices and paused.

"...don't understand what's wrong with her. Do you think she's sick?" Lloyd's worried voice rang out.

"Hm...lack of an appetite and vomiting..." Raine murmured quietly, probably more to herself than to anyone else.

"She'd be fine if Kratos hadn't made her eat all that food!" The brunette grumbled, and I heard a sigh coming from the mercenary.

"I don't think that was it, though," Sheena said, troubled. "She looked kind of pale when I came to tell her about dinner."

"She's been acting weird, too," Lloyd suddenly added. "Haven't you guys noticed? She always gets all quiet and moves to the back of the group when something's bothering her."

"From the sounds of it, she's very stressed," Raine finally said. "I'm sure it has something to do with our trip to the Tower tomorrow. We're all a bit apprehensive; it's the final seal, after all."

Lloyd sighed. "I...I'll try talking to her, then."

I frowned, walking away from the window. I really didn't want to talk to anyone right now, so I decided to head to the most secluded place in town. I doubted the cliff would offer me much comfort because of the view it offered, but at least up there the others were less likely to find me.

Despite my random dizzy spells, I managed to make it up the path without killing myself. When I finally made it to the top of the windy cliff, I collapsed to the ground, leaning forward and pressing the heel of my hand to my forehead. I really needed to pull myself together...

"Brittany!" I heard Lloyd call out, and suddenly I heard him running up behind me.

"...Fuck," I mumbled. All that for nothing.

"Are you feeling any better?" He asked, sitting down next to me. He either hadn't heard my expletive, or was choosing to ignore it.

"What do you think?" I grumbled. "Just...leave me be, Lloyd. I don't want anyone to see me like this..."

"Dammit! There you go again! You just want to suffer on your own?!"

"Pretty much," I answered bluntly. "Can you go away now?"

"I'm not going anywhere," he said stubbornly, crossing his arms. "Not till you tell me what's wrong, at least."

"What's wrong?" I asked incredulously. "Lloyd, I think I just threw up a few internal organs."

"That's not it," he insisted. "You're stressed out and this is only happening because you keep trying to hide it."

"Lloyd..."

"Look, I'm not going to judge you or anything. Just trust me, okay?" He said firmly.

I stared down at my hands. "...You really want to know?"

"Brit, I--"

"I'm scared," I said, interrupting him. My voice suddenly broke, sounding weak and shaky. "I'm fucking scared, okay?! That goddamned Tower scares the living shit out of me. I don't trust those fucking angels, either!"

My vocabulary deteriorated a bit when I was upset, successfully making me sound like an idiot every time. I stared at my shaking fists, frustrated with myself.

Lloyd had grown very still, staring at me with shock. "You're...you're terrified, aren't you? Why didn't you say anything earlier?"

"Because everyone would want to know why," I murmured.

"Is this because of what I said to Remiel back at the Tower of Mana?" Lloyd questioned.

"I guess that's part of it," I said. "But...that's not all."

"Brit...if you want to stay behind tomorrow, none of us will blame you," he said quietly.

I shook my head sadly. "You don't understand...I don't really have a choice."

"Why not?" He asked, but I just shook my head again. Frowning, he tried again. "This has something to do with the stuff you can't tell me, doesn't it..."

"Yeah..." I replied, sighing.

"Dammit. Isn't there anything I can do?!" Lloyd growled, frustrated. "I can't just leave you like this!"

Staring ahead at the Tower of Salvation, I suddenly felt very helpless and very alone.

"Could you just...stay here for a while? With me?" I asked in a small voice.

Lloyd's expression softened, and he nodded. "...Okay."

After all, it was the only thing he really could do...

----

The brunette swordsman sat with me for a while, until I finally managed to compose myself and convinced him to go talk to Colette. I really needed to stop being such an attention hog. She would be risking her life tomorrow, too. Just because she was a better actor than me didn't mean she suffered any less.

After Lloyd left, I let out a sigh. Alone once more...

More footsteps caused me to frown. What was it this time?

"Hey," Genis said, and I blinked with surprise. Genis was here now? What, was there a procession line waiting down there?

"Hey, Genis," I said, giving up. He came to stand next to me, his hands shoved in his pockets.

"Normally I would've brought you some food to cheer you up, but...yeah," he said awkwardly. I cracked a smile.

"It's the thought that counts, I guess."

He shifted a little, looking uncomfortable. "Well...okay. Raine said you're really stressed out, and, well...I just think you should come down and talk to us. It might make you feel better, right?"

I shook my head. "No, I think the cold air up here is doing me some good." Then I paused for a moment. "...Look, Genis, I know this is making you feel awkward. You don't have to hang around if you don't want to."

"No, I just..." He hesitated. "This is our last night as a group, right? I thought I'd talk to you one last time."

"Oh..." I said quietly. "In that case...can I say something?"

"What is it?"

"I know...I've been an annoying bitch on this journey, and I lashed out at Lloyd when I really shouldn't have. I already apologized to Lloyd, but I know you probably still resent me at least a little for that whole thing, so...I'm sorry, Genis." I bit my lip. "I don't really deserve Lloyd as a friend, I know. He's always helping me out, and all I ever do is lie and break promises and brood about stuff till I worry myself sick."

Genis stared at me, surprise written all over his features. "You're...apologizing?"

I nodded, sighing. "Yeah. I just...I don't want to end all this on a bad note with anyone. So...we cool, Genis?"

He frowned, looking out in the direction of the Tower. "Well...you are pretty selfish sometimes, and you're always making him worry about you."

I hung my head, but he continued.

"...But sometimes, you're not so bad. And if Lloyd likes you, then you can't be that bad of a person." Genis shrugged. "Besides...if you were a real jerk, you wouldn't have admitted all of that just now. So...I guess I'm not mad at you. It's not your fault you're a stupid human sometimes."

I smiled. "Thanks, Genis...I think I feel a little better now."

He nodded, smiling a little himself. "Anyway...that's it, I guess. Are you gonna be okay up here alone?"

"Yeah, yeah," I said. "Don't waste your time here with me, go talk to Colette. Tomorrow's all about her, you know."

Genis looked troubled. "...Yeah. You're right." He sighed, turning to go. "Don't stay up here too long, or you really will get sick. See you later."

I listened to him walk away, and laid down on my back, staring at the sky.

Watching the clouds drift by occupied me for a while; focusing completely on something else at least allowed me to temporarily ignore my own problems. While staring straight up like this, I couldn't see the Tower of Salvation.

The sky was getting darker...soon I wouldn't be able to see the clouds. Maybe I could stargaze for a while once that happened...I could try finding that constellation Lloyd showed me a while ago.

Suddenly a blonde head blocked my view, and I found myself staring up at a smiling Colette.

"Hey," I said quietly. "You know you're the third person that's come up here?"

She sat down next to me and I sat up, brushing the dirt off my back. Taking out her notepad, she wrote out her reply.

_'Lloyd told everyone you were up here.'_

I nodded. "Oh, that explains it."

_'You've been up here for two hours. Aren't you bored?'_ Colette wrote, looking at me curiously.

"No, not really." I caught myself staring at the Tower again, and looked away. "It's nice and quiet up here."

_'It's pretty, isn't it? The Tower of Salvation.'_

"Pretty gruesome," I said, snorting, and she gave me a shocked look.

_'What do you mean?'_

Averting my gaze, I sighed. "Sorry. That place just gives me a bad feeling, that's all. It's probably nothing."

She frowned sadly, and then wrote more on her paper. _'Please, don't blame the angels for what's happening to me. I have to do this because I love Sylvarant and everyone in it. It's not just because I'm the Chosen...I want to do this. Okay?'_

She had no idea...Cruxis was just using her, and she was ready to give everything for a homocidal, obsessive sociopath.

"Yeah..." I replied quietly, honestly unsure of what to say. It was so hard not to tell her the truth when she ready to die for a lie.

_'Brittany, everything's going to be okay. So don't worry!'_ Colette wrote, and then smiled reassuringly.

"Colette...I know you can't possibly be feeling as confident as you're acting right now," I said, staring straight ahead. I didn't look to see her reaction to my statement. "So...I guess what I want to say is, you're not alone. I'm scared too, but I'll be behind you every step of the way tomorrow."

I knew she just stared at me for a moment, because I didn't hear the sound of her writing any response down. I still didn't look; I was too afraid I'd make her show me that fake smile again.

"Colette, are you up here?" The Professor's voice cut our conversation short. I heard the sound of the Chosen shifting to look over her shoulder.

"Ah..." Raine frowned slightly when she spotted me as well, but then returned her attention to the blonde. "Genis has been looking for you."

Colette smiled and nodded, giving me an apologetic look before departing with a wave. I watched her go, a bit glad that Genis was taking my advice.

And then it was just me and the Professor. Somehow, I couldn't picture her trying to give me a pep talk. What now, then?

"Um...did you need something, Professor?" I asked, turning a little to look at her.

She crossed her arms, giving me a troubled look. "You should come down to the inn. Stress weakens your immune system; if you stay up here in the cold, you'll get sick."

I blinked. "Oh...it feels nice up here, though." Actually, my bare shoulders had gone numb a long time ago. I liked the numb feeling; if I tried hard enough, I could pretend that I wasn't really here, that this was happening to someone else.

She sighed. "Brittany. What is it that's bothering you?"

"I'm just tired, I guess. It's been a long journey," I said after a pause.

"Don't lie to me," Raine said, closing her eyes. "...You know the truth, don't you?"

I almost flinched at that. "...I know something's going to happen to Colette tomorrow that we won't like," I admitted. "The truth...Professor, I don't think I want to know."

"Perhaps it's best that you don't," Raine said, an edge of sadness to her tone. "Please don't say anything to the others. They don't suspect as much as you do."

"Okay," I said.

"This is the only path Colette will accept," the Professor murmured.

"I know. This system with the Chosen and all that...it's pretty messed up, isn't it?" I scoffed, unable to hide my scorn. "I love how all these people just take it for granted that Colette is suffering for their sake. Everyone just mindlessly follows this screwy system because they're not the ones who have to risk their lives. Oh, and heaven forbid we ever question angels! They have wings and fancy clothes, so they MUST be the saviors of the--"

"Brittany!" Raine snapped, hitting me hard. I winced, clutching my head, and glanced up at her. Oddly enough, she looked more surprised at my words than angry.

Pulling her hand back, she frowned. "This system was put in place centuries ago by the Goddess Martel. I understand you care about Colette, but she devoted her life to this cause...I'm surprised you would be so quick to judge."

"Everyone else here was raised to believe in the Church of Martel, the Goddess, and all that," I said. "I'm just looking at it from an objective point of view, Professor. Everything I say is based off what I've seen in the past three months, because that's all I know."

"I can see where you're coming from," Raine replied, looking pensive. "But it's a little late to be questioning the system and those that govern it. At this point, the most we can do is trust Colette."

"You're right," I admitted. "Anyway, we'll see how everything plays out...tomorrow." I just hated that word.

"Yes..." Raine closed her eyes, and I could almost hear the dread in her voice. "...Tomorrow."

An extra cold wind blew at that moment as if to emphasize the unhappy moment, and the Professor suppressed a shiver.

She turned her back to the Tower. "I'm going back down to the inn. Can I trust you to come down within the next few minutes as well?"

"I will, Professor," I assured her. "I promise."

She nodded. "I'll see you back at the inn, then. And Brittany?"

"Yeah?"

"When we return from the Tower tomorrow...you'll be coming with Lloyd, Genis and I. We'll help you find your way home."

"Professor..."

She smiled softly, though it had a sad quality to it. "Make sure you get some rest. It seems like our journey's only just beginning."

I stared ahead in the direction of the path, for long after she left. She didn't realize how right she was...

----

Intending to uphold the promise that I'd made, I stood up after a few minutes and headed back down the path. My stomach was much more stable now; I guess that was to be expected after sitting still for over two hours. Hopefully I'd be able to work up an appetite for breakfast tomorrow, or I had a feeling I'd really regret it later...

After overcoming the initial vertigo of getting up, it seemed like the random dizzy spells had passed. My insides still felt like crap, but at least my emotions were sort of under control now. I felt kind of emotionally exhausted, actually.

I reached the end of the first part of the path, and found myself in the Adventurers' Graveyard.

"Hmph. So you're finally coming down?"

Kratos stood amongst the graves, his back to me. He said that, and yet he'd probably spent the last hour brooding here, too.

"Yeah, I think I might be all right now," I replied, walking up to him. Man...this was the last conversation we'd have as comrades. After tonight, he'd...

"Try eating something, then. You will need the energy."

"Okay. I'll make sure to throw up all over you next time," I replied, crossing my arms.

"If you are unable to hold down food, then you're in no condition to be coming with us tomorrow," Kratos said, and I frowned.

"I'll eat, I'll eat. Like I said, I think I'm all right now."

We were quiet for a moment, and then I broke the silence with a heavy sigh.

"Oi, Kratos."

"Mm."

"The journey's over tomorrow...this is probably the last real conversation I'll have with you. Unless I hired you to be my bodyguard after this or something, which would be funny, but I'm broke, so..."

He gave me a bemused look, probably wondering when I'd get to the point already. I shifted my weight a little, pushing away my discomfort.

"Uh, anyway. I just wanted to thank you."

"Thank me?" Kratos frowned.

"Well, yeah. You taught me how to fight, and you've saved my life more times than I can count. You might have been a hardass, but I don't think I would've made it this far if you hadn't been." I shrugged. "So...thanks, Kratos."

"..." He looked away, returning his gaze to the gravestones ahead of us. "...What are your plans after tomorrow? Will you be going home?"

"If I can remember where home is, sure," I replied.

"Your acting is atrocious," Kratos remarked. "I'm surprised you've managed to keep the suspicion to a minimum, Brittany."

My insides froze. "...Kratos?"

"If the amnesia ever existed, I have no doubt that it is gone now," the mercenary said. "I became sure of that fact when we were first confronted by Kvar."

Well, he already thought my acting sucked...oh God, I was so _sick_ of keeping up this stupid front. Fuck it...if I was going to die tomorrow, why couldn't I be straight with Kratos for once?

"...Fine, I won't lie to you," I said. "You're right."

He crossed his arms, eyes narrowing slightly. "Enlighten me, then...who are you, really?"

I raised an eyebrow. "...You want the truth? I'm just a scared as hell teenager who's trying to keep her wits together. I don't even know how I got here, for God's sake...all I've wanted from the start is to go home."

"A Tethe'allan, then?" Kratos stared at me, his gaze scrutinizing. I shook my head.

"If I was, I would've spoken up when Sheena did. Anyway, what does it matter where I'm from?" I said, avoiding the question. "Everything will be done with tomorrow. Besides, it's not like everyone knows the details of your background, either, mister mercenary."

"Hmph," he grunted, giving me a look. "I'm surprised...that you told no one of what you saw that day."

I frowned at that remark. Hold on a second...was that why he hadn't confronted me? That was it--he had to know something was wrong about the way I acted. He had detected those subtle nudges I gave everyone in the right direction, the frequent times I helped him smooth things over so no one would become suspicious. Had he realized that I knew much more than I had any right to know?

"It doesn't really matter, though," I said. "Yeah, I saw you. But so what if you're working with Cruxis? We're all aiming for the world regeneration, so it's not like that really matters. I'd be more concerned if I saw you talking with a Desian or something."

"I would believe you, if you hadn't already expressed an extreme distrust toward Cruxis," Kratos remarked, staring at me. Christ, not that stare again.

I stared at the ground, letting out a sigh. "...I hate Cruxis for what they're doing to Colette. But...I trust you, Kratos. Even though you've been lying to us, I don't doubt that you're a good person. I mean, I've probably told about as many lies as you have..."

No, I really was being sincere. Kratos was a good person, he just had to act like an asshole for a while so he could help us save the world in the end. What was about to happen was necessary and we needed him to do it, even if it hurt.

Kratos closed his eyes, and I couldn't read his expression. "...Trust is not a word you should throw around so lightly."

"I'm not throwing it around!" I insisted. "If you really were a bastard deep down, you wouldn't have put up with someone like me for this long."

After a pause, I sighed. "Whatever happens tomorrow...I know you'll do the right thing." There was no way around the betrayal, but I was kind of hoping he wouldn't just stand there as Yggdrasill pulverized us.

The not-mercenary was silent. Had I rendered him speechless?

"...You are a fool, Brittany."

I smiled at him. "Love you too, asshole."

"Kratos!"

We turned, hearing the sound of running feet. Lloyd approached, his ribbons blowing in the wind.

"Oh, good, you're here too," the brunette said when he saw me. "Kratos, aren't we gonna do our final training session? You promised!"

Kratos glanced at me, and then let out a sigh. "...Yes. Meet me on the edge of town...and be prepared. I won't go easy on you today."

As Kratos walked off, Lloyd looked over at me with a confused expression. "He was going easy on us before?"

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, Lloyd, you don't know the half of it..."

Kratos' final lesson...it was the only thing he could do to prepare us for the hell that was to come.

----

**A/N: ...No, I'm not going to cut the day off here. XD OC Brit's still gonna have a final conversation with Sheena, too. And thennn...the Tower, omg. I'm pumped.**

**Unfortunately, I probably won't be able to write for the next week, since I've been neglecting all my projects so that I could write this. D: Maybe I should start that French homework now...**

**Oh yeah, and I was looking forward to that Kratos conversation for a while. He suspects stuff! Woo! -still has other plans-**

**Next time: TOWER OF SALVATION!! ARE YOU EXCITED?! YEAHH! PARTY!**

**on the downside, traitorous Kratters. D':**


	28. Judgment from Heaven

**A/N: That's right, a brand new chapter to celebrate the new year! This story's almost a year old, too! 8D So, this is the longest chapter yet...about 11,000 words. And I wrote most of it in the last two days...XD**

**Can you feel that apprehension?! This is THE chapter! I hope it's as epic as it's supposed to be...I really tried to live up to everyone's expectations. Anyway....enjoy, guys! Happy new year!**

**Disclaimer: If I owned ToS...I'm out of jokes, dammit! I don't own it! D:**

**----**

"That won't work. You're leaving your left side wide open--hm, good. Change your stance, like that."

I growled as Kratos picked out a weakness in my defense; at least I'd managed to correct myself fairly quickly without his help this time. He only paused for a split second before coming at me once more, thrusting his sword forward at an awkward angle that was difficult to defend.

Dodging to the left, I tried to get around him so I could Demon Fang his back. Kratos swung around with impressive speed and immediately clashed swords with me, nearly causing me to lose my balance with the force of the attack. I almost made a face--training normally with him was bad enough, but today he really wasn't screwing around. Whenever I made a mistake, he usually stopped and pounded the correct way to do it into me for the next ten minutes; today, he'd hardly stopped at all, though I was sure I'd messed up just as much as always. Instead, he made me realize my screwups for myself by physically showing me the consequences of each mistake.

Translation: abuse, abuse, abuse. I didn't whine, because I knew the reason for it all. What he was showing me now was still only a fraction of his true strength, and tomorrow...

All this training, and I could still tell that I wasn't even close to being prepared. Three months--part of which was spent rotting in a Desian ranch--was not enough to properly learn how to swordfight. My Exsphere was the only thing keeping me alive right now, really.

Scowling, I used Hunting Beast, only to have it completely deflected with a Guardian. The swordsman lashed out at me with a string of attacks, forcing me on the defensive and giving me no time to counter. I continually stepped backwards in an attempt to get out of Kratos' reach, searching for a weak spot in his defense and finding none. I could tell he was doing the same to me, only he found countless weaknesses with ease. Man, I had a long ways to go.

"Tiger Blade!" I cried, finally deciding to try out the new tech. When I swung my sword down, he caught it with his own, putting me back in a precarious position. Whenever our swords clashed it became a battle of strength rather than skill, and although Kratos was superior in both, there was no way I could get lucky in a contest of brute strength.

This time I attempted to resist for a moment instead of immediately breaking away. Kratos confirmed my thoughts when he pressed forward and down, nearly forcing me to my knees. I shoved myself forward before twisting to the side, freeing myself.

The fight dragged on, and my limbs began to throb as I started to run out of breath. I ran at Kratos head on, not sure what I wanted to do, but determined not to be taken down so quickly. This was the longest I'd lasted yet, and I wanted to show him how far I'd come. I knew nothing I could do would impress Kratos, but as his student, I felt the natural urge to gain his approval somehow...especially considering what was going to happen after today.

As I ran at him, Kratos held up one hand--a signal for me to stop. I paused, panting slightly, a confused look on my face.

"That's enough for now," he said. "It would be best to conserve your energy."

A frown tugged at my lips, but I couldn't say I was surprised. He'd stopped Lloyd, who was currently standing on the sidelines, in a similar manner. On most days I would've jumped for joy at being cut off early, but today I felt a churning in my stomach. That was the last time I would ever train with Kratos...just like that, it was over. No more early-morning sessions, no more lectures, no more advice. Lloyd and I could train together, but it just wouldn't be the same...

"So, this is it," I said, and it seemed like I had summed up everything I felt in those four words. Lloyd walked up to stand next to me, a strangely solemn look on his face.

"Yes," Kratos replied, and I almost shuddered at the finality in that word. He crossed his arms, pausing for several moments to examine the two of us.

"You've both improved a great deal," he finally said, "and I have no doubt that you will continue to improve. Although I will no longer be traveling with you after tomorrow...don't neglect your training. Do not lose sight of what you are fighting for and why you have chosen to fight. That...is my final lesson to you as your teacher."

He sounded like a general trying to raise morale for his troops before sending them off to war. I felt like I was about to fight in a war that I couldn't win.

Although I felt a horrible burden on my shoulders at the knowledge of what was to come, I also felt a strange determination upon hearing his words. No, I hadn't lost sight of my goals. I wasn't going to let all this hard work, all this training go to waste. Maybe I was destined to die tomorrow...but if I had to die, I was sure as hell gonna drag one of those bastards down with me.

My eyes hardened, and I was sure Lloyd's did the same. He didn't know what was coming, but at this point in time, I was sure he felt the instinctual discomfort...the same way an animal senses a storm coming.

"Kratos," Lloyd finally spoke up. "Thanks for everything. We couldn't have come this far without you."

It was the second time someone had voiced that thought today, and Kratos looked just as nonplussed as before, especially now that the words were coming from his own son. The expression vanished after a short moment; he gave Lloyd a curt nod, closing his eyes.

I hesitated. "I...dunno what to say, really. I'm gonna miss you, Kratos. You're the first person I've ever met that always tells me exactly what I don't want to hear, and yet still manages to make me feel better."

Kratos opened his eyes and turned his gaze on me, and I laughed nervously, feeling uncomfortable.

"Well, uh...I just remembered I have something that I need to do. See you guys in the morning!" Turning around abruptly, I started the trek back to the inn.

"That was weird..." Lloyd muttered, but he was pretty used to my antics by now.

After I'd walked for a few seconds, I sighed.

"Goodbye...Kratos the mercenary," I said in a whisper, knowing only he could hear me, and only he would see the double meaning in my words.

Kratos the mercenary today...Kratos the seraph tomorrow.

"Hmph," I heard him grunt, and I knew he'd heard.

And so, I left the two swordsmen alone so they could speak one final time. Fear and uncertainty hung over us like a dark cloud, making the stars seem as cold and distant as Derris-Kharlan itself.

----

Despite what I'd told Kratos, I actually didn't have anything left to do today besides go to bed. I really didn't want to and I highly doubted I'd be able to sleep, but it was getting late.

With a resigned sigh, I finally headed back to my room, pushing open the door. The small oil lamp on the nightstand between the two beds was lit, and I noticed that Sheena was sitting cross-legged on her bed. She was leaning back against the headboard, her eyes closed. She was probably trying to relax.

When I shut the door behind me, her eyes opened. I raised a hand in greeting, before walking over to flop down on my own bed.

"Hey," Sheena said. "Feeling better?"

I stretched, putting my hands behind my head. "Physically, sure. I don't feel like I'm gonna pass out anymore, thankfully."

There was a shuffling sound, and suddenly a plate of food was being waved in front of my face. I sat up, frowning.

"I saved this for you," Sheena said with a wry smile. "Figured you'd want it sooner or later."

"Thanks," I said gratefully, noticing that all the foods she'd saved were ones that could be eaten cold. "Wow. I think I might actually be hungry."

"Eat, then," she said, sitting back down on her bed. I didn't need much more convincing, and dug in.

After a pause, Sheena shifted a little. "Hey, Brit?"

"Mm?" I looked up.

"Do you remember the conversation we had the last time we were here?"

Swallowing, I thought for a moment. "...Heh. We were both talking about how scared we were," I replied with a humorless smile.

She nodded. "Back then, we were worried enough about the Asgard ranch. I mean, if we messed up, the prisoners would have died. But now...it's the fate of two worlds that hangs in the balance."

"What're you gonna do about Tethe'alla?" I asked, but she just lowered her gaze.

"I...I don't know. I trust Colette, so...I think I'll let her ask Remiel tomorrow. After that, we'll see."

"It's a tough situation, that's for sure," I remarked, shrugging. "I'm surprised you're not the one throwing up and acting all crazy."

"So it's not just stress," Sheena said, looking over at me. "You're really scared, aren't you?"

"Everyone is, whether they'll admit it or not. It's just a matter of how well you handle it," I said, sighing. "I've never been this scared in my entire life, and I have a habit of worrying way too much and overthinking things. I'm driving myself crazy."

Her brow furrowed slightly. "...But you don't sound like you're on the verge of a major breakdown or anything."

"I was earlier, I think," I mumbled. "But then Lloyd helped a little bit. And I blew off a lot of steam when I was training with Kratos."

"Do you think you'll be okay tomorrow?"

I shrugged. "I doubt it. I'm already apprehensive about what we've gotta do, never mind my fear of heights and riding those stupid dragons..." I had to suppress a groan at the thought of it.

I loved dragons, I thought they were awesome, but I had a feeling riding one over extreme heights would not be very fun.

Sheena frowned slightly. "I wonder if there will be some sort of seal guardian..."

"Probably not," I said, shaking my head. "I'm pretty sure the last challenge for the Chosen is the Prayer of Regeneration or something like that. Dunno how it's supposed to be difficult, but..."

"Well, something big's gonna happen tomorrow," the ninja sighed. "Otherwise we wouldn't be so nervous about it."

"Yeah..." I leaned back, staring over at the mirror I'd looked at earlier. "I just wish I had the strength to handle whatever's coming."

"Hey, don't start talking like that," Sheena said. "I believe in you, so you should believe in yourself."

I glanced over at her, making a face. "That's so corny. Where'd you hear that?"

She gave me an amused look. "You said it."

"Oh...yeah." I placed a palm to my forehead. "Man, Lloyd's rubbing off on me."

Sheena laughed a little, but then grew serious. "Hey, if it makes you feel better, I'll watch your back tomorrow."

"Huh?" I frowned, confused.

"You know, if anything happens." She shrugged. "You and me, we'll be a team. Friends look out for each other and all, right?"

I paused, my fork halfway to my mouth, and looked over at her. A team? Something in me felt strange at her words.

"You...you promise?" I asked quietly, not knowing why I needed a confirmation.

"Yeah," the ninja said, smiling. Then she seemed to notice how dark it was outside, and how I was pretty much finished with my food. "Let's get some sleep, okay? We've got a long day ahead of us."

I nodded slowly, watching her blow out the lamp. "...Thanks, Sheena."

The room was plunged into darkness as I placed the plate on the nightstand, planning to return it to the kitchen in the morning.

"Don't mention it," came the reply, and then the room was silent.

I kicked off my boots, laying back on my bed and staring at the ceiling.

I felt...a little bit better. Just knowing that someone would be looking out for me, knowing that I wouldn't be completely alone tomorrow...it made a difference. No matter what Lloyd said, he'd be too distraught about Colette and Kratos to pay attention to me during battle. Sheena wouldn't be happy, but she wouldn't forget the promise, either. Somehow, I was just...glad.

After staring at the ceiling for a little while longer, I closed my eyes, waiting for sleep to come.

----

_Trees flew past me in a green blur as I drove south along Route 1, music blaring from the car's speakers. Since this area was heavily wooded, I didn't hesitate to sing along, turning the volume up a bit. The wind whipped my hair, threatening to pull off the Syracuse University cap I wore to keep the sun out of my eyes. I reached up, pulling it down more securely._

_A bag of takeout from Amato's sat on the passenger's seat, and my iced latte was in the cupholder. Now to stop by Hannaford for a few groceries, and I could head home to watch the rest of the game..._

"Brit, it's time to get up."

The feeling of someone shaking me caused my brow to furrow, and this time I was able to realize that I was dreaming. Although something inside of me kept screaming in protest, I forced myself to open my eyes. Sheena hovered over me, a grim look on her face.

I stared at her, feeling as if my stomach had curled in on itself and died. Was it really morning already? Hardly anything had happened in that dream, and it felt like I had just closed my eyes seconds ago...

"Time to go?" I managed to croak, sitting up.

She nodded. "Yeah...we're all meeting in the kitchen. Are you feeling okay?"

"I'll be all right," I lied. "See you downstairs, then."

Sheena frowned, but didn't ask anything more. "Okay. Don't take too long...Kratos and Raine are pretty edgy today."

I watched her leave, my hands resting in my lap. Part of me was mad at myself for falling asleep so fast...I couldn't believe the morning had come so quickly. I hadn't even woken up when Kratos was attacked by Yuan.

My hands were shaking again. I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly.

"I can do this," I whispered to myself, as if saying the words would make it true.

After a few seconds of sitting there, I pulled my boots on and grabbed my stuff, heading downstairs. The group was waiting in the kitchen, as Sheena had said. We ate a quick, tense breakfast, during which I spent more time hand-combing my hair than actually eating. When everyone was done, we headed outside and walked quietly up the path to the cliff.

We reached the top, and I finally found myself standing before the four dragons we were supposed to ride. They were all deep blue in color, fitted with special riding equipment. Each of them eyed us with curiosity, but thankfully I couldn't detect any aggression.

The Tower of Salvation loomed before us, and I had to bite the inside of my cheek hard to prevent another dizzy spell. I shifted uncomfortably, staring at the expanse of mountains we'd have to ride over. Every fiber of my being was telling me not to do this, to run away now, but I just couldn't move.

"I've been waiting for you," the dragon guy said, nodding to us. He stood off to the side, his arms crossed. "Please board the dragons in pairs."

Kratos immediately stepped forth, turning to the group. "I will ride on the same dragon as the Chosen. Protecting her...is my job."

I closed my eyes. It was finally beginning...

No one bothered questioning this, as Kratos had never failed in his duty to keep Colette out of danger. Raine turned to Lloyd.

"Do you have any preference as to who you will ride with?" She asked.

Lloyd frowned for a moment, and then nodded. "I'll go with Brit."

I looked up in surprise, but he was already getting on to the dragon. He held out a hand to me, attempting a reassuring smile. Although the smile looked more pained than anything else, I gave him a grateful look and allowed him to help me up.

He remembered my fear of heights...

"Thanks, Lloyd," I murmured quietly as Sheena stepped forward to one of the dragons.

"I'll be fine on my own," she shrugged, knowing Raine and Genis would probably want to ride together.

Raine nodded, and mounted her own dragon along with Genis. "Let's get moving, then. It's time..."

Kratos' dragon took off first, and the others were smart enough to follow without any other sort of signal. Our dragon flapped its wings and jumped off the cliff with a lurch, and I sucked air in through my teeth while trying to calm my stomach.

The dragon dropped down for a moment before steadying itself in the air. It took me a moment to realize that I had wrapped my arms around Lloyd's waist, burying my face in his back. I hesitantly pried myself away a little bit, but kept my eyes squeezed shut.

"Sorry," I muttered. "Is it scary?"

"It's not so bad. It's actually kinda cool being this high up," Lloyd said, and I felt him turn a little.

I opened one eye, and saw him looking over his shoulder at me. Thankfully, he didn't look too flustered at my clinginess. He was probably used to it by now.

"I don't think I'll risk looking down," I half-groaned. "Um...distract me, please..."

"What do you think it's like?" Lloyd asked, sounding troubled.

My brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"

"The world regeneration."

"Oh. Well..." I paused, trying to think. "...I dunno. Maybe it's like the oracle, where there's a big light, only when the light fades everything's all awesome."

Despite our grim mood, Lloyd had to snort at that. "It seems weird that it'd happen so fast, but...that's kinda like what the Church of Martel has been saying will happen. What'll happen to the Desians? They'll just vanish?"

"Probably be forced into Tethe'alla," I said. "Then their Chosen will start the journey."

"Dammit," the brunette swore. "After all that's happened to Colette...all we're doing is forcing our problems on to other people!"

"And even after we do this, it's only a matter of time before history repeats itself," I added with a sigh.

"I wish there was something we could do..." Lloyd shook his head. The dragon wobbled a little in flight, and I gripped the swordsman a little tighter for a moment before managing to regain my voice.

"...We should just wait for Colette to ask Remiel," I said, shrugging. Lloyd looked over his shoulder at me again, frowning.

"Is that it? I thought you didn't like him. Are you really willing to place all of your bets on him?"

"What other choice do we have?" I asked, but couldn't meet his gaze. "Anyway...I'm sure we'll figure something out once we get there. We can't exactly turn back right now."

Finally starting to get used to being on dragonback, I looked around me for the first time. Sheena rode a dragon to our left, while Raine and Genis were to our right. Kratos and Colette flew directly ahead of us.

Needless to say, we were really, really high up. We were high enough that we periodically passed through clouds; the cool water vapor helped calm my stomach a little bit.

As Lloyd and I spoke, we passed through another of these clouds. When we emerged into clear air again, Kratos and Colette were nowhere to be found.

"Huh? Where'd they go?" Lloyd looked around, confused. Even I was impressed at this little vanishing act, but I was sure they were just passing through another cloud ahead of us or something.

"They must have gone on ahead," Raine called. "Let's hurry."

With that, she and Genis flew ahead of us, picking up the pace. We continued onward, and the Tower was visibly growing closer now. I looked up, squinting, wondering exactly how tall it really was. It disappeared into more clouds above us; the damn thing defied physics.

"Colette..." Lloyd murmured, sounding worried.

"I'm sure she's fine. Kratos wouldn't let anything happen to her," I lied.

"Yeah...you're right," he said, actually sounding reassured by this. I winced; he really trusted Kratos. I really hoped these upcoming events wouldn't break him.

I opened my mouth to say something else, when suddenly a jolt shook through me. I pressed my face against Lloyd's back, wondering if we were going to die, when I realized that the jolt was just the impact of landing.

Oh, God. We were there.

Raine and the others got off their dragons, and I managed to shakily make my way down. The second all of us were safely on solid...Tower, the dragons leaped into the air and flew off, back to their master. I gulped; now there was really no turning back.

"Still no sign of Kratos and Colette," Lloyd remarked.

"Looks like they've gone in already," Raine said, indicating the oracle stone and the open door. "We shouldn't waste time standing out here. Let's go."

We followed as she led the way, and a quick glance around the group told me that everyone was about as intimidated by the Tower as I was. I couldn't tell which was worse: fear of the unknown, or knowledge of a bleak future.

And so, we took our first few steps into the Tower. I looked around, grim; unlike most places in Sylvarant, the Tower of Salvation looked almost exactly the way it had in the game. There were pillars on either side of us, and beneath our feet was what looked like a glass floor. I looked down to see nothing but blue-green clouds; there was no ground beneath us. Dark coffins floated in spirals around us, emerging from the abyss below and vanishing into the abyss above.

Lloyd paused, following my gaze. "What are those?" He walked closer to the edge of the platform, frowning. Then his eyes widened with horror.

"They're...coffins?! Why are all these dead bodies here?!"

Raine lowered her gaze. "They may be...all the Chosen that failed the world regeneration up until now."

Sheena and Genis were looking around, shock and revulsion clear on their faces. If no one had questioned the integrity of Cruxis yet, I was sure they were doing so now. These Chosen had given their lives trying to save the world...and their bodies were stored here in some morbid display. Their families would hold a funeral over an empty grave.

"So if Colette fails, she'll wind up here with them?! Dammit!" Lloyd clenched his fists.

I said nothing, because there was nothing I could say. There were hundreds of bodies floating around us...I couldn't even fathom how many people like Colette had been slaughtered since this insane cycle began. Yggdrasill was a sick, twisted bastard.

"I'm worried about Colette," Genis said uneasily. "Let's hurry!"

We nodded in agreement at this, and ran forward in pairs on to the warp.

"This seems wrong," Sheena said when it was just me and her left. "What's happening?"

"Only one way to find out," I said gravely, walking forward despite how terrified I felt. The two of us stepped on to the warp, and the world vanished around us.

When we stepped off the warp and into the final area, I felt weak. This place...I didn't want to be here. So many of the bad things that happened in the game happened in this very place.

The platform we stood on was very large, but other than that, nothing was different. Kratos was nowhere to be found, but that wasn't too surprising. Two sets of stairs led up to the platform where Colette was currently kneeling.

"...What?" Was all Lloyd could manage when he saw her. The ominous feeling here was suffocating; everyone could tell something was very wrong.

A light descended from above, and Remiel appeared with a flash. My fists clenched with hatred, but I didn't bother to hide it as I'd done at the Tower of Mana. By now, everyone in the group was aware of my mistrust of the angels...and I was sure they were probably starting to agree with me.

"Now, my daughter," Remiel said, gazing down at her. "Release the final seal! In doing so, you will complete the final sacrifice of your human existence--your heart and your memory. By doing so of your own free will, you will become a true angel!"

His voice had gained a dark quality to it, the expression on his face harsh. This was the final destination--he no longer cared about playing his part.

"What?!" Sheena exclaimed, eyes wide.

"Sacrifice her heart and memory?!" Lloyd stepped forward, staring at Colette, who hadn't moved.

"Colette's going to forget about us?!" Genis looked panicked.

Raine closed her eyes. I could tell she was trying to remain calm, but her cool demeanor was starting to break apart. "Colette's human life will now end, and she will be reborn as an angel." She paused for a moment, opening her eyes once more and looking away. "...Everyone, I'm sorry. I promised Colette I wouldn't say anything. Colette will give up her life in order to regenerate the world. Becoming an angel...means dying."

Lloyd and Genis looked mortified. They froze for a moment, at a loss for words, as this brutal reality set in. All along, they had been unknowingly helping their childhood friend meet her end.

"That's not quite correct," Remiel said, his voice cold. "The Chosen's heart will die, and her body will be offered to the Goddess Martel. By offering her body, Colette will revive the Goddess. This is the true nature of the world regeneration! The revival of the Goddess Martel...is the revival of the world itself!"

"Th-That's--!" Lloyd kept opening and closing his mouth, unable to form a coherent statement. It was painful just to watch him, so I clenched my fists and spoke up for the first time. There was still something we needed to cover to drive home the fact that Cruxis really didn't give a damn.

"Remiel!" I called out, not bothering to use his title. I stepped forward, amazed at how steady my voice was.

He looked down at me, and I saw a flash of greed in his cold blue eyes. He hadn't forgotten who I was, that was for sure.

Suppressing a shudder, I continued. "We heard about a world called Tethe'alla that lies parallel to Sylvarant."

"That is not for you to know," Remiel said curtly, as I'd known he would. Raine stepped forward as well.

"You kept it a secret because it is true, correct?"

"From whom did you learn of it?" Remiel asked, eyes narrowed.

"It doesn't matter," I snapped, causing several of the others to look at me with surprise. They didn't seem to realize yet that telling him about Sheena would only make her a target. Plus, it didn't really matter how rude I was at this point, since he was going to try to kill us anyway.

"The fact of the matter is, we're condoning an endless cycle of pain and suffering just to keep this flawed system afloat. How many Chosens have died like this? How many more will there be? If Colette dies here, she won't be changing anything! You expect us to accept that?!"

I'll admit, I'd said a lot more than I had meant to. But it felt good to finally voice my objections, just the same. All of these pent up emotions weren't doing much for my health.

The look on Remiel's face was almost frightening, and definitely not befitting of someone who has claimed to be a divine being.

Lloyd was giving me a shocked look, but his fists were clenched as well. I could tell that my little speech had instilled a substantial amount of anger towards Cruxis in him. The fact that Remiel was being evasive about Tethe'alla wasn't helping him, either.

"Are you questioning the will of the Goddess, human?" Remiel thundered.

"It's all too easy to justify everything that way, isn't it? Everything's a necessary sacrifice as long as some deity wills it." I was shaking now. This happened just as much on Earth as it did in Sylvarant. People died for a God that condemned killing...it was all so damned twisted!

"Who is this Goddess you believe in?" I asked, holding my arms out. "She sure is one hell of a sadist!"

"Brittany," Raine murmured, gripping my shoulder and squeezing hard.

I knew it was her signal that I was going too far, but I couldn't help myself. If I was going to die here, I wanted to have as little regrets as possible. And I knew that if I didn't tell Remiel off, I'd always wish I had. I hated Cruxis and the Desians, not only because of what I knew they'd done, but because they seemed to know more about my situation than I did and only did their best to make everything worse.

Even Colette was looking over her shoulder at me now, her eyes wide. I felt a little bad at shooting down everything she'd ever believed in, but she couldn't continue to blindly trust Cruxis and the Church of Martel.

"Blasphemous mortal..." Remiel uttered with disgust, though I doubted he cared anything about the Goddess. He was a power hungry, arrogant prick.

"Remiel..." Sheena stepped forward, less confident than I had been. "We just want to know...Isn't there a way for Cruxis to make both worlds peaceful? Then people wouldn't have to suffer!"

Remiel closed his eyes, seeming to calm down enough to get back on task. "...If that is what the Chosen desires, she can lend her power to Cruxis by becoming an angel. Once the Goddess Martel is revived by the Chosen, the two worlds will surely achieve peace, just as the Chosen wishes."

Colette looked up at him, her eyes wide. He turned his attention to her.

"Is that true, you ask? You know why you have come here."

She looked down at her hands, which were clasped in front of her heart.

"You can't...are you really planning to die?!" Sheena asked, upset.

"Colette, stop!" Lloyd cried. "If you sacrifice yourself, your friends who love you...and your family...and...and me...we'll all be sad. It'll be the same as sacrificing all of us!"

The anguish in his voice made me shudder with dread. Colette...she would be okay, right? The Renegades would come and save everyone...

Could I really place all my bets on them? Was that too big of a risk to take? If they were even a minute late...what if it didn't happen the way it was supposed to?

Genis ran forward next to Lloyd. Unlike the way it played out in the game...he wasn't ready to sacrifice her, either. After seeing my constant dislike of Cruxis, as well as those coffins...I was sure his doubts were too great. People in Sylvarant were suffering, but this would only be a temporary relief, and at the cost of one of his best friends.

Colette was giving us a pained look, and I felt my stomach churn. Could I really stand by as she threw her life away? Wasn't there anything I could do?!

"Don't do it, Colette!" Genis' eyes were full of tears, but he refused to let them fall. "There has to be something else we can do!"

Raine was holding a hand in front of her mouth, her head lowered so that her bangs covered her eyes. I thought I saw a single tear fall, but I couldn't be sure.

I couldn't. I couldn't stand by and do nothing...I had to at least try. I didn't want Colette to die, either. All of those times I had seen her suffer...I hadn't been able to do anything to help. Now that it really mattered, I just...I...

"Please, Colette," I said, surprised to find that I was choking up too. "You have so much to live for. Don't throw it all away now! Don't you understand? If you do this, then some Chosen in Tethe'alla will have to go through the same thing as you! Remiel's wrong; this isn't going to change anything! If Cruxis was willing to change the system, they would have done so by now!"

"Colette..." Sheena shook her head. "Come back with us. We can find a way to work together so you don't have to die!"

"Finding such a method would take far longer than Sylvarant's current lifespan," Remiel said, his voice sounding more and more sinister by the minute. He crossed his arms, glaring down at us. "The sacrifice of one single person, the Chosen, will save the world. Are you saying that you would choose the Chosen's soul over the entire world? Now, Colette...come join your father."

Colette hesitated, looking honestly torn for a moment...but then her Chosen side won over, and she turned to approach Remiel. A glowing circle appeared beneath her feet. Desperate, Lloyd ran forward towards the altar.

"Wait! Remiel! Is there really no other way? Colette's your daughter. Surely you don't really want her to die, either!"

"...My daughter?" Remiel scoffed. "Don't make me laugh. When I came down to play the role of guardian angel, you inferior beings just started calling me her father on your own."

"Wh...what?" Lloyd looked up, shocked. Everyone else in the group had flinched as well at this remark.

"I merely placed the Cruxis Crystal upon this sacrifice, who was selected to become Martel's vessel."

He sounded like a Desian, and it was infuriating.

"Colette!" Lloyd called out, jumping up on to the altar where she stood. She turned to face him, smiling.

Although she didn't move her lips, her voice echoed through the chamber.

"Lloyd, it's okay. I realized what was going on. Every time I met Remiel, I felt...that he was not my real father...But still, for some reason, I still feel like I want to cry."

"Colette...If you realized what was going on, then why...?"

She looked shocked. "...You can hear my voice? I'm so happy! I'll be able to say goodbye to you all in the end."

"Colette...I'm sorry! I couldn't save you...I'm so sorry!" Lloyd sounded close to tears. "I promised I wouldn't make another mistake, but it looks like I have again..."

"No. Thank you, Lloyd. Because of you, I was able to find the courage to protect the world. Because of you, I was able to find the strength to live these sixteen years to the fullest."

She gave him a heartfelt smile, and then looked over to us.

"Genis..." The boy nearly jumped at the mention of his name. "...Even when we were little, you always baked me a cake on my birthday. You and Lloyd always made sure I felt like Colette...not the Chosen One. When my birthday came, I could celebrate like a normal girl...and I could forget that each birthday brought me closer to today. Thank you."

"Sheena," she said, turning to the ninja now. "I know we weren't on the best terms when we first met, but I always knew you had a big heart. I'm thankful that I got the chance to be your friend. I know that even after I'm gone, you'll find a way to save Tethe'alla, too..."

Colette looked at me now, and I really thought I was going to cry. "Brittany...up until the very end, you always made sure I knew I wasn't alone. Even though you were really scared, you still stayed with us through the entire journey. Knowing that you care so much...it makes me really happy. Thank you..."

Remiel was starting to look impatient. That normally would have amused me, but under these circumstances, it took everything I had not to scream.

"Professor," Colette said, turning to the final person in our group. Raine looked up, nearly about to lose her composure. "I know it was hard for you to keep my secret all this time. I'm sorry." She smiled. "But...I'm glad, too. I always knew I could trust you with anything. Whenever I had a problem, or I was feeling upset...you always made me feel better. I learned so much from you, Professor Sage...and not just in school. Thank you for everything you've done for me."

With a shock, I realized that she'd accounted for everyone present in our group. That meant...

She started backing away. "Thank you, everyone...It looks like it's time..."

"Colette!" Lloyd cried, reaching out for her. She revealed her wings, floating into the air.

"Please," he begged, "Please don't do this!"

She gave him a sorrowful smile. "I'm sorry..."

Closing her eyes, Colette uttered one final word.

"Goodbye..."

When her eyes opened once more, they were pale red in color...empty and soulless. That was it...she was gone. Colette was gone.

Lloyd fell to his knees, staring up at her in despair. "Colette..."

The silence was broken by the sound of Remiel's victorious laughter. He had the evil laugh thing down pretty well, too.

Finally... I shifted from foot to foot, antsy. It was finally time to give this prick the beating he deserved.

"I've done it!" He declared. "It's finally complete! Martel's vessel is finally complete!"

The others looked alarmed at his abrupt change in demeanor. He no longer sounded like the dignified angel he had pretended to be.

I stepped forward, feeling frantic. "Listen to that guy! Does he really sound like someone we can trust with Colette?! Cruxis has been screwing with us from the beginning! Let's just take her and get the hell out of here!"

If we could escape early, then we wouldn't have to deal with Kratos and Yggdrasill. If we got out before they came, we'd still run into the Renegades and then everything would turn out the way it was supposed to--

"I can't allow you inferior beings to do that," Remiel said, a smug look on his face. "Martel's vessel, which took years to complete...along with the host body Lord Yggdrasill has been waiting months to obtain...With these, I will become one of the Four Seraphim!"

"Host body?" Raine looked over at me, alarmed. Everyone was noticing how Remiel was sounding more and more like a Desian, and the horrifying possibility that Colette had lost her soul in vain hung over us.

"What are you talking about?!" Sheena ran forward, fists clenched. "What're you gonna do with Colette?!"

"He's going to take her to heaven..." The Professor said, her voice sounding weak.

"Host body? Inferior beings?" Lloyd snarled, his eyes wide with the realization. "You bastard! Cruxis, the angels, the Goddess Martel...it's all a big lie, isn't it?! Let her go, now!"

"Impudent fools..." Remiel growled, and with a flash of light, a golden bow appeared in his hands. "I have no use for you! Begone!"

Lloyd, who was unfortunate enough to be standing closest to Remiel, was abruptly sent flying with a hard whack from the bow. I ran forward to soften his landing, as that seemed to be what always happened anyway.

He recovered quickly and we both drew our weapons, just as everyone else did. Suddenly Remiel was upon us, and I was terrified.

No Kratos. Oh God, we were fighting a fucking angel, without Kratos. We were so screwed.

Okay. I needed to pull myself together and fight. When Kratos entered the scene, we'd have to fight him too...Screw it. If I was going to die here, then I was going all out. No more fear, no more hesitation. No more being overly cautious. I had nothing to lose.

If I was going to die in this desolate place...I wasn't going without one hell of a fight.

"Photon!" Remiel yelled, and my eyes widened; in my temporary distraction, I hadn't even realized he'd been casting.

Sheena dove out of the way of the attack, running forward with her cards in hand. Remiel flew high into the air, out of her reach, and fired several arrows down at us.

I ran up next to Sheena, remembering our vow to remain a team. Lloyd knocked an arrow away from Genis as the young mage powered up a spell, presumably to take Remiel out of the air.

"Sharpness!" Raine cast her own spell on Genis, trying to ensure his success.

"Sheena," I hissed to her, nodding my head towards the altar. "We should use that as a jumping off point. Wait for the right moment."

She nodded, and we each ran up a staircase on either side. Colette floated off to one side, thankfully out of harm's way. Lloyd continued to deflect arrows that were sent towards Genis and Raine, waiting for his own opening to attack.

I was about to call out the mage's name, but it looked like Genis had already seen our plan. He raised his kendama, a look of furious determination in his eyes.

"Photon!" Raine yelled suddenly, and light enveloped Remiel. He only let out a chuckle, the light magic having next to no effect on him.

I was confused for a moment, but then I saw that it had only been a diversion. While it did little damage, the light still temporarily blinded Remiel, rendering him defenseless against Genis' oncoming attack.

"Air Thrust!" Genis cried, and blades of wind surrounded the angel.

He angled the winds downward, towards Sheena and I; I found myself briefly impressed with how much the mage had improved through the course of the journey. Not only could he cast higher level spells, he could manipulate the way the magic worked...

There was no time. A startled Remiel was descending towards us; his battered wings still allowed him to fly, but he was forced to remain lower in the air. He didn't realize we were right behind him.

"Now!" Sheena said, and jumped forward with lightning speed. She slapped three life seals on Remiel's back, temporarily immobilizing him.

I ran forward next, forgetting how high up the altar was in my adrenaline rush. Jumping off the platform, I raised my sword.

"This one's for Colette, you arrogant prick!" I declared, slashing hard at his wings.

He let out a pained, angry yell, and I landed on the ground with a jolt that jarred my knees. Blood and feathers clung to my sword, and I heard the sound of him falling to the floor.

"You..." Remiel growled, and I turned around fast enough to be blasted with Photon. I flew backwards and tumbled to the ground, skidding for several feet . I barely managed to stop myself from falling over the edge.

Temporarily blinded, I had to attempt to pull myself up as the sounds of battle surrounded me. I hoped an arrow wouldn't randomly hit me in the eye.

"First Aid!" Raine had taken notice of me. My vision instantly cleared and the pain faded, and I gave her a grateful look.

Now that Remiel was stuck on the ground with a long range weapon, he wasn't such a threat, I realized. Sheena and Lloyd kept him busy while Genis cast spell after spell.

I ran forward to join the fray, feeling faintly hopeful for the first time today. For such an imposing angel, Remiel wasn't as impossible to defeat as I thought he'd be. Maybe we could actually do this!

"Fierce Demon Fang!" Lloyd and I yelled at the same time as Sheena hit him with a Pyre Seal. Remiel used his bow to block our attacks to the best of his ability, but there wasn't much he could do with his hacked up wings.

He didn't seem to like how the tides had turned; the look in his eyes was absolutely murderous.

"Holy Lance!" He exclaimed, catching us off guard.

The powerful spell successfully blew the three of us away from him, and he immediately turned his attention to Raine, our prime healer. She was halfway through a spell, and wouldn't see the arrows coming.

"Dammit!" I swore, pushing myself up despite the pain. If Raine was hurt, we'd be screwed. We had to conserve our energy for the fight against Kratos, if we wanted to have any hope of surviving.

I ran blindly at Remiel as he nocked an arrow, planning on tackling him to the ground. The angel saw me coming, his blue eyes narrowing into a glare. I knew I could afford to do this, because he intended to use me rather than kill me.

Remiel obviously didn't mind hurting me, though; he unstrung the arrow, plunging it easily into my shoulder as I let my sword bite deep into his side. I cried out in agony as he blew me away with Photon once more, gripping his hurt side with one hand.

While my mission to protect Raine had proved successful, now I was bleeding all over the floor. The arrow in my shoulder had been made of light magic, so it vanished shortly after it injured me, allowing blood to flow freely from the wound. I heard the sound of Lloyd and Sheena recovering and resuming their attacks, while the sound of running footsteps approached me.

Raine leaned over me, examining the wound. "That was reckless," she hissed, sounding worried as she powered up a spell.

"Sorry, Professor," I said, wincing. She shook her head.

"First Aid!" She said, and the wound closed up. "You mustn't let your anger get the best of you."

I nodded, pushing myself up and stretching my mended muscles a little bit. Raine had improved a lot since I met her, too. There wasn't even an ache where I had been hit, and I was sure I could strain those muscles for quite a while before the wound would be in danger of reopening.

Time to get back to business, then...

I ran at Remiel once more, joining Lloyd and Sheena in a combined effort. He continually blocked our attacks, and I hoped he would grow tired at some point.

"Stay away!" Remiel growled, pushing us back with light magic. Just as we regained our balance and began to move forward for another attack, I noticed the white circle glowing beneath him.

He smirked. "Judgment Ray!"

My eyes widened, and each of us was hit with a beam of light; we were all sent flying, landing in the middle of the floor and unable to move for a moment.

"Holy Lance!" His next attack was against Genis and Raine, but they were prepared with their respective barriers this time.

Sheena and I got to our feet, attempting to see where the hell we were. All of this light was seriously going to permanently damage my eyesight. For God's sake, even Remiel was glowing slightly.

"Photon!" He yelled again, knocking us over once more. He'd obviously realized that spamming light magic was the way to go; the tides were turning in his favor once more as we were steadily being worn out.

"We've gotta...stop him..." Sheena panted, managing to get up once more. He cast another spell, and we threw up our barriers.

"Thunder Blade!" Genis yelled, seemingly out of nowhere. Remiel managed to dodge the blade, but was hit immediately with the magic.

He grimaced, quickly nocking an arrow and aiming right for the half elf. "You...worthless little--"

"Tiger Blade!" Lloyd yelled, suddenly appearing in front of Remiel and knocking him hard into the altar. Blood sprayed on to the ground, forming a crimson pool over the pale blue circle where the Eternal Sword would later appear.

Remiel slumped to the ground, bleeding from various wounds, his wings broken and stained with blood. Everyone grew still as Lloyd sheathed his swords, glaring at Remiel. I don't think any of us were really able to believe we had just defeated an angel.

"Impossible..." Remiel croaked. "How can an angel, the ultimate being, lose to a group of humans?"

We ignored him, as there were more important matters at hand. I was shocked enough that I had survived the first fight, but...I knew exactly what that meant...

"Colette," Lloyd called, "come back to us! I'm going to restore you back to your normal self! I promise!"

As expected, Colette remained silent. She stared at the empty air above our heads, her face completely void of emotion. It was...eerie.

"Colette..." Lloyd's voice grew weak. "...Have you really forgotten me?"

"You're wasting your time." A new voice came, and I felt a wave of dread pass over me. Everyone turned to look up at the altar, where Kratos had appeared.

"Not only did she lose her memory," he continued, "but she has lost the soul to listen to your words. Now Colette is merely a puppet standing before death's door."

"Kratos!" Genis said in surprise. Lloyd stepped forward.

"Where have you been?! What are you saying?!"

"The Chosen desired the regeneration of the world and chose this path herself. By the summoning of the Chosen to Derris- Kharlan, the seal will be broken and the regeneration will be complete."

"Kratos?" Lloyd stared at him in confusion. "What are you talking about?

"It is what you wanted as well," Kratos stated, glancing over at Colette's lifeless form. "We will take the Chosen as the new body for Martel."

Everyone froze at the implications of Kratos' words, and I tried hard not to tremble at the thought of what was coming. The not-mercenary was staring down at us, his arms crossed. He looked the same, but...it was almost like he was a different person.

No...that wasn't it. It was like I had gone back in time, and Kratos had forgotten us. The look in his eyes was cold and uncaring. All those days he had traveled with us, helped us out, trained us, given us advice...it was as if all of it had been rendered irrelevant.

"What are you talking about?!" Lloyd asked desperately. "Kratos...answer me!"

Remiel, who was still broken and bleeding on the floor, lifted his head. "L-Lord Kratos, have pity on me," he choked out, looking truly pathetic. "Please...lend me your aid."

"Have you forgotten, Remiel?" Kratos stared down at the dying angel. "I was once of the inferior race...a human. Does the ultimate being seek help from that which he despises the most?"

Remiel grimaced hopelessly, and collapsed once more as blood continued to drain from his body.

Finally sensing that something was terribly wrong, Lloyd ran up the stairs to the altar and stood protectively in front of Colette. I gripped the hilt of my sword more tightly, savoring what was bound to be my last few moments of life.

"Move out of the way," Kratos said, a warning in his voice.

Lloyd didn't listen, his eyes narrowing. Despite his actions, though...I could tell the red-clad swordsman still didn't want to believe Kratos was the enemy.

"Kratos...who are you?" Lloyd finally asked, sounding like he really didn't want to know the answer.

In response, the mercenary closed his eyes as his body began to glow. Bright, majestic blue wings suddenly shot out from his back, and everyone gasped in shock. His wings...were much more impressive than Colette's. And despite the fact that they were sparkly and blue, I found them to be somehow intimidating.

Oh, God...Kratos, don't do this...

"I am of Cruxis, the organization that guides this world," Kratos answered coldly. "I am one of the Four Seraphim, sent forth to keep close watch over the Chosen."

"K-Kratos...?!" The brunette swordsman gaped in disbelief. If there was any answer he had expected...it hadn't been this.

"Kratos is an angel, too?!" Genis exclaimed.

"You deceived us!" Sheena yelled, indignant.

"Deceived?" Kratos frowned. "If the Chosen merges with Martel, she will awaken, and the world will be saved. Is that not what you wanted?"

"That means Colette has to die!" I said. Kratos looked over to me, and I nearly shuddered at the callous look on his face.

"She will be reborn as Martel," he corrected, and I shook my head.

"What the hell's wrong with you?! We can't let you do that!"

"Kratos...please tell me you're lying. You can't be serious!" Lloyd had lowered his head, fists clenched. He was shaking.

The seraph turned to his son, indifferent. "Step away from the Chosen, Lloyd."

"We trusted you!" Lloyd abruptly exclaimed, drawing out a blade and slashing at Kratos, who merely took a step back to avoid the blade.

"That..." Kratos said quietly, "...was your own mistake."

I couldn't understand it. Lloyd looked unbelievably hurt; he was trembling uncontrollably, staring at the seraph who we'd once considered to be our friend. Even though I knew Kratos was supposed to betray us...I still couldn't comprehend his current behavior. He had to do this, but...how could he give us such cold looks? There wasn't even a trace of compassion or sympathy left in him...not even a hint of the old Kratos. Was he really acting? He had to be, right?

I wanted a hint...anything to tell me that the Kratos I remembered was still in there somewhere. He was too aloof about all this, as if he were about to cut down complete strangers. Besides...if I didn't protest somehow, it would seem weird to the others. Lloyd and I had been the closest to Kratos out of everyone in the group.

"But..." I found myself speaking, and when he turned that cold gaze on me again, I couldn't stop myself. "You helped us. You saved us so many times, you asshole! You taught me to fight! You helped us rescue all those people from the Desians! Are you honestly saying that...that it was all a lie?!"

"I did what was necessary to ensure the Chosen's journey was successful," Kratos replied, giving me a deadpan look. I was sure he believed I had no right to protest when I had already known he was affiliated with Cruxis.

"The Desians were a nuisance," he said, pausing to stare at me disdainfully. "And had I not taught you to fight, you would have held us back...even more so than you already did."

I recoiled, stung by that statement. Kratos had never said I was impressive at fighting...but he had never deliberately tried to discourage me, either. As long as I sought his help, he had always been willing to provide advice...

I didn't like this new Kratos at all. This guy was supposed to be Lloyd's father?!

Genis, standing next to me, was trembling. He was seething with anger; not only was Kratos intending to take one of his best friends away, he'd betrayed Lloyd's trust, too.

Raine, who had paled from the shock of the betrayal, had her eyes closed. When they opened, they were full of a sharpness and fierce determination that surprised me. She fully intended to protect her student, even if it cost her her life...

"Kratos," she called out, catching his attention. "I suppose...then you must see how this is going to end."

"We don't have to fight," I said desperately, stalling. "Just see reason, Kratos! We can find a way--"

The hiss of Kratos' blade coming unsheathed cut me off. "The revival of the Goddess Martel is our objective," he stated. "If you refuse to hand over the Chosen, I will take her from you by force."

"We won't let you do that, you bastard!" Lloyd shouted, enraged.

"Do you honestly believe you can defeat me?" Kratos asked, eyes narrowed. "...Hmph. So be it!"

He ran at Lloyd, while Sheena and I ran up the steps behind the seraph. This was it...I wasn't going to make it through this battle. There was no way I'd last against Kratos.

But...I had to try, or everyone else would die with me.

Kratos knocked Lloyd backwards, causing Colette to fly up and out of danger. When Sheena and I came up behind him, he whipped around to face us with alarming speed.

Okay...no hesitation. Remember the training!

"Hunting Be--" I began, but he was way ahead of me.

"Hurricane Thrust!" He yelled, and the winds created were much stronger than I remembered. I was lucky enough that his sword only made a shallow cut in my side, but the winds knocked all of us off the altar and to the ground below.

I landed awkwardly, the breath knocked out of me. Despite this, I had to roll out of the way as the ground cracked beneath me.

"Grave!" Kratos yelled. His speed was insane.

"Augh!" Sheena cried, and I saw that she hadn't had enough time to get out of the way. Shit, this was very bad...she looked like she had broken something.

I stumbled to my feet, not wanting to succumb to the same fate. Looking around frantically, I spotted the seraph fighting with Lloyd. We were already worn down from the battle with Remiel...and Lloyd was looking exhausted. If this was Kratos holding back, I couldn't fathom how Lloyd was ever going to defeat him later on.

"Fierce Demon Fa--"

"Lightning Blade! Light Spear!" Kratos moved fluidly from one tech to another, beating Lloyd back. The teenager was barely holding his own.

"Stalagmite!" Genis cried, desperate to save Lloyd. The ground cracked under Kratos' feet, but the seraph was much too fast to be caught by the spell. He dodged backwards, towards me.

His back was to me. My eyes widened; this might be the only chance I'd get. Time to show him that I wasn't completely useless. Letting him come to me, I jumped high into the air.

_'Do not use this technique until you've perfected it. Understand?'_

_'This technique requires you to turn your back on the enemy briefly. If you use it carelessly, it will be your downfall.'_

I bet he never suspected that he first time I used it in battle, it would be against him.

"Hell Pyre!" I yelled, charging up as much mana as I could without hurting myself.

When I had almost completed a full turn, I saw that Kratos had turned to face me. I slung the ball of mana down the blade at him. He sidestepped it, catching my blade with his own and forcing it out of my hands. Loki flew to the other side of the room, out of reach, and I was totally defenseless.

Oh, fuck. This was bad, very bad.

I stumbled backwards, now facing the seraph without a weapon.

"Fool," he murmured, running at me and readying his sword.

"Barrier!" Raine yelled, and the seraph's sword was deflected.

I had the sense to dodge out of the way before Kratos could swing his sword again, and Lloyd ran in to try distracting him while I dashed for my weapon.

"Demon Fang! Double Demon Fang!"

"Augh!" Lloyd was knocked back into the altar. He slipped, falling into a puddle of Remiel's blood.

Kratos was already dashing for Raine, and the Professor had no time to retaliate. "Lightning Blade!"

"Force Field!" Raine yelled, but her barrier was instantly shattered by the strength in Kratos' attack. She stumbled backwards, a deep gash in her side.

"Air Thrust!" Kratos yelled, and Genis cried out when he was unable to defend fast enough. His kendama was knocked out of his grip, and he fell to the floor.

Kratos closed his eyes, growing still, and I wondered why he wasn't finishing them off. Then a white circle glowed from beneath him; the entire place grew dark, as if storm clouds had passed over us.

My eyes widened as I recognized the attack. This...was the ending blow. No...if he used that attack, someone was going to die!

"Sacred powers..." He began, and I almost felt nauseous at the words.

This was it...I could feel it. Someone had to stop him...only one person had to die here.

It had to be me.

I ran at Kratos with everything I had, as he kept his eyes closed with concentration.

"...cast your purifying light upon these corrupt souls," he said. I drew closer, sprinting. Everything I'd ever done in my life...it all amounted to this one final moment. If I could just do one worthwhile thing before I died...

My life flashed before my eyes. I apologized to my family, knowing I would never return home.

"Rest in peace, sinners!" Kratos' eyes snapped open, showing that he'd been aware of my advance the entire time. Just as I was upon him, he slashed his sword diagonally across my chest, the tip of his blade nicking my chin and scraping against my jawbone.

The force of the attack sent me stumbling backwards, and I fell on my side, clutching the deep wound in shock. Blood seeped out between my shaking fingers.

"Judgment."

The platform rumbled. I watched as beams of light rained down on us, still trying to register the fact that I was bleeding all over the place.

"G-Guar..." I tried in a whimper, reaching for the hilt of my sword. My voice was cut off suddenly when the entire world went white, and I screamed.

My scream seemed to grow more and more distant as the intense pain increased, blocking out all other senses.

Pain. Oh my God, I had never felt so much pain.

The light faded, but my eyes didn't immediately recover. I heard the sound of my heart pounding, and gasped feebly like a fish out of water. My entire front was sticky with blood, and the pain continued to tear through me.

There was the sound of running footsteps. A blur of red...Lloyd. By some miracle, Lloyd hadn't been hit by Judgment. A blur of purple, Kratos, ran to meet his attack.

Their movements were making me dizzy. I felt lightheaded, my vision starting to darken at the edges.

No. I couldn't black out, not here. I had to make sure...

On impulse, I reached for my wound and applied pressure to it with one hand. The white-hot flash of pain I felt would have made me scream, had I had the energy. Despite that, the sensation cleared my vision and kept me conscious. I didn't move, knowing that doing so would only make me a target.

There was a loud clanging sound, and I realized that Lloyd had dropped his swords. He was kneeling before Kratos, the seraphs' blade pointed at his throat.

"D-Dammit..." Lloyd choked, shuddering with exhaustion. Kratos drew his blade back, ready to strike.

My eyes widened with shock. No...He wasn't about to...?!

Suddenly the look in Kratos' eyes changed to something I couldn't describe. He hesitated, his hand shaking just a little. And then...Kratos lowered his blade.

I relaxed, a surge of relief running through me. Kratos...he really hadn't changed. Thank God.

Managing a glance around me, I noticed that everyone else was unconscious...if not dead. Raine seemed to be stirring slightly, but she didn't look like she was capable of coherent thought at this moment.

Just as I finished my examination, I noticed a bright light descending from above.

Oh...that's right. Bad things always come in threes, don't they? It was time for the third round...and this one was impossible to win.

"Kratos...I suppose not even you could bring yourself to fight against such an opponent." A voice rang out. There was a flash, and Yggdrasill stood before us.

He wore a spandex bodysuit. He had angel wings. He had long, blonde, hair.

And he was terrifying.

This man had played God over Sylvarant and Tethe'alla for thousands of years. To him, we were ants waiting to be crushed. We didn't stand a chance in hell.

Kratos sheathed his sword, kneeling before him. Seeing Kratos kneel for anyone...seemed very, very wrong.

"Lord Yggdrasill," Kratos said quietly, his head lowered.

The same man who had sent the Desians after me. What were his motives? Did he really know who I was?

"You must be Lloyd," Yggdrasill turned to Kratos' son, a smug look on his face.

"Who are you to ask for my name?" The swordsman shot back, standing tall despite his exhaustion.

"Haha...People need not introduce themselves to a dog," Yggdrasill said with a smirk. Lloyd's fists clenched.

"What did you say?!"

I pushed myself up, wincing. My wounds were probably fatal...I was scared, but also desperate. If I could at least find out why this had all happened to me...or if Yggdrasill really knew me like the Desians had claimed...

"Yggdrasill," I called, using my sword to push myself to my feet. It was a miracle I could even manage to stand with all the blood I had lost.

The angel turned his gaze on me, and it felt like everything within me had frozen. I had never imagined he would be this frightening...but he was. The room was silent for a moment as I took a breath, save for the sound of my blood dripping to the floor.

I did my best to glare at him, but I was sure I failed. "The name of the Desian leader...is Yggdrasill. It's not a name you forget easily..."

"Well...I'm impressed," the blonde said in a patronizing tone. "You're correct, human. I am Yggdrasill...leader of Cruxis, and the Desians!"

"Shocker," I choked, though my voice came out small enough that I doubt they'd heard me. Shifting my weight, I struggled to stay upright.

As Yggdrasill looked down at me, his eyes suddenly became scrutinizing. There was a flash of light, and suddenly he was right in front of me. It took everything I had not to stumble backwards in shock.

If I made any move, I would collapse to the ground. I couldn't run. All I could do...was stare in horror at the seraph before me.

"Ah..." He smirked, examining me. "...I thought I recognized you." He reached out, lightly placing a finger on my Exsphere.

I couldn't help it; I shuddered in revulsion at the contact.

"The injuries aren't fatal...good work, Kratos," the angel said, nodding. "This one is fated to serve a greater purpose."

My eyes widened at that. He knew me. It was all true. But why? Why me?!

I couldn't stand him being this close. Using my last ounce of energy, I swung my blade at him. The seraph immediately warped away from my clumsy attack, and smiled wickedly at me.

"However...it seems you still have yet to learn your place," he said, a bright light shining in the palm of his hand.

Before he could make another move, however, Lloyd ran at him. Yggdrasill only shook his head, and I noted with alarm that the Eternal Sword was floating behind him.

"Lloyd--" I tried to shout a warning, but suddenly a wave of energy ran through the room, sending us both flying.

I heard a crash as Lloyd hit the pillar behind him, cracking it in half. My vision blurred once more as the pain returned. I struggled to maintain a grip on consciousness.

"...tos...tr.....ject...?"

Yggdrasill's voice reached my ears, but I could hardly make out what he was saying. I winced, attempting to see what was going on.

"Farewell."

I heard that final word, and felt myself losing the battle to remain conscious.

As my vision went dark, my last thought...was the realization that he was about to kill us all.

----

**A/N: And there you have it. Man, that was just...so long. O_O Wasn't the fight against Yggdrasill so epic? XD It lasted all of...two seconds. Man, the group is just made of fail when Kratos isn't helping...**

**Oh dear God. I'm actually getting depressed at the prospect of a Kratos-less group. No more annoying him...;_; No more Purple Terror...**

**Agh...pull yourself together, Brittany....just fill the void with Zelos...**

**AHHH! I WORDED THAT WRONG! -bashes head against wall-**

**Next time: Renegade base! The shit hits the fan...again! Stay tuned!**


	29. Answers

**A/N: ha! an update in just one week! now that's early. 8D and it's normal sized, too! yaaaay!**

**Oh Christ. It's 4:30 am over here...that's how late I stayed up writing. My eyes hurrrrt....o_o**

**Anyway...I'm shot. Can't think of anything else to say, so...enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I own the story, that's it!**

**----**

"Nngh..." A terrible ache caused me to wince, letting out a loud groan.

My whole body...felt like it had been run over with a steamroller. Everything was so incredibly sore. What was wrong with me...?

I groaned again, unable to stop myself. After a few moments of lying still, my mind started to function a little more.

Pain...I could feel pain. Did that mean...?

My eyes snapped open at my sudden desperate need to know, and I instantly regretted it. I winced, squeezing my eyes shut once more, sucking in air through my teeth. The light stung my eyes; now they were watering, and I felt the sudden need to sneeze.

After a minute or two passed, I took a deep breath. Okay, focus on one thing at a time...I needed to pull myself together.

Slowly this time, I let my eyes open. The light was less blinding now; gradually my eyes adjusted, and a bare ceiling came into focus. Right, now I was getting somewhere...but a ceiling didn't tell me much. I had to sit up...or at least move my head.

I clenched my hands into fists to brace myself for the physical activity, and realized I had gripped some sort of cloth. Oh...judging from the softness of what I was laying on...it must have been a bed. I was gripping bedsheets.

Strange...

Gritting my teeth, I tensed my muscles and abruptly forced myself into a sitting position. My vision swam and I let out a quiet gasp as the muscles in my side cramped up. I was forced to sit still for the next few minutes, biting down on my hand to prevent a scream.

When my muscles finally relaxed again, I let out a shuddering breath. I needed to stretch before I tried moving around again--

My thoughts were cut off when I took my first glance around the room and instantly recognized where I was.

The Renegade base...I was in the Renegade base?! That meant...everything had gone the way it was supposed to! I was really alive? The last thing I recalled was Yggdrasill about to use the Eternal Sword on us...

They must have come seconds after I passed out, I realized. I let out a sigh of relief. We had made it, but only barely.

So, I was alive...my first instinct was to feel happy, but then I wasn't so sure. The fact that I was still around meant...my journey wasn't even half over. The thought of it was a little scary.

As I thought to myself, I took care to stretch each of my stiff muscles carefully to avoid any more cramps. I couldn't help but take note of all the bandages covering me. My injuries must have been bad if healing magic couldn't completely seal them up...

I lifted a hand, rubbing my chin lightly, and was pleased to find that the small injury there was gone. It was probably going to leave a scar, though...damn. At least it hadn't been on my cheek or over one of my eyes, that only looked cool on anime dudes.

Kratos...

I lowered my hand, staring at it for a moment as my mind wandered elsewhere. So, if I was here...that meant Kratos was gone, and he would be gone for a very long while. He wasn't going to rejoin our party till the Iselia Ranch...who knew how long that would take.

We no longer had Kratos to bail us out of trouble when we needed it most...

I still couldn't believe he'd given me this injury. And what the hell was that, using Judgment on us?!

Still...that couldn't have been a full-powered Judgment if I had survived it. I couldn't imagine what the real thing would be like.

No, thinking about Kratos would only depress me. It was over and done with, and I had known it was coming from the beginning...I needed to focus on the present now.

Finishing up a final stretch, I glanced around the room once more. Yeah, this was definitely a Renegade base. This odd interior decorating was pretty hard to forget. But this was weird...hadn't everyone woken up in the same room in the game? Okay, maybe the rooms were too small to fit everyone in on a bed...but I could have sworn there had been at least two beds where Lloyd woke up in the game. Ugh...it probably didn't matter, but I didn't like waking up alone like this when the Renegades couldn't really be trusted.

"Hm...so you're awake." A voice I knew very well met my ears, and I froze.

I hadn't even heard the door open, and yet Yuan now stood near the entrance with his arms crossed. His gaze was sharp and intimidating as ever, and I had to suppress a groan. Yuan was the last person I wanted to talk to right now, especially considering how our last couple meetings had gone. I was still pretty ticked about the whole locket incident, but he'd probably only smirk if I mentioned it to him.

"Um...yeah," was my brilliant response. Why was Yuan speaking to me personally? He was supposed to send one of his men to get me, so we could all gather in the same room for him to explain.

I didn't want to come off as a total idiot to him, so I decided to show him that I wasn't completely clueless. He liked it when he didn't have to explain too much, right?

"Yuan, right?" I frowned slightly, my voice sounding raspy. "I overheard your name when your...your Desians ambushed us," I explained.

My plan backfired, as he looked slightly exasperated when I mentioned Desians.

"You're correct about my identity, but we are not Desians," he stated.

"Not...?" I pretended to be confused. "Then, what--"

"I'll explain later when everyone else is awake," he said before I could get the question out.

I tilted my head. If I didn't voice a bunch of questions I already knew the answers to, it'd just seem weird. "Hey...last I remember, we were getting our asses handed to us...did you rescue us? But then...that one time, you tried to--"

He shook his head. "Like I said, I'll explain later. You're in no danger right now. If you don't mind, I'd like to get on with the reason why I came," he said, the look in his eyes daring me to ask another stupid question.

I let out a heavy sigh. "Whatever. I'll trust you for now...it's not like I have a choice. So...why exactly are you wasting your breath on me, of all people?"

In response, he turned on his heel and took a step towards the door. "Come with me."

"E-Eh?" My eyes widened, and he turned to give me an annoyed look. I grimaced and struggled to my feet, grumbling to myself as I reluctantly followed him out the door.

Yuan, being his asshole self, walked at a normal pace while I struggled to keep up. Unlike with Kratos, though, I couldn't quite work up the nerve to tell him off.

"Ow...Christ, ow, ow..." I muttered, wincing at the stinging pain from the healing wound Kratos had given me.

Thankfully, the route to Yuan's preferred room wasn't very long. After a few short minutes of walking, we arrived at another door and slipped inside.

Ah...this looked like Yuan's office. I walked into the center of the room, standing there awkwardly as the seraph went behind his desk to sort through a few things.

Now that I wasn't in too much pain to think, I started to puzzle over the situation I was in. Why in God's name had Yuan wanted to speak with me personally? It didn't make any sense...unless he intended to punish me a second time for my eavesdropping. But he'd said himself that I wasn't in any danger, and I didn't think he was lying...

"Tell me..." Yuan started, glancing up at me. "...Do you know why you're here?"

I blinked, feeling like he'd just read my mind. "Not a clue, actually," I answered truthfully.

This was too weird. Yuan was so intimidating, I felt almost like a troublemaking student standing in the principal's office. The big, fancy desk sort of enhanced the effect.

He didn't look too surprised with my answer. He glanced back down to his desk, straightening out some papers as he spoke.

"We've been monitoring your progress since you became a registered prisoner in the Asgard ranch. Your involvement in the Angelus Project did catch my attention, but I didn't realize who you truly were until a short while later..."

My brow furrowed in confusion, and I gave him a frustrated look. "I'm still pretty lost. What's that supposed to mean? I'm not special at all, and yet these Desians keep running around with all sorts of records on me, and--"

Yuan raised an eyebrow, cutting me off. "Surely you must know...there is a very distinct difference that sets you apart from everyone else."

I gave him a blank look, wondering where he was going with this. What was so different about me that the Desians and Cruxis would harrass me like this?

The seraph let out a sigh, reaching over to a circular metal plate that rested on his desk. Oh, wait...was that a projector?

He confirmed my thoughts by pressing a small button on the device, causing an image to appear above it. It was...a planet? Sylvarant and Tethe'alla, in their original shape?

I walked forward, frowning as I examined the floating image. "What is--"

Suddenly gaping, I cut myself off. Those continents...I knew them very well. There was North America, South America, Africa, Asia...

The image Yuan had shown to me...was Earth.

"Jesus Christ," I murmured, slowly looking up to stare at Yuan, who was watching me.

"Do you finally understand?" He asked, looking satisfied with my reaction.

"H-How do you know...?!" I took a step backwards, shaking my head in disbelief.

"About Earth?" Yuan raised an eyebrow. "You didn't think you merely..." He waved one hand, searching for the right word. "..._appeared_ here, did you? People don't wake up in entirely different worlds at random."

I couldn't believe this. Yuan knew about Earth?! This was just...so incredibly bizarre. I nearly started to shake with anticipation; did this mean I was finally going to get some answers about what the hell was going on?

"I..." I bit my lip. "I don't know. I didn't know what to think. How...how did I end up here?"

"Hm...think for yourself, will you? Who is the one commanding your pursuers?"

"Y-Yggdrasill?!" I sputtered, eyes wide. "But how would he--"

The Eternal Sword.

Why the hell hadn't I thought of that sooner?! Yggdrasill possessed the Eternal Sword! He could easily use its power to make his way to Earth...oh, God, that bastard had been to my home?!

"How he accomplished it isn't important right now," Yuan said, and I knew he just didn't feel like explaining. "What matters is the fact that you are here for a very specific reason."

I shook my head, bewildered. "Something to do with the Angelus Project..."

Yuan crossed his arms. "The Angelus Project is designed to create Cruxis Crystals from Exspheres through a special Key Crest that delays the Exspheres' parasitic process," he explained.

Judging from the way Yuan was explaining everything...he knew about Earth, but not about Tales of Symphonia. That was a relief...

I feigned surprise. "Create Cruxis Crystals from Exspheres? Does that mean a Cruxis Crystal is only a special type of Exsphere?"

The seraph looked pleased that I had finally made a decent connection. "That's correct."

I rubbed my forehead, frowning. "But still, they could use anyone for that."

Yuan looked exasperated, probably because the second I seemed smart, I managed to show my cluelessness right after.

"Not quite. There are a multitude of factors that affect how effective the process will be." He gestured to the projection. "Earth contains billions of people as well as an enormous ecosystem, and yet survives with no mana. The very makeup of your body is vastly different from the humans here."

I struggled to understand before he got snappy again, but failed for the most part. "How would someone like me survive in a mana-based world, then? My body just...adapts?"

He nodded. "Your body takes in and expends mana just like everyone else."

Okay, that would explain how I was able to use techs and all, but...

"However," Yuan continued, "if you were to release all of the mana from your body, you would not die. Exspheres grow stronger by feeding off the life force and mana of living beings. By attaching an Exsphere to someone from Earth, the process can be extended for much, much longer."

My eyes widened. "Because...even if I lost all my mana, I'd just take in more and more. And with the Key Crest slowing the process, my body would weaken a lot slower, too..."

"Precisely," Yuan said, nodding.

"And out of the six billion people on Earth, I was chosen because...?"

"You were unfortunate enough to have all the ideal genetic traits," the seraph replied.

"What genetic--"

"I am not giving you a biology lesson," Yuan snapped, immediately cutting me off. I flinched, looking down.

"Well, then...it sounds like I'm some huge asset to Cruxis. And if you were really on Cruxis' side, you wouldn't bother explaining this to me..." I glanced up at him, frowning. "Why is it...that I'm still alive, then?"

"Because genetic traits are passed on through family members," Yuan replied. "It would be useless to kill you."

My eyes widened with horror. "Are you saying--?!"

"Yes," he confirmed. "If you were to die, Yggdrasill would merely repeat the process with someone else from your family. Your sister would be the next likely candidate."

"Y-You're joking," I choked, feeling myself pale. He stared at me.

"If that's what you think, then I'm only wasting my time," he said, glaring.

I clenched my fists, trying desperately to calm down, but I couldn't stop shaking. This changed everything, completely turned my world upside down. Yggdrasill knew about Earth. He knew about me, about my family. This wasn't just my problem anymore. If anything went wrong...would I even have a home to return to?!

I needed to show Yuan I was serious. If the conversation stopped here, I might miss something vital...

"W-Wait," I said quickly. "You didn't have to tell me any of this. So why--"

"So you don't do anything stupid," Yuan snapped, turning away from me, but I knew there was more to it than that.

"But--"

"Your friends are in the fourth room to the left, down the hall. If you arrive before they awaken, it will save you from having to explain where you've been," Yuan said curtly. "Don't wander. This isn't a place for you to explore."

My face fell as I realized that the discussion was over, whether I liked it or not.

"A...All right," I replied quietly, turning to go. This wasn't the last time I'd ever see Yuan...maybe I could ask again once we teamed up with the Renegades. Either way, I had a lot to think about...

I paused at the door, hesitating for a moment. "...Thanks for telling me...for whatever reason."

Yuan ignored me as I figured he would, so I just shrugged and left him alone. I exited out into the hallway, listening to the door slide shut behind me. It locked with a quiet beep.

There was a dead end to my right, so I turned left and walked down the hall for a few seconds. At least this time I could go at my own pace...which was a pretty slow one. I considered digging through my bag for an apple gel, but thought better of it.

Renegade soldiers passed me, but didn't even spare me a second glance. They probably knew I was allowed to be in this area, but I still made sure not to make eye contact. The fact that they dressed so much like Desians still weirded me out a little.

I counted the doors to my left, finally reaching the fourth one. When I walked up to it, it opened automatically and I stepped inside.

The room I had just walked into was a lot larger than the one I'd been staying in before, and there were several beds. Oh...Yuan had separated me from the others on purpose. Something told me he knew I hadn't said anything about Earth to them...and he wasn't about to explain that one for me.

Everyone was still asleep...except for Colette, who floated in the corner lifelessly. I tried not to look at her, instead examining every other person in the room. It looked like everyone had been healed, though I saw some bandages on a few of them. They all looked about as exhausted as I felt.

Lloyd and Genis shared a bed, and so did Sheena and Raine. There was still an open bed left, so I walked over and flopped down on it, rolling over on to my side. No one stirred at the sound of my movement.

Despite how tired I was, I was too wound up to go back to sleep right now. I needed to sort through everything that Yuan had just told me.

Okay, okay...so that explained what Yuan had been talking about during his little chat with Botta.

_Tempting as it is, that's something we can't do. She is disposable and can be replaced; we would only slow them down slightly and risk exposing ourselves._

I bit my lip. Back then...he'd been discussing the consequences of killing me. Christ...how strong could this Cruxis Crystal become, anyway? The Renegades hadn't considered killing Presea or destroying Lloyd's Exsphere...while both could cause Cruxis to become stronger, they weren't part of the big picture.

No, no...this was all wrong! This wasn't the way it was supposed to be!

If I had really been killed back there, at the Tower...Yggdrasill would have dragged my sister into this?!

All this time, I had taken comfort in the fact that no matter what happened to me here, Earth would always be fine. No matter how bad things went here...even if Cruxis won and Yggdrasill got his Age of Lifeless Beings, Earth wouldn't be affected at all.

I had been so very, very wrong.

Suddenly scared, I found myself trembling uncontrollably. Yggdrasill had been to Earth. Now...now I knew how the Desians had all those records on me. Had he dug up all that personal information? Oh, God...had he been watching me?!

What else had he done? Had he been to Earth again since I arrived here?!

I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to control my panicked emotions, but the sudden pressure I felt was suffocating. I couldn't just say "Oh, well I'll do my best and hopefully not die" anymore.

I couldn't die. I couldn't fail. If I did...I couldn't imagine the consequences.

And yet, if I survived and Cruxis captured me, I might end up making it much harder for Lloyd and the others to win.

As if this wasn't hard enough already...what the hell was I supposed to do?!

I had survived the first part of the journey, but...but...there was still so much left...

My thoughts slowly drifted off. Although my mind was wound up, my overworked body decided to take over the second I closed my eyes. I felt like I could sleep for an eternity...

----

_Hannaford was twenty or thirty minutes away, all the way in Sanford. It was a pain driving that far, but ever since the Shop 'N Stop in Kennebunk had closed down, Hannaford was the only place I could find everything I needed. I found myself wishing I'd gotten the groceries first and then the takeout, but for some odd reason I always forgot to think my errands through before actually accomplishing them._

_Trying to drown out my own irritation at myself, I turned up the music more and sped up the car a bit. The Mitsubishi happily complied._

_The extra speed caused my hat to fly off my head, and I nearly swore, glancing in the rearview mirror and then over my shoulder. No use...it was gone. I frowned; that's what I got for wearing my hair down today. If I had just fed my ponytail through the back of the cap like I always did, it might've stayed on._

_I sighed, returning my eyes to the road--_

_A blonde boy dressed in white stood directly in the car's path, unmoving. I gasped in shock, slamming down on the brakes, and frantically turned the wheel hard to the left. The tires squealed and I suddenly found myself staring at the woods; I turned the wheel to the right this time to avoid crashing, and the car reacted instantly._

_In the space of only a second or two, the brakes did their job and stopped the car--much too abruptly. The whiplash caused my body to jerk forward, my head slamming against the steering wheel with a loud crack._

_A few seconds passed. The music was still blaring as if nothing had happened. I vaguely realized that the airbags hadn't deployed, but that hardly seemed important right now. I shakily lifted my head from the steering wheel, aware of a warm, sticky spot on my forehead. A small trail of blood streaked down my face._

_A shadow fell over me, and I was suddenly aware that someone had approached. The boy...?_

_I turned my head weakly, and was forced to look up when the figure was much taller than I anticipated._

_A strangely familiar blonde man stared down at me, his blue eyes somehow unnerving. I opened and closed my mouth, attempting to form a coherent statement._

_"H...H-Help..." I murmured in a very small voice, my head throbbing unbearably._

_He smiled, and I blacked out._

----

Since I hadn't been asleep for very long, waking up wasn't as much of a process this time. My eyes opened, and I took note that I was laying on my side, staring at the wall. The sleep had helped...a little bit. I was able to think a bit more rationally now that I wasn't completely exhausted, and at least I wasn't on the verge of a panic attack anymore.

Still, I wasn't exactly happy with the situation.

My brow furrowed slightly as my mind returned to the dream I'd just had. Although it hadn't quite been a dream; it was more of a flashback. Now I remembered everything...

Yuan's revelation had triggered the memory. After I'd made the connection that Yggdrasill was the one who had brought me here, I was finally able to remember. Mithos had appeared in front of the car and I'd swerved out of the way, trying not to hit him. When the car had finally stopped, I'd hit my head on the steering wheel...and that had given me the concussion that caused my amnesia.

What a disaster...I hadn't realized it was Yggdrasill, of course. I mean, who would? He'd looked familiar, but I never would have made the connection, because you didn't just see video game characters randomly coming to life. When I saw Yggdrasill in his Mithos form, I had just thought it was some kid that hadn't been paying attention to the road before crossing it. Now I realized...he'd intentionally stepped in front of the car.

If that was what happened, though, why did he just dump me in the woods near Palmacosta after that? Maybe he'd intended for me to get picked up by Magnius...

I frowned. Then again, maybe he'd had no other choice. Using the Eternal Sword to travel between worlds that weren't even connected by mana links probably wasn't an easy feat, especially when you're taking someone with you. Had Yggdrasill been forced to drop me? Or maybe since Kratos was nearby...

But Kratos hadn't known a thing about my involvement with Cruxis, had he? He wouldn't have been so suspicious of me if he'd known. Yggdrasill must have kept him in the dark because the Angelus Project was kind of a sensitive matter with Kratos.

The sound of rustling paper caught my attention, and my thoughts were interrupted. Paper...someone turning a page in a book?

"Raine...how much longer do we have to wait?" Genis' voice rang out in the quiet room.

"I'm sure they're waiting until we're all awake," came the reply.

"Lloyd and Brittany really do know how to sleep," Sheena sighed.

"I resent that," I grumbled, sitting up.

Raine looked over at me, raising an eyebrow. She was holding a book in her hand, probably one she'd stolen off the sole bookshelf in the room. "How long have you been awake?"

"Few minutes," I shrugged, rubbing the back of my neck. "I was just...thinking."

"...I see," she nodded, lowering her gaze. Yeah, we did have a lot to think about.

Sheena stood up, walking over to me with a frown on her face. She leaned forward, as if to get a closer look, and after a moment her eyes widened.

"That wound..." she murmured, gazing along the areas where blood had started to seep through the exposed bandages. It looked like I'd torn it open a little while trying to keep up with Yuan.

"This?" I placed a hand over one of the bloody spots. "Oh...you guys were pretty out of it by then."

She made the connection, looking down with her fists clenched. "Kratos...how could he do this?"

Raine shook her head, looking morose. "There were times when I suspected there was more to him...but I never would have forseen something like this."

"Ugh..."

The four of us looked over to see Lloyd starting to sit up, rubbing his forehead.

"Lloyd, you're finally awake!" Genis remarked, walking up to the side of the bed.

"...Where are we?" He asked quietly, brow furrowed. Then he abruptly jumped to his feet, looking around wildly. "Colette?!"

"She's over here," I said glumly, nodding towards the corner of the room.

"She doesn't respond to anything we say," Sheena told him.

Lloyd walked up to Colette, staring at her for a moment, but it looked like he couldn't bear looking into her blank eyes for very long. He turned away, swearing under his breath.

Raine let out a sigh. "Since everyone's awake, we should go over everything we know about the situation as it stands now. Do you remember this place, Lloyd? We're in Triet Desert. This is the base where you were captured before."

"Huh?" Genis looked surprised. Suddenly he looked around the room more carefully. "...Now that you mention it, it really does look familiar."

"Hold on," Lloyd said. "You mean the Desian base?!"

"These guys aren't Desians!" Sheena pointed out, crossing her arms.

"What? What do you mean?" Lloyd and Genis both looked confused, and I just frowned.

"They've been calling themselves the Renegades," Raine remarked, looking over at Sheena. "What do you know about this?"

"The Renegades are the guys that told us Tethe'allans about Sylvarant and the nature of the two worlds. They said that in order to save Tethe'alla, we'd have to kill the Chosen of Sylvarant. They talked the king and the pope into it...and that's how I ended up here," Sheena explained.

"So the Renegades are against Cruxis," I spoke up. "These guys rescued us when we were about to get killed back at the Tower of Salvation, didn't they? I bet they dress like Desians so they can't be rooted out so easily."

"Wait, wait," Lloyd interrupted me, shaking his head. "Cruxis is against the Desians too, though, right?"

Everyone was giving me a confused look, even Raine. What the hell? She should have been agreeing with me!

Oh...right. Everyone had been unconscious except for me and Lloyd, so they didn't know what had happened beyond the fight with Kratos.

I sighed. "You guys probably don't remember, since it was just me and Lloyd at that point, but...right before the Renegades rescued us, this angel who called himself Yggdrasill appeared. He claimed to be the leader of Cruxis and the Desians."

"Yggdrasill?" Genis spoke up, eyes widening. "That's right! Didn't one of the Grand Cardinals call him their leader?"

Lloyd nodded, the gears turning in his head now. "Yeah. Plus Yggdrasill seemed to know who Brittany was, just like Remiel and the Desians did!"

"If what you're saying is true..." Raine murmured to herself, and then looked up at us. "This is just pure conjecture, but Cruxis and the Desians may in fact be the same organization."

"What?! But how..." Lloyd gaped.

"It does make sense," I pointed out, hoping no one would wonder why I was suddenly all smart. "Using the Desians to instill terror in the hearts of the people, and then the Church of Martel to give them hope...that's a pretty foolproof method of ruling the world."

"If Cruxis and the Desians are the same, then..." Lloyd looked down, fists clenched. "What about Kratos? He obeyed Yggdrasill's orders. That means..."

"He's our enemy," Sheena said angrily. "He admitted it himself! He's one of Cruxis' Four Seraphim!"

"Kratos is likely a subordinate of this Yggdrasill person," Raine said. "He probably joined us to make sure Colette didn't stray from the journey to regenerate the world."

Lloyd's shoulders slumped, and he sat down once more. "So we were deceived from the very beginning. By Remiel, Cruxis, and...and even Kratos..."

Suddenly he sat up straight once more, turning towards me with a desperate look in his eyes. "But...that isn't right! Brittany, you were still conscious then, weren't you? Right before Kratos was about to kill me...he stopped! He lowered his blade!"

"I saw," I said quietly, biting my lip.

I wanted to tell Lloyd not to worry, that Kratos was really a good person deep down, but...I just couldn't. If Cruxis found out about what Kratos was up to, we'd never be able to win. And for this to work, everyone had to be fooled...even Lloyd.

Dammit, Kratos...

I placed a hand over my wound, wanting to cry, and struggled to look Lloyd in the eyes.

"But Lloyd," I murmured, "even so, he still didn't lift a finger to stop Yggdrasill when we were about to get killed. If the Renegades hadn't showed up...we'd be dead."

His face fell, and he stared into his lap, hands shaking. "Kratos..."

Everyone was quiet for a few seconds, almost as if we were having a moment of silence for the Kratos we once knew.

I clenched my fists. No matter how I justified it, I still couldn't stop myself from feeling resentful towards the seraph for doing this to us. Just seeing the look on Lloyd's face...how could someone turn their blade on their own son?

It hurt...the betrayal had really hurt. I hadn't realized it would hurt this much. The worst part was, no matter how much I tried...Kratos Aurion was a man I just couldn't bring myself to hate.

Instead, I just felt a mixture of anger and grief and helplessness. I couldn't aim to forget about him and move on, because I knew he'd be back later. So, I kept going from wanting to scream at the seraph to missing the old bastard, and that was really starting to do a number on me.

I couldn't imagine how Lloyd was holding up. At least I had the comfort of knowing everything would turn out okay in the end...hopefully.

The sound of the door sliding open cut through the silence. Everyone looked up to see a Renegade soldier entering the room.

"Ah, you're awake," the soldier remarked, nodding. "Then please, come with me. Our leader awaits you."

Jeez, Yuan could take a few lessons on manners from this guy. We all nodded to each other in mutual agreement, solemnly getting up and following the Renegade out the door. He led us down the hall to the room I had been in not too long ago. We filed in quietly, our eyes settling on Yuan, who seemed to be in the midst of a conversation with Botta.

The seraph took note of our presence, turning to us. "You're finally awake."

Lloyd's face lit up in recognition, and he frowned. "You guys...are the Renegades?"

"Correct," Yuan replied. "We're an underground resistance dedicated to fighting the Desians...or, rather, Cruxis."

"So Cruxis and the Desians really are the same organization!" Lloyd's eyes widened at the confirmation.

"Yes. Cruxis controls the Church of Martel in the open, and operates the Desians behind the scenes. The Desians are a subordinate organization within Cruxis," Botta explained.

I shifted slightly on my feet, fighting a yawn. Yuan looked about as bored as I felt; this was the second time today he had to deliver a long-winded explanation to clueless people. At least this time I didn't feel so stupid, but now I had to sit through stuff I'd heard a million times before. Agh, why did couldn't I have stopped after beating the game once...

"The Church of Martel is nothing more than an instrument created by Cruxis to rule the world," Yuan continued. Several of our group members glanced at me, as I'd said something pretty similar when we were talking a few minutes earlier.

"Those who call themselves angels are half elves who've evolved by using a special type of Exsphere called a Cruxis Crystal. They aren't gods or anything of the sort. Of course, the Church of Martel and the Chosen know nothing about this," the seraph said, looking over at me. Okay, that was weird.

As I suddenly took interest in a fold in my clothing, Sheena spoke up.

"They're half elves, too?!" She asked in disbelief.

"That's right. Some of the Desians, as well as Cruxis and ourselves, are half elves," Botta replied.

Okay, I was really getting bored. Maybe I could steal someone's line to make it look like I was actually paying attention. As the others spoke, I tried to remember what they were supposed to say before they said it.

"What is Cruxis trying to do?" Lloyd asked. "Are they doing all of this just to rule the world?"

Oh! This was where Yuan got annoyed, right?

As I'd expected, the seraph's eyes narrowed. "Do you intend to have us explain everything?" He snapped. "How about using your own head a little."

"They want to revive the Goddess Martel, right?" I jumped in suddenly, and Raine nodded slightly to show that she'd had the same thought. Ha! Stealing lines was more fun than trying to come up with my own.

"They send oracles to those of the mana lineage and control their marriages to create Chosens who become the vessel," Raine elaborated for me, and I had to hold back a grin. "It seems meaninglessly drawn out and complicated."

"Well, well," Botta said, eyebrows raised. "I am impressed."

"There is another world beyond Sylvarant that competes for mana," Yuan said.

"Tethe'alla," Lloyd spoke up, and Yuan nodded.

"Yes. And the one who created this twisted world was Cruxis' leader, Yggdrasill."

"Create a world?" Genis finally piped up, looking incredulous. "That's ridiculous! No one can do that!"

"If that's what you believe," Yuan said, glaring, "then our conversation ends here."

He turned to leave with a flourish of his cape, and Genis looked a bit indignant at being shot down.

"Wait," Lloyd called out, and Yuan paused. "If Yggdrasill was the one that created the two worlds himself, what can you possibly hope to do against someone like that? And that's not all. You tried to kill Colette and me. You're certainly not on our side. Yet for some reason, you saved us. Why?"

The seraph turned towards us once more, staring at Lloyd. "...You're not as stupid as you seem."

"Excuse me?!" Lloyd growled.

Oh God, get on with it, people. This was worse than Sheena's Tethe'alla lecture. I just wanted to get the hell out of here and check out Meltokio already.

"...Our goal is to stop Martel's revival," Botta said after a moment. He seemed a tad more patient than his superior. "Therefore, the Chosen, who would become her vessel, was an obstacle."

Brittany! Speak up, look smart!

"Colette's most useful to Cruxis in the condition she is now," I remarked, crossing my arms in an imitation of Yuan. "And we were unconscious for a while there...why is it that Colette's still alive, then?"

"It's because of her condition that we can't get close to her," Yuan said, giving me a look. What the hell?! Was that a Kratos look? What was it with seraphs and the weird looks they gave me?

The caped man continued. "The Chosen has completed the angel transformation; she's now a lethal weapon whose only goal is self-preservation. We wouldn't dare lay a hand on her. But now we have the key to stop Martel's resurrection. We no longer need the Chosen!"

Aaaaand we were surrounded. Fantastic.

"What?!" Lloyd looked around frantically as our group clustered closer together to avoid the swords being pointed at us.

"What we need is you, Lloyd Irving!" Yuan declared, in all his stalker-ish glory.

Lloyd gave the blue haired man an incredulous look. "Me?! What's so special about me?"

"That's none of your concern!" Yuan snapped, then turned to his soldiers. "Get him!"

We looked around nervously as the Renegades closed in, Yuan coming closer and closer. Lloyd scowled with frustration, clenching his fists.

"Dammit!" I heard him swear under his breath. "Why is everyone always after me?!"

It seemed like I was the only one who heard him. There were a million replies I could think of to that particular question, but none of them were currently appropriate.

In a last-ditch effort to save us, Lloyd lunged forward at Yuan and rammed his fist into the seraph's stomach. While an action like that normally wouldn't even faze him, at this point Yuan fell to his knees, doubling over with pain. Come to think of it...from what the game had shown, Yuan's injury was almost identical to my own. Ouch. I would've felt bad for him if he wasn't being such a dick.

"Ugh!" Yuan grunted, clutching at his concealed wound.

"Lord Yuan!" A Renegade soldier exclaimed, running to his side. Botta approached as well, eyes wide.

"No! It's his wound from Hima!"

At this point we all seemed to realize that our enemies were sufficiently distracted. Genis and Raine herded Colette towards the door, moving as fast as they could. Sheena started to follow.

"Ugh, Kratos...How many times must you get in my way?!" Yuan growled.

I suddenly fought the wild urge to grin. Yuan would've gotten away with it too, if it wasn't for that meddling seraph and his stupid dog!

My weird thoughts were acting up again...I really needed to go somewhere and sleep for three days. For some reason I found this whole thing terribly funny, but I had a feeling if I giggled it would sound pretty insane under these circumstances.

"Wound from Hima?" Lloyd questioned, surprised. "Are you telling me the one who attacked Kratos was--"

"Hello, Ea--Sylvarant to Lloyd! Perfect escape opening here!" I jabbed him with an elbow, pointing to the door. When he didn't react immediately, I grabbed his arm and tugged him along with me. He followed without too much resistance, casting troubled looks over his shoulder.

Sheena, who waited at the door, summoned Corrine to keep the Renegades occupied while we fled. She followed us out, and we ran down the hallway as fast as our legs would take us. After a few minutes of running around and avoiding Renegade soldiers, we managed to find an unoccupied room. It had more than one door out; with luck, we wouldn't be cornered. We paused here to attempt to form a plan.

"Ugh..." Lloyd growled, frustrated. "What's so special about me?! Those Renegades need to hurry up and make up their freaking minds about whether they're our enemies or not!"

"What are we going to do now?" Genis asked in a half-groan.

"We've gotta get out of here and save Colette somehow," Lloyd said, seeming to calm down a little bit. "She's going to die if she's made into Martel's vessel."

"But what can we do?" The half elf asked, and we all fell silent, wondering the same thing.

Raine frowned, troubled. "Even if we manage to leave this base, it's unlikely we'll get very far. Our best hope would be to hide in a town, but Triet is several days away."

I nodded. "We can't exactly flee across a desert. There's nowhere to hide; they'll shoot us in the back with crossbows or something."

"What choice do we have?" Genis said, crossing his arms. "We can't just sit around here!"

Okay, okay...we had to turn the conversation to Tethe'alla somehow. But how to do it...say something about saving Colette, right? That was why they went over in the game.

I frowned, remembering something. "Hey, Sheena."

"Yeah?" She looked over at me.

"There's no Desians in Tethe'alla, right? So...am I correct in assuming you got your Exsphere from the Renegades?"

Raine's eyeblows flew up in surprise. Dammit...she was gonna start wondering why I had random intelligent moments. But we couldn't just sit here cluelessly...I had to nudge things along or we'd get captured.

Sheena's eyes widened slightly. "Yeah, you're right. The technology was brought over by the Renegades, though nowadays it's a lot more common for Exspheres to be attached to machines. But what does that have to do with anything?"

The Professor started to pace, her eyes lighting up. "I see where you're going with this, Brittany. If Cruxis Crystals are nothing more than special kinds of Exspheres, we may be able to learn something by visiting Tethe'alla."

"That's a good idea," Sheena said. "I'm pretty sure they're studying the Cruxis Crystal that belongs to Tethe'alla's Chosen at the Imperial Research Academy."

"So Tethe'alla really does have its own Chosen," Genis remarked, glancing over at me. I raised an eyebrow, wondering what his problem was.

"Of course," Sheena nodded. "The world regeneration ritual is carried out in Tethe'alla as well. The Church of Martel exists, too."

Oh...that's right. I'd mentioned some things along these lines before. Lloyd hadn't really questioned my logic, but the others were bound to wonder how I knew.

"I figured," I said, trying to cover up my mistake. "When you said the worlds vie for each other's mana, it only makes sense that they'd do so by changing the mana flow with the world regeneration. It's like a neverending tug of war."

"But still..." Lloyd frowned. "If they've been carrying out the regeneration that many times, why hasn't Martel's vessel been completed already?"

"I'm curious about that myself," Raine said. "Perhaps those corpses lined up in the Tower of Salvation were..." She stopped herself, shaking her head. "...No, never mind."

"There are too many things we don't know," Lloyd said. "Let's just start with what we can do now."

"So we're going to Tethe'alla?" Sheena asked.

He nodded. "Yeah. That's the only lead we have right now. And this time, I'm going to fulfill my role. I'm not going to let Colette bear the burden all by herself anymore."

"Wait a minute. That's great and all, but how are we going to get to Tethe'alla?" Genis asked.

I looked over at Sheena. "Well, the same way Sheena got here."

She nodded. "I used a special craft called a Rheaird that allows you to pass through a distortion in space. I got mine from the Renegades, so there should be some somewhere on this base."

"Let's get going, then," Raine said. "We've stood around for long enough."

"To Tethe'alla!" I declared, pumping a fist enthusiastically in the air. Hurray for technology!

Sheena gave me a sidelong glance. "Uh, Brit...there's something you should know about the Rheairds."

I looked at her. "Eh? What is it?"

She hesitated. "...Uh, never mind. I'll tell you when we find them."

...Needless to say, I was trying not to think about the fact that we would be flying very high in the air. Nope. I just had to focus on Meltokio...Meltokio and Zelos. That lovely combination could get me through any hardship.

Before leaving, I managed to stop Raine for a moment so she could cast a few healing spells on my injury, which had ripped open once more after all that running around. With the help of the unicorn horn, she managed to seal it firmly shut for the time being; hopefully I had another few hours before it would reopen.

We exited the room we were in through a different door, wandering around for a bit. The structure of this place was eerily similar to a Desian ranch, but I was comforted by the fact that we would find no prisoners here.

"Hey, Lloyd," I said quietly after we'd been running around for a few minutes. "You've been here before, right? Do you remember anything about this place?"

His eyes narrowed slightly as he seemed to rack his brain. After a few seconds, he shook his head.

"Not a lot," he replied. "I'm pretty sure we already passed the route I took to get out of here...it was blocked off by the Renegades. I don't remember seeing anything that looked like it could be one of those Rheaird things, either."

"Nothing weird or suspicious?" I asked, slightly disappointed.

I remembered finding the Rheaird room in my own playthroughs; Lloyd just couldn't figure out how to use the machine that would bring them out. Then again, just because I had explored the base to my heart's content didn't mean that Lloyd had been able to. The whole ordeal had probably just been a mad rush for him--

"Wait, now that you mention it..." Lloyd's brow furrowed, and we all looked over to him. Think, Lloyd, think!

"There was this one big room with weird panels in the floor. And I think there was a computer too, but I couldn't figure out how to use it so I just left," he said, shrugging.

I thumped him on the shoulder. "Lead the way, Lloydie. That sounds like our best bet."

"Let's hurry, before they figure out what we're up to," Genis said. We nodded in agreement, letting Lloyd lead the way.

We continued to run, avoiding the Renegades to the best of our ability. Unfortunately, Lloyd didn't really recognize where we were now; we'd gotten lost during our blind run through the halls.

After what felt like an eternity of running in circles, we abruptly found ourselves standing in front of a row of prison cells. The brunette swordsman blinked, recognition causing his eyes to light up.

"Hey, I know where we are," he remarked, nodding to himself. Then he gestured for us to follow him. "This way, guys!"

Finally, we were getting somewhere! The rest of us shrugged, running after him once more. Now it only took a minute or two more before we found ourselves in the room Lloyd had described earlier. Yup, this was definitely where the Rheairds were.

Raine looked at the computer with interest, walking up to it and typing in a few things. After a few seconds, there was a small beeping sound and several panels in the floor slid aside to reveal the Rheairds housed beneath. Raine continued to mess with the machine, and the Rheairds rose up to our level, their wings unfolding. We abandoned the computer, approaching the crafts.

"So these are the Rheairds," Lloyd remarked, eyes wide.

"They fly, don't they," I said quietly. "Well...I guess that's just my horrible luck kicking in again."

Sheena rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. "Sorry. I was gonna tell you, but..."

"Don't worry about it," I shook my head, letting out a sigh. "I don't have a choice anyway. I'm not staying here to keep Yuan company, that's for sure."

"In any case, we'd better keep moving," Raine said abruptly, looking over her shoulder at the door. "They could catch up to us any second now."

"Yeah. Let's go," Genis added, moving for a Rheaird and then hesitating. "Um...how do you work these things?"

Sheena sighed, hopping on to a Rheaird with ease. "Here, follow my lead. And don't push any buttons yet," she warned, glaring at Lloyd.

"What? I haven't done anything!" He grumbled, but managed to clamber on to his own Rheaird.

Raine frowned, glancing at all the machines before us. "There's only four," she pointed out. "Two of us will have to ride with someone else."

"I'll go with Colette," Sheena said, and we didn't question that. Colette couldn't exactly think for herself right now, never mind use a Rheaird.

"I'm not driving one of these things," I spoke up, crossing my arms stubbornly.

"Come on," Lloyd said, waving to me as if it was obvious I should ride with him.

I hesitated for a second, and then climbed up on to the Rheaird. It was a bit cramped, but at least I didn't feel like I was gonna slide off. Wrapping my arms securely around his waist, I bit my lip.

"Promise me you won't touch any buttons," I mumbled. "Or go too fast. Or do a barrel roll. Or--"

"I won't!" He said, cutting me off. "Do you wanna ride with me or not?"

"I do!" I insisted, suddenly latching on to him out of the irrational fear that he'd kick me off.

"Ack...Brit, can't breathe..."

"Oh. Sorry," I mumbled, relaxing slightly.

Genis and Raine exchanged glances and rolled their eyes at my antics, before getting on to their own Rheairds. When we were all finally situated, Sheena started to instruct us on how to use the crafts.

"See those levers on the handlebars? Those make you move forward. Just release them to slow down," Sheena explained.

"What's this red button do?" Genis asked, examining his Rheaird with curiosity.

"That'll give you a burst of energy. Right here is the fuel gauge, and if you press this blue button over here--"

A sudden noise caused us all to glance over our shoulders, and I realized it was the sound of the door opening. Yuan and Botta ran in, surrounded by a group of Renegades.

"They're taking the Rheairds!" Yuan growled, a ball of lightning magic forming in his hand. "Stop them, now!"

The Renegades aimed their crossbows at us, and Sheena decided that there was no more time for explanations.

"Press the red button!" She yelled to us hurriedly, and we obeyed without much hesitation.

The world immediately blurred around us as we shot forward with alarming speed. I clung to Lloyd once more, squeezing my eyes shut and fighting to hold back a scream. I felt like I'd left my stomach behind, like I was on some sort of crazy roller coaster. There wasn't even a seatbelt on this damn thing! What if I fell off?!

And just like that, the feeling passed and our speed seemed to lessen.

"Wow..." Lloyd murmured, and that encouraged me to crack my eyes open a little.

An unfamiliar landscape was spread out before me, and I couldn't stop myself from looking around. Tethe'alla...we were really in Tethe'alla. Incredible...I couldn't believe I'd made it this far. There were the Fooji Mountains, the Grand Tethe'alla Bridge, Meltokio in the distance...wow, it was all so lush and beautiful. That was probably to be expected of the prospering world...

Suddenly the Rheaird shook. I squeaked, hugging Lloyd tighter. "What was that?"

"Uh, I don't know. Sheena?"

"What? What is it?" She looked over at us, but at the same time her Rheaird shook as well. "Whoa!"

Oh...oh shit. No, no, no! How could I have forgotten?!

"The fuel gauge is empty!!" I shrieked, panicked. How the hell were we going to survive this?! I should never have gotten on to this fucking thing!

"What?!" Genis and Lloyd said in unison.

Sheena's eyes widened. "That's it! Since you've broken all the seals in Sylvarant, there's not enough mana in this world!"

"Wh-Which means?!" Lloyd asked, tensing.

"We're gonna fall!" She cried just as our Rheairds sputtered once more, and then began a nosedive.

I think it's safe to say that the next few moments were some of the most terrifying ones of my life. One moment we were safely cruising along through the air, and the next, the ground was rushing towards us at a frightening speed. All I could hear was the sound of the air rushing past us, and of our own screaming.

I fainted before I got the chance to feel the impact.

----

"Ugh..."

I was really getting sick of blacking out and waking up in random places...

"Brit..."

Man. How far had we fallen? How the hell was I still alive? Hopefully I hadn't broken anything. It didn't feel like I had...but the warmth all over my front suggested that my injury had reopened again. Dammit.

"Hey...c'mon..."

I grunted quietly, finally taking note of Lloyd's insistent voice. "...What?"

"Can you get off? Your elbow's in my face," he mumbled back, groaning quietly.

My eyes snapped open, and my face flushed as I realized I was in fact lying on top of Lloyd. Apparently he'd broken my fall, which made sense, since I'd been clinging to the poor guy so much. I hoped he wasn't hurt.

Rolling off of him, I got to my knees, and abruptly fell over again with the vertigo caused by the movement.

"Ow..." I hissed, clutching at my injury.

"Nurse," I heard Raine say, and suddenly there was a bit more movement among us.

Lloyd sat up, looking battered but otherwise okay. I could say the same for the others, except for Colette; she wasn't hurt at all. She'd probably abandoned the Rheaird in favor of her wings. The Chosen was currently floating off to the side, staring at nothing in particular.

Raine had to walk over to me to give me another First Aid, and finally the bleeding stopped.

"Is everyone else all right?" She asked, healing a bruise on her cheek.

"Yeah..." Sheena mumbled, brushing the dirt off her clothes. "We're lucky we crashed this high up, before we gathered too much speed..."

"If we were lucky, we wouldn't have crashed at all," I pointed out, shuddering.

Lloyd sighed, examining one of the Rheairds. "Well, I think we managed to avoid destroying them completely..."

"But they're useless unless we get some fuel," Genis said.

"Hey, uh, guys," I tried, but they ignored me.

"What's the fuel? Coal?" Lloyd asked.

"Coal?! Oh, geez...How do you guys manage to actually live in Sylvarant?" Sheena asked incredulously.

"I'm not getting on one of those things again," I grumbled stubbornly. "Even if you find fuel. I'll walk."

Ignoring me again, Raine frowned thoughtfully. "Then magic, I assume. Perhaps the lightning Volt produces?"

"Then all we have to do is have Sheena summon Volt, right?" Genis asked.

"I...haven't made a pact with Volt," Sheena said quietly.

"Hate my life..." I murmured, and was ignored. Again. I let myself fall back, lying flat on the ground and staring at the sky.

"We'll just have to leave these here, then..." Lloyd sighed, walking over to me and nudging my side with his foot. "C'mon, weirdo. You're fine."

"Hey, look," Genis said pointing. "Is that the Tower of Salvation? How could that be here?"

Sheena frowned. "Well, the Tower of Salvation appears in the flourishing world. The Tower also appeared on your side after Colette received the Oracle, right?"

Agh...this was too much conversation. Did anyone even realize we'd just crash landed on top of a freaking mountain?

"Two worlds. Two towers..." Raine remarked. "What about the Holy Ground? The Church of Martel is also over here, correct? Is the Holy Ground called Kharlan?"

"Yeah," Sheena said, nodding. "It's the same as in your world."

"But the Holy Ground of Kharlan is where the peace treaty was signed to end the Ancient War!" Genis protested. "There can't be two of them!"

"Are you sure yours isn't a fake?" Sheena challenged. "We have records in our museums that depict how the Hero Mithos called the two ancient kings to the Holy Ground in order to forge a peace treaty."

"And such records exist on our side as well," Raine said, her brow furrowed.

"So either one is a fake, or maybe they're actually both real," Lloyd remarked.

Or maybe they're both the same place. Ah, but I couldn't say that.

"I agree with Lloyd," I said.

"That's not possible!" Genis said, shaking his head with exasperation.

"Don't get mad," Lloyd shrugged. "I was just...kinda saying stuff."

Yeah, you tend to do that a lot, Lloydie. I would've grinned if I was really in the mood to.

"Does it really matter, guys?" I asked, growing impatient. "We can just add it to the list of crap we don't know. I thought we were taking this one step at a time."

Lloyd frowned. "Brittany's right. We have to save Colette, and we're not gonna get anything done by sitting around here."

Raine nodded in agreement, turning to Sheena. "Well, then...what should our next move be?"

Sheena blinked, looking a bit flustered at suddenly being the group leader. "Uh...well, we should head for Meltokio. It's the Imperial City, the center of Tethe'alla. It's where the King of Tethe'alla resides."

"Is it far from here?" Lloyd asked, and she shook her head.

"Only a few days' walk."

"Okay," I said, getting to my feet. "Let's get going. We've gotta start moving forward again. Seems like everyone's pushed us back over the past few days." I said the last statement in a low grumble, and Lloyd's eyes darkened with understanding.

"All right," Genis said, attempting to have some enthusiasm. "It's our first adventure in Tethe'alla!"

"...This isn't a field trip, Genis," Raine said with a sigh as we walked towards the path leading down the mountain. For the first time in I didn't know how long, I actually saw Genis pout.

Everyone moved on ahead, and I noticed Lloyd was slinking towards the back of the group, much as I always did. I elbowed him.

"Hey. You okay?"

It occurred to me that I almost never asked Lloyd this question, and I felt guilty. It was always the other way around...he worried about me, but I never asked him what was wrong, since I already knew.

He glanced over at me. "Ah...yeah," the swordsman said quietly, looking down.

"I know. This whole thing just sucks," I mumbled. "But...you've gotta keep your chin up. We're gonna find a way to save Colette, okay? We're a lot more informed now than we were a few days ago."

"Yeah. You're right..." He sighed. "It's just...no. Never mind."

"...I won't tell you to just forget about him," I said, shaking my head. "...Because I can't, either. The most we can do is focus on what progress we can make here, all right? We're helpless when it comes to...him. It...it'll hurt less with time."

"Heh. Usually it's me trying to get you to stop brooding..." Lloyd remarked with a humorless laugh.

"Would it help if I distracted you with something totally random?" I asked, trying to cover up my own depression.

"Yeah. Do that."

"Okay, then..."

And so we followed the others down the rocky path, immersed in a quiet conversation. I didn't want to think about what had happened...so instead I thought about Meltokio and everything else Tethe'alla had to offer. I hated seeing Lloyd unhappy...he was supposed to be the optimist of the group.

As we walked down the path, I looked up to stare at the Tower of Salvation.

Kratos...Damn it all.

----

**A/N: So...what did you think? ;D answers, finally! And don't worry...once Brit gets more time to think, there will be aaaangst and general unhappiness. BUT! Zelos will balance it all out, of course! XD **

**Review and Zelos will give you his autograph! You know you want it~!**

**Next time: The Great Zelos, Chosen of Tethe'alla! Seducer of hunnies! Gaze upon his stunning looks, and perhaps some of his awesomeness will rub off on you! Unless you're a dude. The Great Zelos doesn't dig guys, mmkay?**


	30. Zelos Wilder

**A/N: Another update in less than two weeks...go me! -pats self on back-**

**Ladies, prepare your best fangirl screams. Zelos is indeed in this chapter! XD Listening to his theme song over and over put me in a good mood. It just reminds me of how freaking hilarious he is.**

**In other news...**

**http:// frutillas. deviantart. com/ art/ Brit-Chibi-149874032**

**Check out frutillas and her amazing artwork! 8D**

**anyway! it's chapter time!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia!**

**----**

Despite how casually Sheena had said it, a few days' walk seemed a lot longer when you had just been through hell and back. My injury was a lot worse than the others' since I'd actually been stupid enough to run at Kratos head on, but the others were getting pretty tired as well. You didn't just fight two angels and then pull off an epic escape from a Renegade base without feeling at least a little exhausted.

It was strange; even as we walked through grasslands and forest, many of us couldn't help but gaze around us in wonder. Now that I was in Tethe'alla, it really made me realize the sad state of affairs in Sylvarant. The grass was literally greener here. The trees and wildlife were beautiful, and we hadn't encountered a single monster yet. Tethe'alla was looking pretty great so far. I had even managed to find a clean stream one day to bathe and wash my bloody clothes in! Such luxury!

Yeah, that was sarcasm. But I was really looking forward to Meltokio. I was dying to know just how technologically advanced this place was. The more, the better!

On the day we'd left the summit of Mt. Fooji, I'd decided that I wasn't going to think about Kratos or Yuan or any angsty crap right now. I already knew we'd be spending at least a day in Meltokio, and I intended to enjoy it as much as I could, even if everyone else was busy being unhappy. Besides, I could brood as much as I wanted once we had Zelos on our team. I knew I could trust him to drive away my angst with a perverted joke of some sort. Right now, though, I'd just have another panic attack if I thought about all that stuff...because everyone in the group was thinking along the same lines as me. And the only person who would at least pretend to be happy...was currently soulless.

The days we spent traveling were relatively quiet and somewhat tense. It was hard to make conversation; there wasn't much to talk about besides what had happened. At first I thought the others would have all sorts of questions for Sheena about Tethe'alla, but I guess they didn't quite realize yet how completely different this world was. All we'd seen was wilderness so far.

It was currently our third day of travel--the final day, I was pretty sure. The day was just beginning, but I had a feeling today we'd finally reach Meltokio.

Shifting a little, I allowed my eyes to open, the world coming into focus. I was laying on my side, facing the dying campfire. I let out a quiet sigh and stretched, sitting up.

...Shit. Not again.

A quick glance up at the sky told me it was still dark out, and I almost groaned. Even though Kratos was gone, my body continued to wake me up at the same time every day--the time we would usually get up for our morning training.

I couldn't stand it. Not only did it continue to remind me that Kratos was gone, it made me feel frustrated and exhausted. I could never go back to sleep once I was already up, no matter how much I tried. I was awake at five am sharp, and that was that. The others didn't wake up until at least seven, and even that was only because of Raine.

Looking around at the others' sleeping forms, I swore under my breath and shook my head. Well, it was no use...

I stared over at Colette. Behind those pale red eyes, the real Colette was watching...she was just a helpless bystander for the time being. Her vacant look was creepy as hell, but she was probably really scared right now, wasn't she? Maybe...I'd try acknowledging her from now on.

A frown tugged at my lips. Come to think of it, Colette and I were really alike...we both had horrible, horrible luck.

I stood up,turning towards a path leading out of the clearing we were in, knowing that going back to sleep wasn't an option. Hesitating, I looked over my shoulder at Colette one final time.

"...Keep an eye on them for me, okay?" I whispered, attempting a smile. "Be back in a bit."

She didn't even blink; not that I'd expected her to. Sighing again, I set off down the path.

I didn't head out very far; I only went just far enough to give myself some privacy. It was kind of hard to think over Lloyd's light snoring, and plus for some reason I always felt awkward being the only one awake out of a sleeping group. I didn't want any of them to wake up to find me staring at them or something.

After wandering for a little bit, I managed to find a large rock to sit on. As I stared out towards the Fooji Mountains, the first few rays of twilight began to shine as the sun slowly started its ascent over the horizon. I remained in the shadow of the trees, drawing out my sword and a cloth to clean it with.

Normally I hated cleaning my sword; it was yet another chore I couldn't be bothered to do, and Kratos always yelled at me when I repeatedly neglected to do it. Now that I thought about it, that was probably why my blade had worn out so fast...I could tell that I would need a new one soon.

Now that Kratos was gone, though...I found it to be strangely relaxing; sitting up during the twilight hours, meticulously shining the blade while listening to the world gradually come to life around me. This was something I had always seen the mercenary do...I guess I was trying to cover up the sense of loss by taking his place.

That thought caused me to pause in my work, staring at my reflection in the blade.

I still couldn't believe he was really gone...was that why I couldn't stop waking before dawn? Something within me refused to accept it? But I had known all along that he would leave...

"You're up early again." The sound of footsteps approaching made me turn, and I saw Raine approaching.

I blinked, surprised. "Again? Professor, did you know...?"

She nodded. "I heard you get up yesterday as well."

"Oh," I murmured, looking down. "Sorry if I've been waking you up."

"It's all right," she said. "Would you mind some company?"

I frowned a little, unused to the gentle tone in her voice. After a moment, I shook my head, and felt her take a seat next to me in response. We were quiet for a moment, so I resumed the task of shining Loki.

Raine glanced over at me. "You're getting up early on your own, and cleaning your sword when you would normally put it off," she remarked.

"I would go back to sleep," I said, shrugging, "but I can't. I've tried."

She gazed out in the direction of the sunrise, a distant look in her eyes. "...You miss Kratos, don't you?"

I almost flinched. "I...I miss the person I thought he was. That's all."

"You and Lloyd were the closest to him, so I can't help but worry..." After a second, she shook her head. "Forgive me. I know the pain must still be fresh."

"It's fine," I said, attempting a weak smile. "You don't have to worry, Professor. Things always get worse before they get better...and I think we're past the worst of it, don't you?"

She nodded, looking down. "I should hope so. But I would just like to say...if there is anything you'd like to talk about, I'd be happy to listen. I know that you and Lloyd...looked up to Kratos like an older brother. You say that I don't have to worry, and yet...the fact that you're still getting up in time for training sessions shows me otherwise."

Older brother? If I had seen Kratos as a relative, it would've been more like a grumpy uncle or something...ugh. I couldn't even crack a smile at that thought; even jokes about the seraph had lost their humor.

I looked over at Raine, and the look on her face told me that she was sincere. She was inviting me to confide in her...and I actually felt like I could trust her. Throughout the journey, I hadn't been totally close to Raine; we had liked each other well enough, but there had been a sort of distance between us. It was because she was far more mature, and because I was too suspicious for her to fully accept me...the same way she had been unable to fully accept Kratos.

But before we left for the Tower of Salvation...I had been surprised and a little touched by her offer to help me find my way home. And now, I was finally starting to see that motherly quality to her that she had never quite shown me before. But why...? Maybe it was because I had suffered along with everyone else at the Tower...maybe I had finally proven myself trustworthy.

"I'm sorry, Professor..." I finally answered, gazing down at my sword. "But I think I'll be okay. I'm coping in my own weird way. And I feel a lot better now that we're taking some action. We can't bring Kratos back to us, but we can save Colette and show him that we won't give up so easily."

She stared at me for a few seconds after that, and I felt thankful that her looks weren't as unnerving as Kratos or Yuan's.

"Brittany, I am truly sorry for dragging you into all of this..." Raine sighed, to my surprise. "Sometimes...I wonder if it would have been better if we had left you at the House of Salvation instead of taking you along. We could have saved you a lot of grief..."

My eyes widened. "Professor, I wanted to come along, remember?"

"I realized from the beginning that you had no idea what the journey truly entailed," Raine said sadly. "You've changed a lot since we found you in that forest near Palmacosta."

I stared down at the ground. "...It's true, I never asked for any of this...and I wasn't really involved with you guys at the start, either. You probably could have left me behind with the priests at the House, but...you're forgetting something, Professor."

She looked up at me. "What is that?"

"Cruxis. Yggdrasill himself knew who I was, remember? That means I'm not safe anywhere, whether I'm with you guys or not. So stop saying stuff like that, 'cause I have no regrets. There's nowhere else I'd rather be than right here, fighting alongside you," I said.

It was true. Home...wasn't safe, either. If I somehow went home right now, I'd have more than my own guilt to face.

"I'm glad to hear that," she said quietly. "It seems this journey won't be over for a long while."

We fell silent for a few moments, watching as the sun rose over the horizon. It was fully light out now; I was sure the others would be getting up soon.

"Brittany," Raine said abruptly, and I looked over at her.

"Yeah?"

"You still cannot remember anything about your past?" She asked. I hesitated, before shaking my head.

"No...I'm sorry. I've tried..."

Raine frowned. "I see...I can't help but wonder if your involvement with Cruxis has something to do with your amnesia. Perhaps if you could remember something, you would know why you were hand picked for this Angelus Project..."

"Who knows," I said, sighing. "Maybe we'll learn something while we're helping Colette. I have a feeling Cruxis isn't ready to leave us alone yet, anyway."

"Yes..." The Professor nodded. "I can only hope that we won't cross paths with_ him_ again..."

I scoffed. "We'll get slaughtered if we do."

She stared down into her lap, the worry clear on her face. "Speaking of Kratos...there is something else I wanted to ask you."

"What is it?" I asked.

"Lloyd," she murmured quietly. "...How is he doing?"

My eyes widened. "Professor...but...you can ask him that, can't you?"

She shook her head. "It isn't the same. I wasn't hurt by the betrayal like he was...none of us were. Except for you."

"But I..." I faltered, biting my lip. "He's really hurting, Professor...I'm not used to seeing him this way. But...Lloyd's strong. You know that."

"And that strength is being tested," Raine said softly. "I'm scared for him. The shock of losing Colette, as well as Kratos...I'm afraid it may break him."

"I know," I mumbled, staring at my hands.

Lloyd said all these brave words about saving Colette and stopping Cruxis, but the look in his eyes clearly said that he was suffering a great deal. Even though we looked to Raine as the adult in the group, Lloyd was the one who always kept us all going. Without Lloyd, we were nothing...

"Look after him for me, won't you? Let him know that he isn't alone...it seems you're the only one who can," she remarked sorrowfully, standing up.

"...Are you going?" I asked, trying to keep my voice steady.

"Yes. I'm sure everyone else is up by now," she replied, and turned to go. "Make sure you're back within a few minutes, all right?"

"O-Okay," I said, watching her start to leave.

"Professor?" I called abruptly, and she paused, looking over her shoulder.

"Yes?"

I stared hard at her for a moment, torn. I wanted to trust her...I just wanted to tell her everything. I wished there was something I could say...

"...No. It's nothing," I said quietly, shaking my head. "See you in a minute or two."

She stared at me in turn, before nodding and turning away, walking down the path and out of sight.

I sheathed my sword, sighing quietly.

"I'm sorry, guys..."

----

The rest of that day passed very quickly; before I knew it, we were standing outside the walls of Meltokio. The sun was setting, bathing the entire city in an orange light. For the first time in a while, I felt true excitement building up within me.

We walked up towards the entrance, but stopped the second Sheena did. The ninja turned to us.

"Sorry, but I'm going to part ways with you here."

Ah, crud. I'd almost forgotten about this...she'd be back soon, but I was gonna miss Sheena.

"Huh? Why?" Genis asked.

"Have you forgotten? I was trying to kill Colette. I have to report my failure to the Chief," she answered.

"Is this Chief person in this city?"

Sheena shook her head. "I'm from Mizuho. The people of Mizuho were chased from this land. We all live in hiding."

Raine frowned. "If you go make that report, will you be all right?"

"Ah, don't worry about that," she said a little too quickly. "Anyway, I'd like you to deliver this letter for me."

Pulling out an envelope, she passed it over to Raine. "Please give it to the King in Castle Tethe'alla. Tell him it's from Sheena of Mizuho, and he'll grant you an audience right away."

"But the King wants to kill Colette, right? Are you sure this is going to be all right?" Genis asked.

"It'll be okay. I've written the details of everything that's happened and requested that they help heal Colette."

"This is great, Sheena. Thanks," Lloyd said, a real smile appearing on his face for the first time in days.

Her eyes widened at this, and her cheeks turned a shade of light pink. "N-No, you don't have to thank me. The Imperial Research Academy is under the control of the royal family. There isn't any other way, that's all!"

"Somebody's embarrassed," I remarked, grinning. I saw Lloyd's smile grow a little, and my own grin became genuine. Mission success!

Sheena twitched, her cheeks growing an even deeper shade of pink. "Sh-Shut up!"

She shook her head. "A-Anyway...you guys should get going. The city's gates close at night, and it's starting to get late. I'm gonna head to Mizuho now."

"Will we see you again?" Raine asked.

"We might meet again, and we might not," Sheena said, shrugging.

"Then let's not say goodbyes, just yet," the Professor said, a small smile on her face.

"Yeah. See you again," Lloyd said.

She nodded. "See you again...someday!"

With that, she turned and bounded off with ninja-like speed. Desperate to get a word in, I called out to her.

"Sheenaaaa! I'm gonna miss you! Come back soon! Friends forever!"

She looked over her shoulder at me as she headed off, and I saw that her face was red. I smiled victoriously, satisfied.

"Are you coming?" Genis asked, and I turned to see that the others were already heading inside the city.

"H-Hey! Wait up, guys!"

We'd made it just in time; the guards held the city gates open long enough for us to pass through, and then locked them behind us. We walked forward onto the cobblestone street, looking around with wonder.

Since it was getting dark, there weren't a ton of people on the streets; the city was winding down. I was certain this place would be crowded once morning came around. I glanced around me, and saw that the basic structure of the city seemed to be the same as I remembered, only it was reproduced on a colossal scale. If I turned right and continued that way for a while, I had no doubt that I'd reach the slums, but it'd probably be quite a walk with how big this place seemed to be.

Left...that would lead to a bunch of shops and stalls, as well as a park and the entrance to the sewers...and right in front of us was an enormous staircase, the one that led to the upper class areas.

The one that led to Zelos. Oh God, I was so excited and this place was freaking awesome and--

"We should probably find a place to stay for the night," Raine said, sounding very distracted. She didn't seem to notice that we were standing right in front of an inn; there was just too much interesting stuff around us. "We can give the letter to the King tomorrow. We'll need a good night's rest before then."

My face fell. Oh...that meant we wouldn't meet Zelos till tomorrow. But on the plus side, more time in Meltokio! Yay!

"There's an inn right over there," I finally pointed out, and Raine looked mildly embarrassed.

"Ah, right. We should get going."

As we approached the inn, a stray golden retriever ran up to us, wagging its tail. I smiled, ruffling the fur on its head.

"Hey, boy! Aren't you cute?"

The dog panted, grinning happily, and weaved between us.

"Whoa, there are dogs on this side, too." Genis remarked, and I had to roll my eyes. How was that surprising at all?

"Why wouldn't there be?" I asked, and he barely had the chance to send me a look before we heard a thump and a sharp whine.

"Colette?!" Lloyd's eyes widened, and I realized she had kicked the dog. "And she used to love dogs..."

The sound of laughter caused us all to turn, and I froze when I realized it was Rodyle standing before us. Holy crap, he looked even weirder in real life. What the hell was he wearing?

"That's a violent young lady there," he remarked, amused. The sound of his voice made me cringe. "That's marvelous."

The Desian turned and left, probably going on with whatever evil plans he had in motion. I scowled at his back.

"...Who in the world was that man?" Raine asked, bewildered.

"What a creep. I hope we never see him again," I said honestly, shuddering.

"Yeah," Genis added, looking disturbed.

I watched as the dog stared at us warily for a moment, looking betrayed. After a few seconds, it ran away with its tail down, moving in the direction of the slums. I felt bad for it...but there wasn't much we could do. There were probably tons of stray animals in a huge city like this.

We walked through the inn's doors, the rest of our group standing near the entrance while Raine approached the front counter. I could tell all of us felt a little out of place here; there were other travelers in the lobby, but none were as worn and dirty as us. I felt proud of myself for bathing in that freezing cold stream two days ago, since now I was one of the cleaner people in the group. I just wished I had been able to get the damn bloodstains out of my coat. I needed to find time to sew up the tears in it, too.

As Raine spoke with the man at the counter, I noticed people staring at us. Genis and Lloyd shifted uncomfortably. The stares made me feel exposed, as if the Tethe'allans would instantly jump to the conclusion that we were from Sylvarant and kill us.

I sighed, opting to take off my coat for the time being. At least the black tank top I wore beneath was undamaged and relatively clean. Now, other than my mud caked boots, I looked sort of like a normal person.

A few seconds passed, and Raine's shoulders slumped. She pulled out a pouch of Gald coins, spilling it out on the counter so that she could count it. Lloyd, Genis and I exchanged glances at this, but I had a feeling I knew what was going on.

After a moment of deliberation, the Professor pushed a good part of the pile towards the man at the counter. He smiled at her, collecting the money, and handed her a pair of keys. She nodded glumly, pocketing the few coins she had left, and turned to us.

"That was pretty much all the money we had, wasn't it," I said. It wasn't a question, I was just stating a fact.

Genis and Lloyd looked over at me in shock, and then turned to Raine for confirmation. She nodded, running a hand through her bangs.

"This is...unexpected, I'll admit," she said quietly. "Sylvarant and Tethe'alla use the same currency, but it seems Tethe'allan Gald is stronger than Sylvaranti Gald."

Lloyd's brow furrowed in confusion. "What? I don't get it."

"It means that our money buys less here than it would in Sylvarant," Genis explained, looking concerned. "Raine, how much did we just pay for our rooms?"

She hesitated. "...Two thousand Gald."

"That's ridiculous!" I hissed in surprise. It hadn't been like this in the game!

"It...It shouldn't be as expensive in other places, I think," she murmured, looking uncertain. "This is the Imperial City. It's only natural that we'd pay more..."

She shook her head, sighing. "But it had to be done. We can't show ourselves to the King tomorrow looking like this," she said, gesturing to our hair and clothes.

"Yeah," I added. "They probably already think of Sylvarant as barbaric, and we don't exactly want to encourage that belief."

"How are we gonna buy food?" Lloyd asked, frowning.

"We still have some of our rations left," Raine said. "We'll have to make do. If the King decides to help us tomorrow, perhaps we'll receive some aid."

This reassured Lloyd and Genis, but I could tell that the Professor didn't quite believe it herself. She was skeptical that it would all be so easy, and I couldn't blame her; after what we'd been through, we had to be wary. I didn't really want to sneak into Castle Tethe'alla tomorrow, either...I really hoped Zelos would save our asses like he was supposed to.

"Here," Raine said, handing Lloyd one of the keys. "You and Genis can share a room. Brittany, Colette and I will be right next door."

Lloyd nodded, and he and Genis headed off to find their room. Raine and I herded Colette along with us, heading into our own room. Raine unlocked the door, and I gently grabbed Colette's hand to lead her inside.

Come to think of it, this was the first time I'd ever shared a room with Raine...weird. I had always liked being roomies with Sheena, but maybe this meant I could get in some bonding time with the Professor.

"...Wow," I said quietly, walking into the room and staring around. "I think we got our money's worth, at least."

Raine walked in after me, seeming impressed herself. Actually, by my old standards, the room wasn't anything special. It looked about as clean, classy and comfortable as any normal hotel I'd stayed at on Earth. But compared to the inns in Sylvarant, this was heaven. Looking up, I noted with shock that there were even electric lights on the ceiling.

Raine frowned at me, and I realized I had automatically flipped the light switch as I walked into the room; it was a reflex that I had retained from Earth, brought on by the Earth-like qualities of this place. I smiled at her, feigning ignorance as to what I had just done. Any Sylvaranti wouldn't have known to do that.

She seemed to let it slide, instead turning her eyes to the electric lights as well. Her face lit up with fascination.

"Interesting...it seems they've found a way to harness Volt's power. If only I had time to study it..." Her face fell as she seemed to realize she couldn't just rip the ceiling fixture off and take it apart. That would probably get us kicked out.

I shrugged. "We'll probably be in Tethe'alla for a while, Professor."

"Yes, you're right..." She murmured distractedly, staring at the lightbulbs and probably damaging her eyesight in the process. I sent Colette an amused look, trying to act as if she were still herself. Colette would have smiled knowingly at something like this.

Walking further into the room, I set my bag and coat down on the floor next to one of the beds. I fell back on to the bed, letting out a happy little sigh at how soft and comfy it was. I was definitely going to sleep well tonight.

Raine continued to walk through the room, looking at the various things within it. Aside from the light fixture on the ceiling, there was also an electric lamp on the nightstand between our beds, as well as a digital alarm clock that was plugged into the wall. I stared at this particular item in interest, finding comfort in such familiarity. I hadn't known Tethe'alla would have stuff like this! It was a far cry from the technology of Earth, but it was still more than I had expected.

I heard the sound of a door opening, and saw that the Professor had discovered another addition to our room. Was it a closet? When she leaned through the doorway with apparent curiosity in her eyes, I stood up and started to walk over.

"What'd you find, Professor?" I asked.

She crossed her arms, frowning slightly. "Hmm...A restroom, it seems."

That caught my attention. I picked up the pace, almost shoving past her, and bolted into the small room.

I looked around, wanting to weep with joy. Porcelain tiles, a real toilet, a real bathtub...ahh! Even a mirror with vanity lights over it!

Oh, yeah. I wasn't supposed to look like I recognized this stuff. Right, Brittany! Pretend that you've only known outhouses all your life!

"It looks sanitary," I said brilliantly, grinning. I couldn't help but glance at the sink and the bar of soap resting next to it. Meltokio was like, the best thing that had ever happened to me.

She raised an eyebrow at that, but didn't comment further, walking into the room to examine it as well.

"A personal restroom...what a luxury." She frowned, reaching out towards the toilet and pushing down the lever to flush it. She watched the water swirl down and out of sight, shaking her head and looking bewildered.

I had to fight very, very hard not to burst out laughing. Seeing the Professor amazed by something as mundane as a toilet flushing...it was comical. Then again, she probably had never seen anything like this in her life. Running water wasn't a common thing in Sylvarant.

The sound of banging at the door caused us to look up. I shrugged.

"I'll get it," I said, already knowing who it was.

I walked up to the door and opened it, and was unsurprised to see Genis and Lloyd standing there, their faces alight with excitement. It was nice to see them both in higher spirits for once; I found myself hoping Meltokio would distract them at least a little bit from what had happened.

"Did you see?!" They asked in unison, and I grinned.

"Yeah, yeah. We're checking everything out right now."

"Isn't it so cool?!" Lloyd said enthusiastically, reaching in and flipping our light switch up and down. I winced, feeling disoriented from the flashes of light, and grabbed Lloyd's hand.

"Cut that out! You're gonna give me a seizure."

"It's magitechnology, right, Raine?" Genis called to his sister, who peered out from the bathroom doorway.

She nodded. "I haven't quite figured out how it works, but that seems to be it," she said. "I'll have to ask Sheena the next time we meet."

I stifled a chuckle, very amused at the others' reactions. I almost felt like a mother, watching over her kids at a candy store. Although...I could remember doing things similar to this when I had stayed at a high class hotel for the first time.

"Have you seen the bathroom yet?" Lloyd asked me. "The toilet, it--"

"Flushes, I know," I was coming very close to laughter. "It's a lot cleaner than those stupid outhouses, that's for sure."

"I wonder if all of Tethe'alla is like this," Genis remarked, taking a seat on my bed and kicking his feet lightly. "Will Sylvarant be like this someday?"

"Only at the expense of Tethe'alla," I murmured, more serious now. "We should find a way to even out all the mana."

"I can't help but wonder if such an option exists," Raine said, and Lloyd crossed his arms.

"We'll find a way. And if that path doesn't exist, we'll create our own! Just like we're doing with Colette," he said with conviction.

The Professor smiled weakly. "Yes...you're right, Lloyd," she said, but once again I got the sense that she didn't believe in her own words.

Unfortunately, Lloyd saw this as well. His good spirits faded a bit as he gazed at Colette, who was standing in the corner of the room where I had left her. She hadn't so much as twitched since I had let go of her hand.

"Hey, Professor..." He said quietly. "...Do you mind if I go for a walk? I won't go too far. I just wanna explore a bit."

She frowned slightly, hesitating. "...All right, I suppose. Stay away from the castle and don't cause any trouble. Make sure you're back in time for bed."

He nodded. "Okay. Thanks, Professor."

The brunette exited the room, walking down the hall. I paused for a moment, before following and closing the door lightly behind me.

"Lloyd," I called quietly, just loud enough for him to hear me. He paused, looking over his shoulder, and I shifted uncomfortably.

"...Mind if I come?"

He stared at me for a second, looking unsure. After some deliberation, he shrugged.

"If you really want to."

"Thanks, Lloydie." I smiled earnestly. "I'd worry if you were out alone, you know. You couldn't stay out of trouble if you tried."

He rolled his eyes as we walked down the stairs and into the inn's lobby. We headed for the doors, pushing them open and slipping outside.

"It's not like there's Desians here or anything," he muttered.

"Mood swing, Lloyd?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at his sudden annoyance. "You were excited just a few minutes ago."

"...Sorry," he apologized, to my surprise. "I...I mean, I really only left 'cause I wanted to be alone."

I hesitated for a moment, but then hardened my resolve. "Well, tough luck."

"Huh?" He looked over at me, frowning.

"I can't count how many times you wouldn't go away when I asked," I pointed out, my voice growing softer. "...And now that I think about it, I'm sorta grateful that you didn't. You always helped me out when I needed it, but I was too selfish to realize that you were suffering, too."

"Brittany..."

"Everyone's worried about you, stupid," I said, lightly smacking him on the arm. "If you don't talk it out sooner or later, you're going to lose it. Trust me."

"Worried...about me?" Lloyd asked in shock. Then his eyes narrowed. "What about Colette?!"

We're worried about her, too!" I said, trying to keep my voice lowered. We already received enough looks just walking down the street. "That doesn't mean you're not important, Lloyd. We can't save Colette without you."

He lowered his gaze, looking pensive. "I...I know," he said. "But I'll be okay. Stop worrying, all right? It makes me feel better when you guys aren't getting all worked up."

I frowned. "...You're sure? Really, really sure?"

Lloyd nodded. "Yeah. Kratos isn't coming back...I know that now. But I'm not going to make the same mistakes again! Nothing is going to happen to me, okay? I want to make sure Colette gets her soul back."

I looked into his eyes for a second, and I could tell that he was completely sincere. I finally smiled, relieved.

"I'm glad."

He had a determined expression on his face now. "It might be hard...but I'll do anything it takes. We'll save Colette, and find a way to stop Cruxis!"

"Stop Cruxis, huh..." I murmured, clasping my hands behind my back. "Sounds like one hell of a plan. But that means..."

"I know. Eventually...we'll see _him_ again," Lloyd said, his fists clenching. I could tell the very thought of Kratos caused his resolve to weaken.

I fought hard to think of some encouraging words, anything to help us get the old Lloyd back. But...I wasn't good at comforting people. And I wasn't feeling too great about the betrayal, either. Not to mention...no. I wasn't going to think about that right now.

"I'm not going to lie to you," I said quietly. "The thought of seeing Kratos again, as enemies...it terrifies me."

Lloyd looked down. "I thought we were friends...but he just stabbed us in the back. And he was even holding back on us during that fight! He was just toying with us..."

"He's arrogant enough that he doesn't see us as a threat," I muttered, frowning. "Why don't we give him a surprise or two for once? Let's save Colette. We'll show those bastards that we're not screwing around."

Come on, Lloyd...just focus on Colette. Forget about Kratos for now...

He straightened up, to my relief. "...You're right," he said, giving me a tired smile. "Besides...once we get Colette back, we'll all feel a lot better."

Good...he wasn't saying 'if.' He was talking about it like it was an event that was bound to occur--which it was.

"Ha! You're smiling," I pointed out. "I'm not so bad at this."

"At what? Cheering people up? You dork," Lloyd chuckled, and for once I was grateful for my awkwardness.

"I guess I was afraid I'd only make you feel worse," I admitted, sighing. "I'm no good at those corny but weirdly motivational speeches you seem to like so much."

"Corny?" Lloyd made a face, and I grinned.

"But motivational! Lighten up, Lloydie."

He shoved me, I laughed, and we continued on our way. We were headed towards the park, though I was sure Lloyd didn't know that. We'd just picked a random direction and started walking. We passed some shop stalls, and I eyed the wares with interest as the owners closed them down for the night.

"...Hey, Brit?"

I looked over at him. "Hmm?"

"Thanks." He gave me a genuine smile.

He was...thanking me? Flustered, I opened my mouth to reply, but couldn't think of anything to say. I opted to stare at the ground instead, my face heating up with embarrassment. Ugh, scratch that earlier thought! I hated my awkwardness!

"Uh..." I started, fumbling for words. Then I spotted what was up ahead. "Hey, is that a park?"

"Let's go sit down," Lloyd suggested. "My legs are kinda sore."

I inwardly cheered at the subject change, and nodded. "And yet the walk was your idea. Smooth."

"Sh-Shut it! I wanted to see more of the city."

We sat on one of the benches, and I snickered at him. It was getting dark, so the place was deserted. We were bathed in the light of a street lamp; I looked up to see a few moths flying around it.

I...really loved Meltokio. It was strange how familiar and comforting even the smallest things were. Little things, things I had never really noticed back home...

"They're out here, too..." Lloyd murmured, more serious now. "Those weird, magitechnology lights. Maybe all of Tethe'alla really is like this."

"Wouldn't be too surprising," I said, shrugging. "It just means we can enjoy a few luxuries every now and then."

"But Sylvarant is suffering because these things are using up all the mana!" Lloyd protested.

"I never said it was right," I grumbled. "But Lloyd, it's not like we're just sitting back and wallowing in our own ignorance. We're actually doing something about it, so it's okay to relax once in a while, right?"

"Yeah...I guess," he sighed.

"You're just stressed 'cause we don't have a real plan yet," I said. "Tomorrow, we'll know what to do. We'll find a way to make this work."

"...Do you think we'll ever see Sylvarant again?" Lloyd asked after a pause, looking wistful.

Three days, and he was already homesick? Ah...we were alone in a totally different world, so I guess it was understandable--wait a minute. Gee, this sounded familiar. Suck it up, Lloyd.

"Stupid," I muttered, slightly irritated. "Of course we will. Don't start thinking like that."

"Yeah...sorry." His shoulders slumped. "I haven't really been myself lately..."

"After all the crap that we've been through? I'd be scared if you were acting yourself," I said, frowning. "Don't worry about it. We'll fix those Rheairds and make it home soon."

"...Home, huh..." Lloyd muttered, suddenly growing quiet, and I realized he was staring at me.

Unnerved, I fidgeted in my seat. "Uh...Lloyd?"

He shook his head, looking away. "It's getting pretty dark...we should head back or the Professor will give us a lecture."

"...Yeah, okay," I said, still a little weirded out. He smiled at me, standing up and gesturing for me to follow.

As we walked back towards the inn, I let out a sigh. Whatever it was, I was sure I'd find out soon enough...

----

"Are you almost done in there?" Raine's muffled voice came from behind the locked door. "We don't have all day, you know."

I groaned. "Professor..."

"I'll check back in five minutes. I expect you to be ready by then," she said sharply, and I heard the sound of her leaving, probably to harass Lloyd and Genis.

I stretched, taking a deep breath. There went my hopes of a relaxing bath. I had been in here--what, ten minutes? Christ.

The water rippled as I moved around, scrubbing vigorously at my body, willing all the dirt and grime away. Then I dunked my head under the water, doing my best to wash my hair. After a minute or two of this, I snatched a towel from the shelf next to me. Letting the water drain out of the tub, I stepped out on to the tile and dried myself off.

Ah...even though that was probably the shortest bath I'd ever taken, it still felt great. I felt refreshed, ready to take on the world.

I threw on the cleanest clothes I had, abandoning my blue coat for the time being. I really needed to wash the blood out of that damn thing. If only Meltokio had a laundromat, too...but that would be too much to ask for.

Looking in the mirror, I began to hurriedly comb my hair with my hands, wishing I owned a brush. My hair had grown out about two inches since I'd cut it, so now it was starting to get irritating. Maybe I'd get it cut; as much as I used to love my long hair, keeping it short was a lot more practical. Besides, I didn't want any enemies yanking on my hair. That would just bring back some bad memories.

Finally satisfied with my appearance, I turned to the bathroom door and pulled it open. Just in time, too; the Professor had been about to knock again.

"All set," I said, trying not to make a face. She nodded.

"We're just waiting for Lloyd. After that, we'll be setting out."

"We're always waiting for Lloyd," I said, rolling my eyes. He was worse than my sister at waking up in the morning--and my sister had once thrown an alarm clock at the wall.

Her gaze softened. "He seems to be acting a little more relaxed. What did you say to him last night?"

I blinked, suddenly fidgety. "Uh...not much, really. I'll go tell him to hurry up, okay?"

She watched me with a small smile as I left the room, heading next door. Genis was standing in the hallway, leaning against the wall and looking impatient. The door to his and Lloyd's room was closed.

"Genis? What's our situation?"

He grimaced. "Lloyd says he's changing, but he's being really slow!"

I raised an eyebrow, knocking on the door. "Llooooyd!"

"Gimme a sec," his grumbled answer came, and I sighed.

"I gave up a relaxing bath so we could leave early! You've gotta do your part too!"

This time I only got silence in reply. I frowned. "Lloyd?"

Genis and I exchanged glances, and he only shook his head. I shrugged.

"Well, he asked for it. I'm going in."

The half elf looked shocked, his blue eyes widening. "What? B-But Lloyd's changing!"

"He'd better throw some pants on, then!" I said loudly, turning the doorknob. There weren't any panicked sounds from the other side of the door, and I smirked; I was pretty sure I knew what was going on here. Like I said, I had dealt with my sister before.

Despite Genis' protests, I pushed the door open and marched right in. I was unsurprised to see a shirtless Lloyd lying facedown on his bed.

"...M'ready..." he mumbled into the pillow.

"Oh, Lloyd..." I sighed, amused despite myself.

"Lloyd?!" Genis yelled indignantly, standing in the doorway. "Come on! You said you were almost ready!"

"Nngh..." he groaned.

"Get moving, man," I said, poking him in the shoulder. "Don't make me use my special waking up techniques on you."

He just groaned again, pulling the blankets over his head. I grinned.

"Hey, Genis...know where I could find a bucket?"

----

Around fifteen minutes later, our group finally exited the inn. A disgruntled Lloyd walked at the front of the group, while Genis and I snickered at the back. He was holding a small towel to his hair; he'd been able to dry everything else off, but his still-damp hair continued to flop down over his eyes.

Yeah, I dumped a bucket of water on him. That was always the surefire way to wake a person up. I just hoped the maids who cleaned up after us wouldn't think Lloyd had wet the bed or something.

I had to stifle a laugh at that thought, watching Lloyd continue to attack his hair. Even the Professor looked a bit amused. It was nice, this short interlude between bouts of depression.

We were all looking significantly better than we had looked yesterday. Everyone had taken advantage of the bathroom facilities, except for Colette, because she wasn't dirty anyway. There wasn't even a speck of blood or grime on that white outfit of hers. Her self-preservation instincts and her angelic abilities were probably the reason why.

Lately, she'd insisted on keeping her wings out, walking in the middle of the group. She did this randomly, revealing and hiding her wings. We couldn't exactly tell her to hide them, because, well...she didn't respond to anything we said. It was okay, though; everyone in the city seemed to think it was a costume for some odd reason. Either way, it still earned us some weird looks. None of them looked about to kill us or anything, though, so that was cool.

Raine moved to the front of the group and we followed her lead, ascending the staircase to the upper class area. Oh, this was probably going to be the part of Meltokio I didn't care for. Stupid, snooty rich people.

When we made it to the top of the stairway, I instantly forgot about my dislike of nobles. The massive, majestic looking buildings surrounding us were so much more interesting.

"Whoa..." Lloyd summed up our thoughts pretty well.

We walked slowly out into the square, looking around with amazement. I was pretty sure we stood out a lot, gaping about like a bunch of stupid tourists, but I couldn't help it. Architecture like this didn't exist in America. We didn't have castles and beautiful cathedrals; the most historic buildings we had only dated back to colonial times.

I had only seen stuff like this once in my life, on a vacation I'd taken with my French class right after graduation. The Palace of Versailles, the Sacred Heart Basilica, Notre Dame...the architecture here looked remarkably similar to some of the sights I'd seen in France. It was strange, to think that these buildings were considered modern here...castles and electricity just didn't go together in my mind.

Hold on. Was that a fish statue over there? Seriously? My Wonder Chef senses were tingling...

In my distraction, I didn't notice that everyone else had stopped to look around. I kept walking, trying to get a better look at the statue, as Colette followed by my side.

I really should have seen it coming. I always forgot about the important stuff right at the crucial moment...

Suddenly Colette and I bumped hard into a couple of extravagantly dressed women, causing me to nearly jump with surprise. Colette just stood there with a deadpan look on her face, whereas I slowly began to realize what was happening.

"H-Hey, watch it!" One girl called in an extremely irritating voice.

"Watch where you're going!" Another one snapped, looking disdainfully at us. I would have scowled, but I made the mistake of looking towards the sole redhead in the group.

"Now, now, settle down, my darling hunnies!" A familiar voice called, and Zelos Wilder himself moved to the front of his little group.

Oh. My. God.

Agh! This wasn't right! He wasn't supposed to be this...this...!

He was looking towards us, and it felt like my brain was malfunctioning.

"Well, my little cool beauties...you aren't hurt, are you?" Zelos smiled at us. We were both silent, for completely different reasons.

This wasn't fair. I had known he'd be attractive, but this was ridiculous! His style wasn't even my type! I liked badass guys with black hair, studded belts and tattoos! And yet...a man dressed in _pink_ was outshining my favorite rockstars?! Dammit, hormones!

"Master Zelos has deigned to speak to these girls, and yet look how they act!" The first woman said in a haughty voice.

I vaguely realized that the others had approached, and were watching the spectacle with surprised looks on their faces.

Another woman spoke up, sneering at us. "Just look at this one!" She said, gesturing to Colette. "It's not even festival time and she's dressed up in an angel costume. How stupid are you?"

Colette didn't respond, just staring ahead emotionlessly. The snobs seemed frustrated by this, so their eyes fell on a new target--me. Oh, boy.

"And look at her hair!" One of the girls made a face at me. "What did you do, put it through a cheese grater?"

My eyebrows flew up. The pathetic insult seemed to reflect the girl's intelligence, but I was able to get the gist of it. That was more than enough to piss me off. The girls in the back of the group whispered and snickered amongst themselves, and I was suddenly reminded of all those snooty preps back in high school.

"Your face looks like it's been put through a cheese grater," I mumbled back, knowing despite myself that I should be the better person and step down. Alas, it felt much more satisfying to throw bad insults back at her.

"Excuse me?!" The girl shouted, elbowing forward to the front of the group and getting up in my face.

"Did I stutter?" I challenged, irritated.

"Can you believe the nerve of this hag?!" She yelled in that irritating voice, and the other girls hovered closer, trying to be intimidating. With their prissy dresses and done-up hair, it wasn't exactly working.

"Oh, spare me," I growled. "At least I'm not--"

"Let it go, Brit," Lloyd said, sounding like he was trying to hide his own annoyance. "She's obviously never looked in a mirror."

"What did you say?!!" Her voice could break glass. Hooooly crap.

"Hey, hey! There's no need to fight, ladies," Zelos called, sounding cool and laid back. "I can't have my darling hunnies getting any gray hairs, now can I?"

The girls swooned at this remark. I would have rolled my eyes, if Zelos hadn't been insanely attractive. Instead I found myself trying not to gape as I remembered he was standing _right there._

He looked over at me and smiled. My brain started to have a meltdown, especially as he walked closer until he was right in front of me. I had to look up; he was at least half a foot taller than me.

"Well, you sure are adorable with your feathers all ruffled, my little spitfire," he said, winking. Oh God, I was not used to men blatantly flirting with me like this. I felt my face heating up.

He then noticed how Colette was staring ahead blankly, not saying a word. Zelos walked over to her, leaning over slightly to get a better look at her face.

"Oh, are you upset, my little angel?" He asked, leaning closer. "You know, I bet you're as cute as a button when you smile."

Genis looked like he wanted to vomit. I would've laughed at that, if I hadn't been absorbed in a futile attempt to hide my blush. Dammit, I looked like an idiot!

Just as Zelos reached over to lightly touch Colette on the face, she roughly grabbed his arm and threw him all the way across the square. I couldn't help but gawk--it just did NOT look like it should be physically possible. And yet, she'd just tossed him with ease.

"Whoa!" Zelos yelled, landing on his feet like a cat. So cool...augh! Hormones! "Wow, that was a surprise. You sure are strong, my little angel. You certainly startled me!" He quickly hid his surprise under a carefree grin, and I bit my lip in an attempt to keep myself focused.

"Wh-Who are you?" Lloyd asked in shock. Zelos walked up to the group, looking at the swordsman with indifference.

"No offense, but I'm not interested in talking to guys."

"...Ugh..." Genis gumbled, looking like he was about to PMS. Well, I hadn't seen hissy-fit Genis in a while.

The red haired Chosen finally seemed to notice Raine, and his grin grew. "Ohhh! What's your name, beautiful?"

"Give me your name, and I'll give you mine," Raine shot back, raising an eyebrow. Lloyd gave her a look, and Zelos looked surprised.

"Oh, my, you don't know me? Well, well. I guess I still have a ways to go." The grin came back, and I could tell an introduction was coming.

"You, my cool beauty, are standing in front of Tethe'alla's one and only Chosen, the Great Zelos Wilder!"

Raine gave him a deadpan stare, while Lloyd and Genis gawked.

"This guy's the Chosen?!" Genis asked in disbelief, pointing at Zelos.

"Hey, brat," Zelos scowled. "It's not polite to point, you know."

"I can't believe it..." Lloyd muttered, glancing between Colette and Zelos, obviously making a comparison in his head.

"The Chosen, hmm..." The Professor looked unimpressed.

"Master Zelos, let's go!" One of the girls called, and I noticed them waiting in a mob several feet away. "You're going to be late!"

Zelos blinked, seeming to remember himself. "Oh, yes, yes, of course." He glanced towards the castle, and I remembered that he had to meet with the princess or something--he was going to be up there when we snuck in, right?

"Well, then," he said, smiling and turning back to us. "I'll see you again, my lovely lady, my adorable spitfire, my cute little angel, and...uh...you other people."

Spitfire? Oh, God, was he going to call me that for the rest of the journey? That blush was coming back in full force.

Zelos and his entourage of whor--er, ladies--left the area, heading towards the residential area. He probably needed to get ready, or at least dump those girls somewhere so he could head up to the castle. Delightful.

"...What was that all about?" Lloyd finally broke the silence, shaking his head.

"What an ass," Genis remarked, and I fought a grin. As much as I loved Zelos, Genis' line here was one of my favorites.

"He was grinning like an idiot the entire time," the mage continued. "What's wrong with that guy?"

"...He had an Exsphere on him," Raine murmured. "Though considering his status, I suppose he wouldn't have found much difficulty acquiring one."

"So that's how he reacted so fast," Lloyd said, frowning. He then turned to me, seeming to notice how quiet I was. "Are you okay, Brit? Your face is all red."

"I'm fine!" I answered too quickly. Raine gave me a knowing look, and I couldn't meet her gaze.

"Uh...okay..." Lloyd said slowly, puzzled.

"In any case, we don't have time to stand around right now," the Professor said. "We should proceed to the castle."

"Yeah, let's just forget that ever happened," Genis said in a half-groan.

Lloyd just shrugged, following along as Raine led the way towards the castle. I followed in the back, sighing.

Zelos Wilder...well, this journey was about to get a whole lot more interesting.

----

**A/N: Indeed. ;D I had a pretty stupid grin on my face while writing the Zelos scene, too. Man, he's just gonna be SO useful for comic relief. I can't wait! XD**

**OC Brit will eventually defeat her hormones and have a decent conversation with Zelos...I think. After all, they've gotta team up and annoy the crap out of everyone else! 8D**

**For each review you guys give me, I will bitchslap one of Zelos' hunnies. XD**

**Next time: The Pope and his crazy Pope hat! Presea and her superstrength! Woooo!**


	31. Waiting, Waiting, Waiting

**A/N: Yay, finally! Document manager wasn't working all day yesterday, I was so upset! D: Anyway...this chapters a little bit shorter, but at least a decent amount of stuff gets done. :D And also, moar NR art for you to look at:**

**http:// noa748. deviantart. com/art/OC-Brit-Quick-Ref-152243824**

**Well, that's about it! Enjoy!**

**Edit: AHHHH! Look, there's a scrollbar on the chapter-thing now! 8D I've been waiting for that thing to show up!**

**Disclaimer: I do not ownnn.**

----

"What?" Lloyd's eyes widened in shock. "But--But we have to see him!"

The guards standing in front of us just shook their heads. Since their faces were concealed behind their helmets, I couldn't really tell if they gave a damn or not. Probably not.

"I'm sure you do," one replied, "but until His Majesty is well, there's nothing that can be done. The Church of Martel is preparing a prayer ritual to prepare for His Majesty's recovery; perhaps you should try asking the priests in the church to ensure that he gets well as soon as possible."

Lloyd's shoulders slumped in disappointment. He looked back at us, as if asking us what to do now.

Two more guards approached from our right, and the guard we'd been speaking to nodded to us.

"Good luck," he said, before walking off with his partner.

The two new guards took their places in front of the castle doors. We moved out of hearing range, turning to each other.

"What now?" Genis asked, looking frustrated.

I shrugged. "Might as well go to the church."

"I agree," Raine said, nodding. "We can decide our next move once we gather more information."

"Dammit..." Lloyd swore. "But if the King's not taking any audiences..."

"If all else fails, we can look for that Zelos guy," I suggested, hoping things would work out correctly. "If we grovel enough, he could probably get us an audience."

"Ugh! I'll never grovel for that guy!" Genis growled.

"It's for Colette," I pointed out. "Besides, it'd be me and Raine that would do the--"

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that," Raine sighed, looking like she had a headache. I grinned, knowing my brain would probably collapse in on itself if I ever tried to flirt with Zelos.

"To the church, then?" I asked.

Lloyd nodded. "Yeah. We should get going."

We found the church with ease; it was right where it was supposed to be, its entrance to the left of the square we'd met Zelos in. As I'd expected, it was nothing like its in-game counterpart. It was much, much bigger, having the size and structure of a typical European cathedral. I felt like I was on some sort of weird sightseeing tour...

"Wow..." Genis murmured when we really looked at it for the first time. "Are all churches in Tethe'alla this big?"

"Sheena mentioned a pope," I remarked. "Since the King resides in this city, I think it's safe to assume that this is the Pope's cathedral. I bet it's the biggest one in this world."

"That makes sense," Raine said quietly. "Since the Church of Martel's power rivals that of the King, perhaps we could appeal to the Pope for an audience..."

Ah, if only it were that easy. But the Pope was a total asshole...dammit, what little religious faith I had was going down the drain with this journey. I had never trusted the clergy much to begin with, but seeing all the crap they pulled in Tethe'alla...

"What's a pope like?" Lloyd asked, looking confused. "I don't think Sylvarant has a pope. Is he, like, the king of the Church or something?"

Raine sighed. "...It's similar to that, yes...those who become pope are said to be the ones closest to the Goddess."

"They also wear hilarious hats," I added helpfully.

"...We should head inside," The Professor said, attempting to ignore my statement.

Lloyd gave me a curious look for a moment, but then we all followed after the Professor. We walked inside the church--and were forced to stop and gawk for the first few moments we stepped inside.

Rows upon rows of pews sat on either side of a central aisle, which led up to a large altar. The walls were adorned with enormous stained glass windows, through which a pale light filtered through. The ceiling seemed impossibly high up. On either end of the church, there were rows of Corinthian columns supporting the massive structure. An enormous statue of Martel stood up at the altar, holding her staff high in the air. She was depicted with angel wings, and her wings were spread wide enough to reach each end of the church.

I might've been a cynic when it came to religion, but I really could see why people would come here to worship every day. The game hadn't done this place justice at all; I found myself longing for a camera, so I could take a picture of that awesome statue.

We walked down the middle of the aisle, our footsteps echoing on the stone tile. A pastor waited for us near the altar; he was busily lighting candles when we approached.

"Ah," he said, seeming to notice us when we stopped. "Welcome to the Church of Martel. Is there something I can help you with?"

"Actually, yes," Raine said, stepping to the front of the group. "We were wondering about the King's current condition."

She was treading carefully, wanting to gather information without seeming suspicious. The pastor opened his mouth to answer, but then a loud scraping noise interrupted him. We all turned to see the one and only Presea standing behind us, and Genis went completely still. Ah, crud...Genis actually hit puberty before Lloyd!

"Oh, Presea," the pastor said. "The prayers are to take place in the royal chambers. Please carry the sacred wood to the castle."

"...Yes," she replied, her face completely blank. If Colette could talk right now, I was pretty sure that's what she would sound like.

Without saying anything more, Presea turned and walked away, dragging a huge piece of wood...with one hand. Oh, Christ...why couldn't I do that?! Everything about Presea seemed too extreme: her physical strength, her weapon, her real age, her hair color, those freaking pigtails...

Anyway, Genis was totally out of it now. He had a dreamy smile on his face.

"She's cute."

"That girl had an Exsphere, too..." Lloyd remarked quietly. "I thought Sheena said people didn't normally wear them here."

"Yeah. She's really cute," Genis confirmed, and Lloyd shook his head helplessly.

"You mentioned prayers," Raine said, turning to the pastor. "Are you praying for the recovery of the King?"

"Yes," the pastor said, nodding. "The Chosen and the Pope will pray before His Majesty and receive the assistance of Martel."

Genis' dreamy look immediately disappeared at the mention of the Chosen. He scowled.

The gears in Lloyd's head were turning, clearly. I knew it was about time we left, hopefully without seeming too suspicious. Normal people would ask a few more questions to make it look like they were interested, but we had to catch up with Presea...

"Oh! Thank you for telling us," I said, doing my best acting. I didn't care what Kratos said, I was really getting the hang of faking my emotions. "We're going to go wish the Chosen luck, then. Right, everyone?"

"Yes," Raine said, humoring me. "We'll pray for the King's recovery as well."

The pastor smiled, pleased. "Goddess bless you. If I see the Chosen, I'll be sure to extend him your best wishes."

We took that as our cue to leave, and headed back down the aisle towards the door.

"Let's find that Presea girl," I whispered when we were out of hearing range.

"Wh-What? Really?!" Genis asked, looking at me with hope in his eyes.

Lloyd nodded, excited. "Yeah! If we follow her in when she carries the sacred wood..."

"...That is a reasonable plan," Raine said. "We should ask her to help us, then."

"Yeah! Good idea!" Genis said happily, and I almost rolled my eyes.

With that, we exited the cathedral. It didn't take long for us to find Presea--she was a short distance from the doors, speaking with a certain Exsphere broker. Well, it wasn't really speaking, since the conversation was sorta one-sided. Vharley...ew.

A few seconds after we left the church, Vharley walked away, probably to find his creepy boss. Presea started to pull the wood away.

"H-Hey!" Genis called out, stepping forward. "Um...Presea! Hang on a sec!"

She paused, but didn't look back at us. Creepy. We approached her, but she just stared in the direction of the castle. Man...would I have become like that if I hadn't gotten a Key Crest in time? I almost shuddered.

"Could we have a moment of your time?" Raine asked, seeming a bit troubled by Presea's silence.

"I'm Lloyd," Lloyd spoke up, stepping within her line of vision. She looked up, but her eyes seemed to stare right through him.

"This is Colette," he continued, gesturing to her, "and Raine, and Brittany--"

"I-I'm Genis!" Genis said too loudly, his face beet red. I placed a hand to my forehead, starting to feel embarrassed for him.

"Uh...Genis?" Lloyd looked over to his friend.

"Would you let us help you carry the sacred wood?" The mage asked. Presea turned to give him a deadpan stare, before starting to walk away again.

"I'm sorry," Raine said, "I know this is a bit strange, but please hear us out. We have a letter we wish to give to the King."

"Colette's life is on the line," I added. "We have to do this."

"But we've got a problem because the King is sick, and refuses to see anyone. It would really help us out if we could carry it for you," Lloyd said.

Presea paused once more, before stepping away from the wood and staring over at us. She didn't move, didn't say a word.

"...Presea?" Genis said tentatively, his face still totally flushed.

The girl closed her eyes briefly. "...Understood." Then she turned away, gesturing to the wood with one hand. "Please carry that."

Lloyd jumped up eagerly. "All right! Leave it to us!"

He and Genis ran to either side of the wood, and I could tell already that they would never be able to pick it up. Raine and I stood next to a silent Colette, watching the spectacle. The two of them grimaced, lifting at the same time; the wood moved about half an inch off the ground before they dropped it.

"Ugh...w-wait a minute! This thing is heavy!" Lloyd said, out of breath. Just as he and Genis stood up to take a breather, Presea walked back and gripped the wood with one hand, dragging it away.

Lloyd watched her, gawking. "...I've lost all confidence as a man..."

"Me too," Genis sighed.

"I still believe in you guys," I said, grinning, ruffling their hair as I walked between the two of them. "Anyway, looks like we've got our ticket inside."

After a quick explanation to the guards, we were able to enter the castle. Once we left the sacred wood where Presea told us to, we opted to take her with us. And then we found ourselves wandering the castle and avoiding guards so we wouldn't get in massive trouble. Yay!

That was one thing I'd overlooked--in the game it had been all fine and dandy, but uh...we couldn't exactly wander the castle freely. I highly doubted the fact that Presea carried the wood gave her free reign over the castle grounds. Not only that, we didn't even look like we belonged in this place. We stuck out like a sore thumb, and if anyone saw us, we were done for. This wasn't like infiltrating a Desian ranch...we couldn't exactly kill everyone that saw us.

"This place is huge..." Lloyd murmured. "How are we ever gonna find the royal chambers?"

I thought for a moment, and then nodded to myself. "Top floor, very back of the castle."

"Huh?" Genis stared at me. "How would you know that?"

"Common sense," I said, shrugging. "It's the hardest room to get to." Plus I kinda just knew.

"We'd might as well try," Raine said. "I'm sure the room will stand out, regardless; there will most likely be guards."

"Guards..." Lloyd scowled. "But how--"

"We knock 'em out," I answered.

"I doubt they will let us through otherwise," Raine added, looking resigned.

"Won't we get in trouble?" Genis asked uneasily.

"We can't just sit around waiting for the King to get better," I told him. "That could take weeks, even months. Or he might not get better at all, which would be even worse."

Eventually everyone quieted as we walked through the more deserted castle corridors. I hoped Raine knew where we were going, because I had lost my sense of direction a while back. Since she was in the lead, I was just trusting her.

Lloyd and I walked behind Raine, slightly to either side of Colette, making sure she didn't stray. She usually followed pretty well, though. Genis was at the back of the group with Presea, feebly trying to make conversation and being ignored for the most part.

It looked like we'd found a pretty good path to the back of the castle, though; the corridor was slightly narrow, and I got the feeling it was probably more used by servants and castle staff than anyone else. We thankfully didn't have to worry about running into nobles anymore.

After a little while, Genis' sad attempts at conversation began to bore me. I looked around at the stone walls surrounding us, the occasional polished wooden door we'd pass. Ha...that's what this place was reminding me of.

Smiling slightly, I started humming the theme to Hyrule Castle, from A Link to the Past. Ah, so many good memories...

Genis gave me a weird look, broken out of his reverie. "...What are you humming?"

I stopped, giving him my own look. "Humming? I wasn't humming."

The half elf just shook his head, returning his attention to Presea, as I once again began humming the song with a full grin on my face now. I couldn't help it; now all I could think about was Link kicking ass through generations of Zelda games. Princess Hilda? Princess Zelda? Suspiciously similar...I wonder how Zelos would look wearing a green windsock on his head.

Well, there went all my sane thoughts...

"You're seriously humming," Lloyd remarked.

"You're just hearing the castle's theme song," I said matter-of-factly. "It plays automatically when you walk in."

He blinked. "...Theme song."

"Yup," I confirmed.

"You're really bored, aren't you?"

"Yup."

"We're almost there," Raine said, exasperated. "Please refrain from humming from now on."

"It's the castle, it's not me," I insisted, but obeyed regardless.

We trudged up a long staircase, and I gripped the walls with annoyance upon finding out that there wasn't a railing. I saw Lloyd frowning; this was one of several staircases we'd gone up, which meant we were on the top floors. Like Raine said, we really were getting close to our destination.

"S-So, Presea," Genis tried again, his voice cracking. "D-Do you like Meltokio?"

"..."

Oh, young love.

"Oh, uh, me neither! I...I b-bet you're not into fancy stuff, right Presea?"

"..."

And the one-sided conversations began once again. Man, and I thought it was difficult to get Kratos talking, never mind Pres--ugh.

I squeezed my eyes shut, willing away all thoughts of Kratos. I didn't want to remember all the conversations I'd forced out of him. It hurt too much, knowing that I could never do that anymore.

"Hey..." Lloyd murmured quietly, leaning closer to me. "...What's up with Genis?"

I raised an eyebrow, grateful for the distraction. "You seriously don't know?"

"He looks kinda like you did when you saw that Zelos guy," he mused, and I felt my face flush.

Lloyd glanced over at me, blinking. "...Yeah, like that," he nodded. I almost smacked him.

Looking away, I rolled my eyes. "He's got a crush on her, stupid."

"Seriously?" he raised his eyebrows, and then looked over his shoulder at the half elf. "Whoa...I think you're right..."

"I'm always right, Lloyd," I confirmed.

"So you've got a crush on Zelos, then?" Lloyd asked suddenly, a slow grin coming on to his face.

"Shut up! It's not like that!" I snapped, embarrassed.

"What is it, then?" He asked, raising his eyebrows. After a pause, I sighed dramtically.

"Lloyd, it's something only teenage girls could understand..."

He looked confused at that, the teasing grin fading. "Uh...I don't get it, but okay."

I smiled, relieved that he wasn't pressing it. It wasn't that I had a crush on Zelos, it was just that he was incredibly hot...agh! It wasn't a crush! It was...hormones. Dammit.

"P-Presea? You're...you're r-really, um...I really...!" Behind me, Genis sputtered and gave up, unable to form a coherent statement.

No! I wasn't like that! I wasn't!

As I resisted the urge to bang my head hard against the wall, Raine stopped. Lloyd and I almost bumped into her. Genis accidentally bumped into Presea, and started stammering apologies and telling her she smelled nice.

"Professor? What is it?" Lloyd was the first to ask, his voice a low murmur.

"Look," she replied.

We peeked out of the corridor, and instantly saw what she was talking about. The passage we were currently in opened up to a balcony that overlooked the throne room. I was sure we'd passed by it before, but it was so high up that I hadn't noticed it. There was a set of large, important looking doors ahead. In front of the doors, a Papal knight was stationed.

I almost cringed at his thick, intimidating armor. Fighting the knights would be a lot different than fighting Desians, that was for sure. Okay...where were common weak points in medieval armor? Below the armpit, right beneath the chin...crud, I should have read more fantasy books before coming here. I doubted I'd be able to aim my sword with that much precision, to hit those points. Not that we'd be killing this guy, but the Papal knights were going to be a big issue later on...

"So what's our final plan?" I whispered.

Raine's eyes narrowed slightly. "If we can't lie our way through, just knock him out. No bloodshed, not even a scratch, understand?"

"I doubt we could scratch him with that armor," I muttered.

"Lie our way in?" Lloyd frowned thoughtfully. "Well...let's go give it a try."

She nodded, and we walked out into the open. The guard instantly spotted us, and I saw him grip his halberd a little tighter. Yup, we looked pretty damn suspicious. I still found it hard to believe everyone had been able to waltz around in the castle freely after getting through the doors in the game.

"You," the guard barked, wary. "Who gave you all permission to come here?"

We came to stand in front of him. I crossed my arms, moving to the very back of the group where I couldn't be shanked with his weapon. I really didn't want to become part of his Symphonia-kabob when he realized we had broken in.

"We brought the sacred wood, but were asked to aid with preparations for the prayers," Lloyd answered, shrugging.

"It was an order from the Pope," Raine added.

The knight relaxed slightly, but it was easy to tell from his stance that he was still a bit suspicious.

"The Pope? Just a moment. I'll ask," he said.

We tensed up as he turned around. Raine glanced over at Lloyd and nodded to him. Lloyd's eyes narrowed.

"Sorry about this," he said quietly, rushing forward and delivering a swift blow to the back of the knight's neck.

Caught off guard, the knight stiffened and then crumpled. We rushed forward to catch him so it wouldn't make a loud noise; Presea did most of the work with her superstrength as we set him on the ground out of sight. Genis caught the halberd he dropped, leaning it up against the wall.

"Well, that worked out nicely..." I muttered under my breath as we situated ourselves. None of the guards in the room below had heard us.

Raine knocked lightly on the doors to the royal chambers, trying to be polite despite the fact that we had sort of just assaulted a knight. After giving the people inside sufficient warning, we let ourselves in.

Like the rest of the castle, the royal chambers were pretty amazing. A lavishly decorated bed sat in the back of the huge room, and a group of people were crowded in front of it. That group turned to look at us as the doors opened.

I spotted the Pope first--his hat kind of stuck out. There were a few pastors standing next to him. A beautiful woman with long, blonde hair was amongst the crowd, wearing a dress even more extravagant than the ones I'd seen on Zelos' floozies. Well, that must be Princess Hilda...

Oh, speaking of Zelos. He was looking at us with raised eyebrows. The King stood behind the Chosen--it was easy to tell it was him, because he didn't look so great. He looked like Pietro had looked when his sickness had started to eat away at him. I noticed that even though the King was standing, he was using one of the bedposts to balance himself.

"Who are you people? What is the meaning of this?!" The Pope snapped the second we walked in. Wow, he sure was a likeable person.

"It's you people," Zelos said, frowning slightly.

"Oh, uh, Zelos, right?" Lloyd blinked. "You're the one we met in--"

"Chosen, do you know them?" The Pope cut Lloyd off, staring over at Zelos. Hey! Nobody cuts Lloyd off like that!

"Well, I dunno if I'd say I know them. Just what are you people doing here?" Zelos asked, his blue eyes running over each of us. I couldn't meet his gaze--I was too fascinated with a string hanging from one of my gloves.

"We're here to help a friend--" Lloyd started, but I interrupted. Okay, nobody cuts Lloyd off like that except for me. Whatever.

"We've come here from Sylvarant," I said, taking a more direct approach. They wouldn't give a damn about 'our friend'; we had to get straight to the point. Thankfully, my voice didn't crack despite how intimidated I was by these nobles.

"Sylvarant?!" The Pope asked incredulously, his eyes instantly narrowing at us in hostility. Oh, dear...

"These are people from the declining world?!" The Princess gasped, almost dropping the small fan she carried.

"Princess, have no fear," Zelos quickly said, apparently trying to sound strong and heroic. I was kind of surprised to find that it was working--or maybe that was my teenage stupidity talking.

"For what purpose have you come here?" The Chosen asked, and I panicked inwardly as I realized he was looking at me. Why the hell had I spoken up?! I didn't want to do the explaining! I couldn't focus even when Zelos wasn't flirting!

"We've come to deliver a letter from Sheena of Mizuho to the King," Raine said, saving me. I wanted to hug her. "It should explain everything."

"Sheena?" Zelos asked, looking surprised. "What's your relationship with Sheena?"

The King, meanwhile, had visibly stiffened. He cleared his throat, stepping forward with an effort. The Pope turned, looking alarmed, though I knew his concern was just an act.

"Your Majesty--" He started, but the King only shook his head, looking at Raine.

"Give me the letter," he said in a quiet voice.

The Professor nodded, pulling the envelope out of one pocket before walking up and handing it to him. The King stared at it for a few moments, before turning it over and opening it. He looked up at us after taking a glance at the paper inside.

"People of Sylvarant, wait in the other room for a while," he said. The Pope frowned, and then turned to one of the men standing next to him.

"Pastor, show them to the Crimson Chamber."

"Yes, Your Eminence."

With that, we were led out of the royal chambers and through a set of confusing hallways. Nobles glanced at us as we walked by, some of them looking confused and others disdainful. After a few minutes of walking, we arrived at another set of doors.

"In here," the pastor said, nodding. "Please wait here and make yourselves comfortable."

We walked in, the doors closed behind us, and the waiting began.

----

"Ugh...they're making us wait a long time," Lloyd mumbled, and I could tell he was about to complain of boredom. I rolled my eyes, partly because I was trying to stop myself from doing the same thing.

We'd been in here for two hours. Or maybe it had been one hour--I couldn't be sure, it wasn't like I had a watch. I just knew that it felt really, really, really long.

After the pastor had dumped us here, we'd basically just arranged ourselves in random spots around the room and tried to be patient. The Crimson Chamber lived up to its rather uncreative name--everything in here was a deep shade of red. It was pretty, but also sort of unnerving. I couldn't stop thinking about how they wouldn't have to worry about cleaning up bloodstains.

Dear God, this was a guest room, not some freakish execution chamber. I needed to stop letting my mind wander.

Raine was sitting in one of the chairs, looking like she was deep in thought. Colette stood in the corner, being soulless, while Presea stood by an unlit fireplace, looking about as responsive as Colette. Genis once again attempted conversation and was crushed as before. Lloyd was sitting on the very big and comfortable bed, while I was lying on it, staring up at the crimson canopy hanging over it. I had my hands behind my head, and I was trying to relax.

"They may be preparing to kill us," the Professor finally said, looking up. "To them, Colette is an obstacle."

"Dammit..." Lloyd frowned. "Are we gonna have to fight our way out of here?"

"As if we could," I spoke up. "There's one exit out of this room, and those soldiers are heavily armored. It's such a closed in space; if we fight back, we'll probably lose anyway."

"But we've got Exspheres," Lloyd said.

"That Zelos guy probably knows it, too," I pointed out. "We noticed his, so I bet he saw ours. They'll be prepared."

"That guy?" Genis rolled his eyes. "He's so full of himself, I doubt he knows a thing about us."

"Don't be so sure about that," I warned quietly. The one thing I remembered most about Zelos was that he was shockingly perceptive and easy to underestimate.

"Either way, we have to be prepared for the worst," Raine said, looking grim.

"But if that happens, what about Presea?" Genis asked suddenly.

"We'll have to find some way to let her escape," Lloyd said, shrugging.

Seriously? Genis hadn't even known Presea for that long. Wasn't he worried about, y'know, Colette? The actual target here? Jeez...

"Hey..." Lloyd said quietly. "If we can't get them to help us, what'll we do about Colette?"

"We could try finding Sheena," I said. Not that we'd get the chance; if Zelos didn't bail us out of this, we'd probably get killed or thrown in jail anyway.

"She said her people live in hiding," the Professor remarked. "I don't know if finding her would be such an easy feat."

Lloyd stared at his lap, brooding. "Colette..."

"They're gonna help us, Lloyd," I said, sighing heavily.

"What? How do you know?" He asked, looking over at me.

"I don't," I said, closing my eyes. "But if you don't stop worrying about it, you're gonna drive yourself crazy. Relax, and we'll take this one thing at a time."

Wow, like I was one to talk. I worried myself into a frenzy every five seconds. Not to mention, I was kind of nervous right now too.

"Yeah...I guess you're right," he finally relented.

"I'm always right," I repeated, and we all fell silent.

I shifted a little on the bed, enjoying the feel of the soft silks beneath me. In different circumstances, I probably would've taken a nice nap here. Lying here like this was nice, though; I didn't have to look at everyone's strained and worried faces. Or the eerily blank faces of a certain few other people.

A slight frown tugged at my lips as I thought of Presea. Really...I couldn't imagine myself becoming like her. But it was entirely possible, wasn't it? If Cruxis actually got ahold of me, and they took off the Key Crest Lloyd gave to me...man. It was still a scary thought.

"How can you sleep at a time like this?" Genis asked, and I knew he was addressing me. I opened my eyes, glancing over to see him standing very close to his pink haired crush.

"How can you flirt with Presea at a time like this?" I asked back in a mumble, only to see his mouth fall open and his face go even redder than before.

He glanced over at Presea, as if she'd show some sort of reaction to that statement, and then looked back at me.

"I--I'm not--! I mean, um, I..." He sputtered, fiddling with the hem of his shirt. Cue collective sigh from Raine and Lloyd. I felt a little bad, but I knew I'd probably be getting it later when Zelos showed up again.

Oh, speak of the devil. The doors were opening, and a certain redheaded Chosen was stepping inside. He was followed by the Pope and the Pope's hat. I entertained a brief thought that the hat might be a mind control device created by Yggdrasill, but soon filed it away with all of my other insane ideas.

And behind the Pope came a bunch of Papal knights. Yay!

Everyone tensed up at the sight of said knights, and we exchanged alarmed glances. I made myself get off the bed, since it really wasn't time for a nap.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, travelers from Sylvarant," the Pope said, reaching up to stroke his mustache.

Wait, what? Okay, that guy was officially weird. And that stupid hat was distracting me again.

"So you read the letter," Lloyd spoke up.

Zelos stepped forward, his arms crossed. "You want to use Tethe'allan technology to save the Chosen from your side, right?"

"Colette has lost her soul. She'll lose her life as a human if she stays this way," Lloyd replied, glancing over to her.

The Pope's eyes narrowed. "But as long as the Chosen lives, our world teeters on the brink of destruction. You expect us to lend you, our enemies, our aid?"

The knights started to approach us, and Lloyd stepped forward.

"Wait! We don't have to be enemies! Please, listen to what we--"

"I don't want to hear it!" The Pope snapped. Such a nice guy. "Get them!"

I let out what sounded like a half groan, drawing out my sword as a couple of big burly dudes approached where Lloyd and I were standing. Goddammit, why did everything have to be needlessly difficult?

Just as we were about to raise our weapons to defend ourselves, there was a clashing sound as two of the knights were knocked backwards into the wall. We all froze and looked over to Colette, who was standing in a battle stance, her chakrams out. Holy crap, had she done that? Well, I guess it wasn't too surprising after she threw Zelos halfway across the freaking square outside the castle, but still.

"Damn! They can't even scratch her!" The Pope growled.

That guy was the head of the Church? Wasn't he supposed to, y'know, teach compassion? Love thy neighbor? Oh, but meeting nice people who were willing to help would make everything too easy.

"I told you," Zelos said to the Pope. "They have Exspheres--of course they're powerful."

Genis looked over at me, and I gave him an 'I told you so' look. Ha-ha! Brittany: one, Genis: zero! Future knowledge rocked sometimes.

"What would you say to making a deal?" Raine asked, looking calm and collected. She was the only one who hadn't drawn her weapon, though I doubted her staff would have done much to fight off armored knights anyway.

"A deal?" The Pope asked, frowning.

The Professor nodded. "Colette lost her soul because she was being reborn as an angel in order to save Sylvarant. But as long as she does not become an angel, Sylvarant will not be saved."

"So if we save your Chosen, Tethe'alla will be saved as well," Zelos concluded, looking thoughtful.

"That means you'll be abandoning Sylvarant," the Pope pointed out.

Raine closed her eyes. "I don't care."

"Professor! What are you saying?!" Lloyd demanded, shocked.

"Our priority right now is to save Colette, is it not?" The Professor asked, sounding infuriatingly calm.

"But...abandoning Sylvarant..." Genis stared at his feet, and Lloyd looked torn.

"One thing at a time, guys," I finally spoke up. "We came here to save Colette, remember? We can focus on the rest later."

"But if Sylvarant's destroyed because of us--" Genis started, but I shook my head.

"I don't want anything to happen to Sylvarant either, but there's no point in having second thoughts now. We all realized that we couldn't just let Colette die when we were at the Tower of Salvation, didn't we?"

Ugh, it was frustrating. I could say this stuff so easily because I knew there were other ways to save Sylvarant, but still. Why were they faltering now, of all times? They hadn't seemed to mind dooming Sylvarant when we were back at the Tower. And besides, Remiel had demonstrated pretty plainly for us why we couldn't just fork Colette over. Cruxis couldn't be trusted.

"Brittany's right," Lloyd said, looking weary all of a sudden. "We came all this way to save Colette, and that's what we'll do."

"Lloyd, is it really okay to decide something like that so easily?" Genis asked, looking uncertain.

"Man, you guys are indecisive," Zelos remarked, raising an eyebrow. "Ah, well, your decision could destroy your world. I suppose it's only natural to hesitate."

Genis turned to glare at the redheaded Chosen, probably angered how lightly he spoke of our ordeal. It kind of bugged me too, but hey, soon Zelos would be stuck with us too. Oh, he was gonna have so much fun dealing with all of our angst and bullshit. He had no idea what he was about to get himself into.

"Is there internal discord?" The Pope asked.

"No...we'll do as the Professor suggested and make a deal," Lloyd said.

"Say, Pope," Zelos started, getting the Pope's attention. It seemed like just addressing him as 'Pope' was kinda disrespectful, so I found my irritation at Zelos quickly vanishing.

"If these guys don't go back to Sylvarant, then it doesn't matter if they're alive or dead," Zelos continued. Gee, thanks. "They can't complete the regeneration ritual. So I'll go along and keep tabs on them. That should be fine."

"...If you insist, Chosen One," the Pope said, nodding.

"Then, you'll save Colette, right?" Genis asked.

"Well, we'll do what we can, anyway. I swear on my name as Zelos, the Chosen."

"I'll give you permission to travel Tethe'alla, but only under the Chosen's observation," the Pope said.

"...I guess we don't have much of a choice. Okay, that's fine," Lloyd shrugged.

"Then it's settled!" Zelos said, grinning easily. "I'm going to go get ready. You guys can wait for me at my place, mmkay?"

"Where's that?" Lloyd asked.

"Ah, the biggest building in the upper class area," the redhead replied. "Can't miss it!"

"All right," Lloyd said, frowning slightly.

"Then, Chosen One, please report this to His Majesty."

"Got it," Zelos replied, nodding. He then turned to look at the rest of us--oh God, I knew that look. He was back in flirt-mode.

"See you later, my gorgeous lady, cute Chosen, lovely spitfire, and tiny rosebud." He gave us a wink, and I felt my cheeks turning pink for the fiftieth time today. Then Zelos gave Lloyd and Genis an offhand, disinterested glance.

"Oh, and you servant boys, too," he said, and then turned to leave.

The Pope had a couple of guards escort us out of the castle, since we weren't exactly welcome to roam after we had infiltrated the place. After a few minutes of walking, we were all situated in the square where we'd first met Zelos.

"All right, so we need to find Zelos' house," Lloyd mumbled. "The biggest place in the upper class area? Everything's big here!"

"I'm sure it won't be too difficult to find," Raine said. "He would have given a more detailed explanation if he thought we'd get lost."

"Yeah, I guess that's true--Brittany, what are you doing?"

I froze, looking over my shoulder; I'd been gradually inching away from the group. "...There's a fish statue over there," I said feebly, pointing to it. "I have to get a closer look."

"We don't have time for that," Raine said, looking slightly exasperated. "You can see it just fine from here."

Dammit Raine! I wanted to see the Wonder Chef! He was right there, I was sure of it!

"Don't you find it weird that they have this random statue of a fish?" I asked.

"Why are you so worried about it?" Genis countered. "We've got more important things to do. I can't believe that idiot's gonna travel with us..."

"Hey, he did kind of save our asses earlier. They might not have let us go if Zelos hadn't offered to keep tabs on us," I remarked.

Genis rolled his eyes. "You're only defending him 'cause you've got a thing for him."

"Am not!" I argued, sticking my tongue out.

"Guys, let's just look for his place," Lloyd said, sighing.

"Yes, we should get moving," Raine said, walking ahead. "It looks like the residences are this way. Let's go."

Since I wasn't really in the mood to argue with a twelve-year-old, I shrugged and followed her. We headed for the large houses of the upper class area, ready to begin our search.

----

"I feel like all we've done today is wait for people," Lloyd remarked, frowning.

"Probably because that is all we've done today," I said.

Thankfully, we'd been able to find Zelos' mansion pretty easily. I had been keeping an eye out for the familiar shape and structure of the building, but I hadn't even needed to do that--this place was so freaking huge that it stuck out like a sore thumb. Zelos was like, in a class higher than the upper class. That's how big this place was.

Sebastian the Awesome Butler had opened the door as we walked up to it; apparently Zelos had told him about us, and he'd been expecting us. We had been welcomed inside, situated in the large living room. As we sat here waiting, Sebastian continually offered us refreshments. The butler had also made it clear that we were free to roam the house while we waited, and I was considering doing that right about now.

I heard Genis sitting on the stairs with Presea, telling her that she was p-p-pretty. I rolled my eyes, getting sick of listening to it. Dignity, Genis! Try not to lose all of it! Not that I was one to talk...

"What is he even doing?" Lloyd suddenly asked, staring at the pile of unopened presents sitting on the coffee table. "You'd think he'd be here, getting his stuff together."

"He's probably out saying goodbye to his floozies," I replied, and Raine sighed.

"Anyway," I said, standing up and stretching. "I'm gonna go explore. Have fun sitting here and such."

"Try not to get lost," Raine said.

I nodded. "If I'm not back in twenty minutes, then I've found the way to Narnia."

"...What?" Lloyd gave me a weird look.

"Never mind," I sighed, suppressing a grin, and trudged up the stairs.

When I reached the second floor, I paused and looked both ways. The hallway seemed to extend to infinity and beyond, so I just picked a random direction and started walking. We'd be staying the night here at some point, wouldn't we? Couldn't hurt to check the place out ahead of time, so I could claim the best bedroom.

I paused in front of one room, and saw that it was a bathroom. Peeking inside, I couldn't stop myself from grinning happily. This one was even better than the inn's bathroom! Not only was it bigger, the bathtub had a shower nozzle! Man, Tethe'alla was awesome.

After a quick glance around the bathroom, I ducked out and wandered around to look in some of the other rooms. There were a lot of bedrooms, some sitting rooms, and I even found a game room with a pool table. Christ, Zelos was filthy rich. At least we wouldn't have to worry about money problems anymore.

Reaching the end of the hallway, I stopped at the final door, which was cracked open. When I pushed open the door, I noticed with a gape that this room was even more lavishly decorated than the rest. And it smelled like cologne...like a certain womanizing Chosen.

This was Zelos' room? Even though I knew better, I couldn't stop myself from being nosy and taking a peek inside. I was drawn more to the cologne than anything else. It just smelled so good...

There was a vanity with a large mirror against one wall. I cautiously walked up to it, staring at all of the hair supplies there with raised eyebrows. Wow, he really took care of himself. No wonder his hair was so pretty...I had curly hair like him, but it was nowhere near as perfect as his. Mine was always awesome when wet, but frizzy as hell when dry. It was only manageable when it was really short like this; if it were long, I'd probably need a straightener or a hair tie.

Hm, maybe I'd ask him his secret once I got over my...uh...hormonal issues. Yeah, that would be good.

Taking one last look around the room, wishing I could explore more, I reluctantly backed out. The last thing I wanted was to be caught snooping around his room. That'd be embarrassing as hell, even though his floozies probably did it on a regular basis.

Well, that killed some time...I sighed, walking back down the hallway and starting down the stairs. It looked like Genis and Presea had gotten up to join the others in the living room. What had everyone been doing in the ten mintues I'd been gone? Staring at each other? Probably.

"Yo, Lloyd! Good to see you found your way here all right."

Oh. Crud, I hadn't heard him come in. I subconsciously slowed in my descent of the stairs, not wanting to draw attention to myself.

Lloyd stood up. "Uh, yeah. Zelos, right?"

The Chosen grinned. "Yep, yep. I am the great Zelos Wilder. But you can just call me Zelos."

Why did he have to be so goddamn hot. Whyyyy.

The others just gave him a deadpan stare. He continued, unfazed.

"We're going to be traveling together for a while, so, um...let's be friends, mmkay?"

"He sounds like he doesn't take anything seriously..." Genis grumbled to himself.

"Let's see, putting aside the two guys...this gorgeous beauty is Raine, right? And then this cool cutie here would be Colette. And--whoa, whoa. Wasn't there one more of you?" Zelos frowned slightly.

Lloyd shrugged casually. "Oh, Brittany? She's right there on the stairs."

Aaand everyone turned to look at me, as I shot Lloyd a death glare. So much for not drawing attention to myself.

"Uh...hey," I said feebly, waving, and descended the stairs the rest of the way. Yeah, I totally wasn't just snooping through your room or anything, Zelos. Nope, no sir.

Said Chosen gave me a flirtatious grin, walking over. Okay, there went all coherent thought...

"Ah, I knew it," he said happily, leaning over slightly to see me eye-to-eye. "I could never forget such a pretty face! So this firey babe is Brittany."

Was he always going to think of me as the girl with the temper? Well, it was better than demonic banshee... Oh, God. He was kind of accurate, because my cheeks felt like they were about to catch on fire.

"All right, and then who's this little one?" Zelos asked, turning around so he could look over at Presea.

"Presea," Genis replied, pausing to give me a look. "She helped us sneak into the castle."

"The little one isn't from Sylvarant?"

"...Ozette," Presea said. It was the first word I'd heard her say in hours.

Zelos gaped. "Ozette! That village out in the boondoc--I mean, out in the forest?! Oh, that's so sad. You're being used by these uncivilized barbarians."

I cleared my throat loudly, resisting the urge to punch Zelos in the arm. Okay, so everyone here thought I was from Sylvarant, but still! I was civilized, dammit!

"Who are you calling uncivilized barbarians?!" Lloyd growled, stepping forward. Raine and Genis glared as well.

"Hey, hey, hey, don't get mad," Zelos said, holding up his hands defensively. "Especially after all the trouble I went through to contact the Imperial Research Academy for you."

Lloyd raised his eyebrows, impressed. "Not bad, Zelos."

"I know. Using the Research Academy requires permission from the King, but when the great Zelos speaks, His Majesty listens."

Genis rolled his eyes. "Since you're keeping tabs on us, I'd certainly expect that much."

"You're an obnoxious brat, you know that?" Zelos remarked, shooting Genis a glare.

Okay, Brittany, speak. Seriously. I couldn't just be mute whenever Zelos was around--he was gonna be traveling with us from now on. Speak!

"So, um, just where is this Research Academy?" I asked, walking up and joining the group. Yes, my voice didn't crack! Take that, Genis! I wasn't as awkward as him!

Zelos' carefree grin came back, since now a girl was talking to him again. "It's in Sybak, on the continent across the sea. All we've gotta do is cross the Grand Tethe'alla Bridge, and we'll be there."

"Going to the Imperial Research Academy is fine, but can we have you free Presea? Surely you don't need to keep tabs on her as well," Raine spoke up.

"No. The Imperial Research Academy and Ozette are on the same continent, so we can just drop her off when we go," Zelos replied.

"I...I agree! That's a great idea!" Genis said eagerly. You'd think he'd want to keep Presea in the group if he had such a massive crush on her, but whatever.

"Is that all right with you, Presea?"

She stared straight ahead. "...Yes."

"Okay! So that's settled, then," Zelos said, clapping his hands together. "We can leave tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" Lloyd looked confused. "But it's still midday, isn't it?"

Zelos raised his eyebrows. "Man, you guys have been inside too long. Look outside, the sun's setting."

"Hm...we have been doing a lot of waiting around today," Raine sighed. "That's probably why we lost track of time."

"Well, in any case, I've got more than enough room here." Zelos said, shrugging.

"We're staying here for the night?" I blinked as it finally registered in my head.

"That's right, hunny," my answer came, and Zelos was giving me that brain-melting smile. I grew frustrated and finally decided to ignore my red cheeks, abruptly grinning.

"Well!" I said, inching towards the stairs. "I'm gonna go stake my claim, then."

I saw Lloyd's eyes widen suddenly as he remembered just how awesome Tethe'allan technology was, and fought my own laughter. I turned, bounding halfway up the stairs and grinning at him over the railing.

"Oi, Lloyd! You can have the closet!" I called.

That got him moving. He bolted to the stairs, stepping up them two at a time. He grabbed the back of my coat, pulling me down a few steps, only to have me grab his ribbons and yank him back as well. We tripped up the stairs, shoving past each other into the hallway with all the rooms, as the others watched the spectacle with bemusement.

We stopped our childish fighting after a minute, eventually wandering the hall that I had explored earlier. Lloyd gave me a look.

"You made it sound like there was one good room and the rest were crap," he grumbled.

I laughed. "Yeah, that was me being a pain in the ass. Aren't you used to it by now?"

"Dork," he replied simply. That was his comeback to everything. He paused after a minute, looking into one of the rooms. "Huh? What's this?"

Oh, he had spotted the game room I'd run into earlier. I poked my head inside as well, taking a closer look. There was a pool table, a dartboard, a minibar, a few sofas with a chessboard between them...all it was missing was an air hockey table. Bummer.

"I saw this place earlier," I said as we walked inside. "It's some sort of game room, I guess."

"I've never seen half this stuff before," Lloyd murmured, plopping down on one of the couches.

"You could probably say that about most of Tethe'alla," I replied, sitting on the couch opposite him.

Spotting a deck of cards on the table, I grinned and picked them up. "How about some poker?"

He gave me a look. "You remember what happened last time, right?"

"Okay, okay. We can play something else," I said, shrugging. "Ever played cribbage?"

"What's that?" He asked, brow furrowing.

I thought for a moment, and then sighed, dropping the cards back on the table. "Damn. I forgot how to play."

"Why'd you bring it up, then?" Lloyd asked, laughing.

"I don't know!" I whined for a moment, but then paused to stare at him. "Hey, did you just laugh? You really are in better spirits."

He looked surprised for a moment, and smiled. "I guess so. I think it's cause we're going to that research place. It sounds like they're really smart, you know? If anyone can help Colette, I bet it's them."

"Told you it'd all work out," I remarked happily.

Lloyd leaned forward a bit, watching me. "So, I'm feeling better. What about you?"

"Huh?" I raised my eyebrows. Was I feeling better? Well...as long as I was in Meltokio, yeah. "I'm fine."

He looked over his shoulder at the door, which was firmly closed, and then back at me. "Look, everyone's downstairs and out of hearing range. It's okay to talk."

"Um...okay?" I said, confused. What did he want me to say?

"Your promise, weirdo." He said, rolling his eyes. "Remember your promise?"

"My pro--" I froze, eyes wide. "...Oh."

"Don't tell me you forgot."

"No, I remember now..." I said quietly.

Oh shit. I hadn't even thought of it since before the Tower! I had never even planned on telling Lloyd, I had thought I was going to die! Why the hell had I made that stupid promise, anyway?!

"Uh..." I struggled for the right words. "Can...can we wait till Syba--"

The look Lloyd was giving me now caused the question to die in my throat. Oh...oh man, I was so screwed here.

"You asked me to wait through the entire regeneration journey, and now you're asking me again?!" He glared. "No. You promised, Brittany."

"B-But I--" I bit my lip, staring into my lap. "I'm...not feeling well?"

"I'm not leaving this room until you tell me everything," Lloyd said firmly. "So cut it out."

"All right, all right!" I said, sighing. "Just...give me a second to think.

The brunette just waited, so I fidgeted for a moment as I tried to gather my thoughts. What could I tell him? It'd be a pretty low thing to do if I just fed him a lie...and he knew me so well by now, he'd probably be able to tell if I was lying. Damn...he was just going to think I was crazy.

He was waiting for me. Unless I wanted to lose his trust forever, I had to do this.

I took a deep breath. "I'm from....I'm from a place called Earth."

----

**A/N: Oh, yes...the time has finally come. And what a shocker, another cliffhanger. I do that an awful lot. XD**

**More Zelos interaction next chapter, hopefully. Brit might actually start talking to him instead of gawking. **

**Review, and...and...something good will happen! o_o**

**Next time: Pissed off Lloyd, flirty Zelos, and a fish statue!**


	32. True Friend

**A/N: Yes, everyone, it's FINALLY up. o_o once again, I gave you a cliffhanger and then didn't update in forever. -headdesk- I have a legit excuse, though. My laptop started spazzing out and I had to go through all this crap in an attempt to repair it. It's currently with these repair people, so I've been using my mom's laptop to write this. Since I have to share a computer now and my mom's always using it, I had a hard time finishing the chapter. D:**

**Anyhoo, it's heeere! The moment you've all been waiting for! I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter...I like some parts, but...eh. I usually have mixed feelings on chapters when they take me forever to write. :/**

**Disclaimer: If I owned ToS, Zelos' floozies would be less annoying.**

**----**

His brow furrowed with confusion, as I'd expected it to. "The ground?"

Despite my current predicament, I had to snort at that. "No, stupid. Earth, with a capital 'E'. It's a world, just like Sylvarant and Tethe'alla."

Lloyd grew still at my words, his eyes wide. "Another world...Another world created by Yggdrasill?" He paused at that, staring at me. "Did you join us for the same reasons as Sheena?"

I shook my head. "No, you've got it all wrong. My world's not even related to Sylvarant or Tethe'alla in any way. It doesn't vie for the mana supply or go through the regeneration ritual."

Since Lloyd continued to stare at me in silence, I hesitantly continued.

"My world's a lot different. We're even more technologically advanced than Tethe'alla, and Earth's full of densely populated cities, even larger than Meltokio. Not only that, we don't rely on mana to survive. Mana doesn't exist on Earth."

"But how is that possible?" He asked. "Sylvarant's dying because there's no mana!"

"I don't know. There's some difference that lets Earth survive without it," I said, shrugging halfheartedly. I was waiting for a real reaction from him. He kept giving me that silent, wide eyed look, taking in my wild claims.

After a moment, he just shook his head, frowning warily at me. He looked like he was waiting for me to cackle evilly and reveal that I was working for Cruxis, too.

"Why'd you come here, then? If you weren't after Colette...are you working for Yuan or something?"

I balked, insulted. "Why would I be working for that dick? Lloyd, what are you saying?! I didn't choose to come here, you know! For the past few months I've been stuck in this weird place, away from my family, and I had no idea what the hell was going on! I joined you guys because I would've gone crazy if I--"

I cut off my own statement when I saw the look on Lloyd's face, how he was rising from his chair with clenched fists.

"What's your problem?" He growled. "Do you have any idea how much I worried about you?! You had nothing to hide! Why the hell didn't you tell me?!"

"What?" I said in a small voice, shocked. This wasn't what I had expected. Lloyd was supposed to give me an incredulous look, wait patiently for me to finish my delusional story, and then tell the Professor that maybe it would be better for my mental health if I stayed in a padded room or something.

I didn't know how to react to his anger. "Lloyd, wh-what are you..."

"You miss your family, don't you?" He asked, his voice shaking with frustration. "I've only been in Tethe'alla for a few days, and I'm homesick already. Why didn't you say anything? Do you even trust me?"

"Of course I trust you, you...!" I trailed off, rising from my seat as well. I felt my hands trembling; in the face of his anger, all of the excuses I'd had seemed stupid.

"I just..." I looked down. "I was scared you wouldn't believe me." There. I had said it.

He relaxed slightly, but I still felt his eyes on me. "Even after all this time, you..." I heard him heave a sigh. "Didn't I tell you? I would never think you were crazy. Never."

"You...you really believe me?" I asked quietly, afraid to look up and meet his gaze.

"Yes, stupid!" He said immediately.

It had been so long since I'd felt this kind of relief. I let out a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding, folding my arms and hugging myself lightly. He really, honestly believed me. I felt like such an idiot; this was Lloyd. Of course he'd believe me. Of course he'd react this way.

I felt my eyes brimming with tears, but forced them back with a gulp. I really was stupid...so unbelievably stupid.

"I'm sorry," I finally said, looking up at him.

"Why wouldn't I believe you?" He asked his gaze softening. "You've been with us through almost everything. You wouldn't lie about something like this. I know you better than that."

"I...yeah," I murmured, suddenly feeling immensely grateful to have Lloyd as a friend. What would I have done without him?

He sighed, sitting back down. "So I believe you. Tell me the rest."

I sat down as well, faltering. "W-Well..."

"Do you remember how you got here?" Lloyd asked, leaning forward. "And what about the Desians coming after you?"

"One thing at a time," I said slowly, thinking my answers through. How was I going to explain this?

After a moment, I met his gaze. "I...I remembered how I arrived here when we were back at the Renegade base."

"And?"

"That day, I was just heading to the store to pick a few things up," I said vaguely. "I...ugh, how do I say this...I was using this vehicle called a car. It's a machine that takes us from place to place, instead of using a wagon or that sort of thing."

He nodded, opening his mouth to say something, but then shutting it again. I could tell the thought of cars excited him, but he realized that the actual story was more important. Typical Lloyd.

"Anyway, cars move pretty fast. I was driving at about the speed our Rheairds move," I explained with a shrug. "And then suddenly Yggdrasill appeared on the road."

Lloyd's eyes widened with shock. "Yggdrasill?!"

"I thought it was just some person," I said. "I swerved out of the way and hit the brakes really hard. The car stopped so suddenly that my head was slammed against the steering wheel. That's what gave me the concussion. And just before I lost consciousness, I saw Yggdrasill standing over me. That's all I can remember, besides waking up in that forest."

He stared at me, the gears obviously turning in his head as the pieces fell together. "So Yggdrasill brought you here, and then sent the Desians after you," he murmured. "But why?"

"When we were at the Renegade base, Yuan took me aside and told me all about it," I replied quietly.

There was that flash of anger again, frustration that I'd kept the entire thing from him. Then he seemed to fight it, calming himself down.

"Well?" He asked expectantly.

I found myself hesitating again. I had to explain this part to him, too...the details I'd been trying not to think about. The horrible truth about the whole ordeal. My body threatened to start shaking again, and I had to take a deep breath to soothe myself.

"The Angelus Project," I replied weakly. "It's a project designed to make Exspheres evolve into Cruxis Crystals through the use of a special Key Crest. Exspheres feed on the body's mana, and..."

"Exspheres, into--?" Lloyd paused, staring at his own Exsphere, his mother's memento. His hand closed into a fist, and then he looked up at me. "But does your body even have mana in it?"

"That's the point," I said. "Apparently my body adapts to this world, taking in mana and using it just like you guys. But the whole difference is, I don't need it to survive. In theory, I could nourish the Exsphere for way longer than any human from Sylvarant or Tethe'alla, and make a very powerful Crystal Crystal."

"And so Yggdrasill's motive is revealed," I said bitterly, and couldn't stop myself from shaking anymore.

"That stuff he said to Kratos about you at the Tower..." Lloyd's eyes narrowed. "But why isn't Yuan after you, too, then?"

"That's the kicker," I said, laughing bitterly. "All the stuff that makes me great Crystal food? It's passed on through genetics. I'm disposable, Lloyd, get it?"

"...Disposable?" He asked, giving me a blank stare.

I stood up abruptly, fists clenched. "If I die--" I abruptly choked up, placing my hands to my head in despair. Lloyd stood, approaching me with alarm.

"Brittany, you're not going to--!" He hissed to me, but I just shook my head.

"My sister, Lloyd! If I die, he's gonna take my sister!"

"What?" His eyes were wide.

"My whole family," I murmured helplessly, fighting tears. I'd been avoiding these thoughts ever since they first entered my head. But the anguish, the horror of it all came back in full force now.

"He knows who my family is. If something happened to me, he could snatch my sister away and make her suffer through all of this, too," I said, looking up at him. "I'm so scared, Lloyd. I'm scared that when I finally go home, they'll all be dead."

"Shut up," he said quickly, shaking his head. "Don't say stuff like that! We'll take the Rheairds, we'll make sure they're all right--"

"No, not to Earth," I cut him off. "I told you. Sylvarant and Tethe'alla are connected by mana links as they vie for the remaining supply. Earth's not connected at all. We can't take the Rheairds there."

"But then how would Yggdrasill get there?" Lloyd asked.

"...I don't know," I lied quietly.

I couldn't tell him about the Eternal Sword. Telling him about Earth was one thing, but my knowledge of the future...that was a whole other story. I couldn't have him looking to me for answers every time we had a problem, or blaming me for not stopping the horrible things that had happened. How much would he hate me if he realized I'd known about Kratos all along and had said nothing? That I'd let Colette sacrifice herself, even knowing the nature of Cruxis? Sometimes even I couldn't forgive myself.

"If I knew, I would try to go home," I continued, my voice shaking slightly. "I hate this. He can come and go as he pleases, and I can't do a goddamn thing. I never even got to say goodbye to them..."

"Stop it. I'm not going to let anything happen to you, so he won't have a reason to go after your family," Lloyd said firmly, gripping my shoulders tightly.

"How do you know?!" I snapped, cringing as memories of my family and my childhood ran through my head.

Some distant part of me realized I was having a breakdown, that my silence had gone on for far too long and now I needed a release. And still I fought against it, trying to keep myself composed. I was fighting a losing battle.

"How do you know he doesn't have them imprisoned somewhere right now?" I asked, shuddering as all of the worst scenarios came to mind. "How do you know if my home is even there anymore?"

I knew I was crying, and I hated myself for it. I was so weak; I couldn't handle this burden. I would break under the pressure.

"I can't die," I insisted. "But I'm so weak that I know I'm going to! I can't even protect myself, never mind anyone else! It'll be all my fault when my sister--"

"Don't you think for one second that this is your fault!" He shouted, watching the tears as they stained my cheeks.

"None of this is your fault! It's his! He's the one who started it all, he's the bastard who put you through all this!" He paused, staring into my eyes with firm conviction. "We're going to stop Yggdrasill and Cruxis. I won't let any more people lose their lives to Exspheres! Not you, not your sister, not anyone!"

I listened to him, taking his words in, but I only felt myself crumple even more. I wished I had his strength, and scorned myself because I didn't. I just wanted to crawl in a hole and forget about the world.

But, naturally, I couldn't do that. I just gave him a helpless look, before breaking down into sobs. I was pathetic. So fucking pathetic.

And then his hands on my shoulders were suddenly pulling me forward, and I found my face pressed to the cloth of his jacket. Before I could recoil, trying to hide my tears, his arms closed around me.

"Stupid," he murmured, and then my carefully constructed dam burst.

I clung to him, forgetting any embarrassment or shame, and wept. He was Lloyd, the single person in this world that I trusted completely and unconditionally, and he reacted just as any true friend would. He let me cry.

What was it I had said to him, back then? I'd said I could handle things on my own until the world regeneration. I had thought that the only person who could support me was myself. I had thought that talking to Lloyd was the closest thing to comfort I could get.

I had forgotten what it was like to cry on someone's shoulder. I had never realized how desperately I needed this...

I don't know how long we stood there like that. It couldn't have been long, and yet it felt like one of the longest moments of my life. I had never poured my heart out to anyone like that; it left me feeling like a total mess.

He didn't judge me. He just offered his support, and that was more than I could ever ask for. It was at that moment I realized that I was part of this group. I wasn't just the amnesiac who was tagging along anymore; I was a part of something, and I belonged here just as much as anyone else did. Yeah, I wasn't from Sylvarant, and I hadn't known these people for more than a few months. But I was Lloyd's friend. And no matter how stupid I acted, no matter how many harsh things I said, he still accepted me with all of my flaws.

There was an abrupt knock on the door.

"Lloyd? Brittany? Are you in there? I heard shouting," Raine's voice came, and I jerked away from Lloyd so I could hurriedly wipe away my tears.

Lloyd frowned, looking over towards the door. "Uh, yeah, Professor, everything's fine."

She let herself in, crossing her arms as her gaze fell upon us. "Why were you yelling, Lloyd?"

"Well, um..." He looked uncomfortable. "Brittany was cheating at our card game?"

"You're just a sore loser!" I said, punching him lightly in the arm. I grinned, amazed at how steady my voice was. Hey, my acting was better than ever!

...Or not. Raine was giving me a very scrutinizing look. "Are you all right?"

I blinked, wiping at my still-damp eyes. "What? Oh, just something in my eye," I shrugged. Wow, that was the most overused excuse in the book. She'd never buy it.

The Professor stared at us for another moment, but then seemed to let it slide. She sighed. "Well, it's getting late. I'll call you down when dinner's ready. Don't stay up here for too long."

"We won't, Professor," Lloyd said obediently. She nodded, leaving once more.

We listened to her footsteps for a few seconds, hearing them move further and further down the hallway, until there was the telltale sound of her walking down the stairs. I sniffled, rubbing furiously at my eyes.

"You okay?" Lloyd asked, turning to me.

"Better," I said, smiling hesitantly at him. "Sorry for bawling all over you. I must've looked pretty pathetic just then."

"Listen," he said firmly, eyes narrowing. "If you ever need to get anything off your chest, come to me. Even if you just want to cry, I'll be there."

"But..." I started, biting my lip.

"Suffering alone isn't going to help anyone!" He growled. "Look at what happened to Colette! Don't shut me out, okay? Let me bear the burden with you. That's what friends do, right?"

"Are you sure?" I sniffled. "I mean, you've got enough things to worry about."

"Don't you get it?" He asked, shaking his head. "I worry about you too, stupid. I don't want anything to happen to you. So let me help you."

I had to look away so that I could fight my tears once more. After a moment or two, I looked back up at him with a grateful smile.

"Thank you." I sighed quietly. "You know, you've been helping me all along. I'm sorry I didn't tell you everything earlier."

He frowned slightly. "Speaking of which...when are you going to tell the others?"

I glanced towards the door, then down at my feet. "Well...I kind of want everyone to be around when I say it, so I don't have to tell the story a million times. Why not in Sybak, when we've got Colette with us again?"

Lloyd nodded, to my relief. "Yeah."

"One more thing..." I hesitated. "Could you help me tell them? I know it's stupid, but I'm still kind of scared they'll think I'm crazy."

"Relax, I'll help," he said with a smile, and I had to stop myself from running forward and glomping him.

"You're a good friend, Lloyd," I grinned, feeling much better.

It felt so good, having someone to lean on. By telling him, I felt like I'd dissolved a barrier between us. I didn't feel so bad about being his friend anymore, now that he knew me for who I really was. My only regret was that I could never tell him the full truth. But when I was standing here with him like this, I could almost forget about that particular lie.

Another knock at the door.

"Yo, you guys in here?" Zelos cracked open the door, peeking inside. "Man, you crazy Sylvarantis probably wouldn't know what to do with any of this stuff. Did you get lost on the way to the bedrooms?"

Lloyd gave Zelos a look, whereas I was in too much of a good mood to let my hormones get to me. For once, I could look at the Chosen without blushing like an idiot.

"We were playing cards," Lloyd finally said.

Zelos stared at us for another minute, and then a slow grin came on to his face. "Ohhh, I get it. You two came in here for some alone time. Well, don't let me interrupt anything--"

"It's not like that!" I said too loudly. Whoops, spoke too soon; my face was beet red now.

The redheaded Chosen's grin couldn't get any bigger. "No, no, of course not, hunny. You just keep telling yourself that."

"H-Hey, but we're not--!" Lloyd was cut off when Zelos wagged one finger.

"You two just come down for dinner when you're ready, mmkay? Later!" Laughing, he slipped out the door before we could get a word in.

The next moment was...rather awkward, as we attempted to look anywhere but at each other.

"...I can't believe that guy," Lloyd finally grumbled, breaking the silence.

I relaxed a little, sighing. "I bet he's not gonna let it go anytime soon, either..."

"Seriously!" Lloyd threw up his arms. "What did he think we were gonna do in here, anyway?"

Finally looking at him, I gave him a deadpan stare. "...Lloyd, please don't make me tell you about the birds and the bees."

His face quickly became the color of his coat. "H-He thought we were--?! "

"He's a pervert, so obviously his mind's in the gutter..." I mumbled, lowering my eyes to the floor. Lloyd made it even more embarrassing by not getting Zelos' jokes the first time.

We were quiet for a couple seconds, and then Lloyd spoke again. "...Uh, Brit?"

"Yeah?"

"Can we forget these last few minutes ever happened?"

"We can try, Lloyd, we can try."

----

By the time the two of us made our way to the dining room, we had managed to have a normal conversation again. We were laughing and joking as we took our seats, watching Sebastian set down plates with awe.

The food, naturally, looked gourmet. And there was a hell of a lot of it. We sat at a long table; most of the others had taken their seats as well, and were staring at the food with similar expressions. Well, except for Zelos. He was used to it, the rich bastard.

"So, how was it?" Zelos asked me with a wink, sitting in the chair next to mine.

Everyone at the table looked over at me, and I buried my face in the palm of my hand.

"How was what?" Genis asked, confused, noticing how Lloyd's face was about as red as mine now.

"Eat your food," I ordered the half elf, before shoving a bite of food into my mouth and glaring at Zelos. He smiled shamelessly back.

Thankfully, Raine immediately cleared her throat loudly and changed the subject. When I shot her a grateful look, she just sighed. Genis then brought back the awkward subject without realizing it, though.

"You guys were upstairs for a long time," he remarked, and I almost groaned. "What were you doing?"

Well, I couldn't tell the truth, but I wasn't about to let Zelos make up his own bullshit story for me. I shrugged.

"We were playing pok--" I cut myself off mid-sentence, seeing the glare from Raine. "...Uh, cards. Go Fish! We were playing Go Fish."

She placed a hand to her forehead. "I'm sure you were."

Zelos, meanwhile, had tilted his head with amusement. "Well! My little spitfire likes gambling, eh? I never would've guessed."

"I'd rather you didn't encourage her," Raine said, giving Zelos a withering look.

"What's wrong, my cool beauty?" He asked, grinning. "Brittany here looks like she's old enough."

"Raine's mad because Brittany taught most of us how to play," Genis said, and I could tell he was trying not to grin at my sudden discomfort.

"What did Sheena say, again?" Lloyd grinned; now he was in on it too. "Oh yeah, she asked you if you were determined to be a bad influence."

"Now you guys are teaming up on me," I grumbled, and saw Raine's look. "Poker's not that bad!"

"Regardless, it's gambling, and Genis is far too young," the Professor said.

"He's really good, though," I mumbled. Genis grinned, and Raine facepalmed.

"Y'know, we should stop by Altamira at some point, then," Zelos said, draping an arm around my shoulders. I nearly choked up the bite of food I'd just swallowed.

"Alta-what?" Lloyd asked, confused.

"It's a big resort," he replied happily. "There's a huge casino there. Wouldn't you like that, hunny?" Zelos looked down at me, ignoring my feeble attempts to escape his arm.

"Uh..." I squeaked, before steadying myself. "Sounds great, but we've got more important things to do..."

"Speaking of which, what's Sybak like?" Lloyd asked, and I wanted to hug him for taking the spotlight off me.

Zelos frowned thoughtfully. "Ah, it's a big university town. Lots of cute, intelligent babes."

"He didn't ask you what the women were like," Genis grumbled, earning a glare from the Chosen.

Meanwhile, I was having a crisis, as the arm around my shoulders was impossible to get rid of. Dammit! At this rate, I was gonna morph into one of his floozies!

Irritated, I stabbed another item on my plate with the fork, chewing sullenly.

"I wonder if it's anything like the school at Palmacosta," Lloyd said, oblivious to my personal dilemma.

"I'm sure it's much more advanced," Raine said, her eyes abruptly sparkling.

"Oh, yeah. The Research Academy is the best of the best," Zelos said, smirking confidently. "I should know. I graduated top of my class there."

"You?!" Genis gasped, horrified. "No way!"

"I sure did, brat," the Chosen said. "I'm more than just a pretty face, you know."

"I'm impressed," Raine said, looking at Zelos with grudging respect now. "That couldn't have been an easy feat."

"Nope, nope," he said, soaking up the attention. "Takes lots of studying and hard work, kiddies."

I rolled my eyes, knowing he'd just copied from his floozies for almost every class. Genis scowled, wanting to test the knowledge Zelos claimed to have.

"All right, then," the mage crossed his arms. "What's the quadratic formula?"

Lucky break; he'd chosen the one subject that Zelos was good at. The redhead grinned, stating the formula perfectly, leaving Genis utterly defeated.

"Th-That's..." The half elf mumbled.

"Correct," Presea spoke up, her voice sounding like a recording.

Lloyd looked like his brain had just died. "Am I gonna have to learn that?" The brunette asked, worried.

"That'd be fun to see," I commented, laughing.

"I'd rather avoid the headache, to be honest," Raine murmured.

"Hear that, Lloydo? You might survive," I said.

"Quit calling me that," he grumbled.

"Oh! That reminds me," Zelos suddenly said, pulling his arm away from me so he could clap his hands together. I breathed a sigh of relief.

"I still haven't given you guys nicknames yet!" He declared, grinning.

"I've got a bad feeling about this..." Genis said quietly, and was ignored.

"Is that really necessary?" Raine asked, giving him a mildly exasperated look.

"Of course it is!" Zelos said happily. "Besides, nicknames are easier to remember."

"So you'll never remember our actual names," Genis muttered, and was ignored once more.

"Okay! Colette can be 'little angel,'" the redhead remarked, smiling over at the blonde Chosen. He then turned his attention to Genis' crush. "Presea is 'delicate rosebud.' And Raine, you're 'gorgeous ultra-cool beauty--"

"No," Raine said, and I swear she was about to hit her head against something repeatedly. "Can't you choose something else?"

"Aw, but I like that one," Zelos pouted.

"The Professor is the Professor," Lloyd shrugged. "That's just what we call her."

The Chosen tilted his head, thoughtful. "Professor, huh..." After some deliberation, he grinned. "You know, that actually has a nice ring to it. The bewitching Professor Sage..."

Raine hung her head slightly, giving up. Only Zelos could make her title sound like some sort of stripper name. Then again, the name he thought of before wasn't much better.

"All right, and that just leaves Brittany here, who of course is my feisty spitfire." Zelos nodded to himself, and I facepalmed.

"Why am I the feisty one? Can't I have a different name?"

"You, too?" He sighed dramatically. "Well, I guess I can think of something. Let's see..."

"Britbrit?" Lloyd tried.

"Bad influence?" Genis spoke up as well.

I placed my head in my hands. "...Hate you guys," I mumbled into my palm.

"I've got it!" Zelos said, excited. "Gorgeous ultra-cool--"

"Spitfire it is, then," I groaned, and the Chosen grinned victoriously.

"Good. Now that that's settled...Lloyd is 'Hey you,' and Genis is 'Brat.'"

"Gee, sounds like you put a lot of thought into our names," Genis said sarcastically.

"It's better than Shorty and Red," I commented, smiling impishly. Lloyd let out a loud groan.

"Is that all that's noticeable about me? Come on!"

"Maybe it's time for a change of clothes," I suggested.

Lloyd recoiled defensively. "I like my clothes!"

"I don't know, bud. Those suspenders..." Zelos remarked, eyebrows raised, but then he paused. "Ah, it's fine. Guys like you make me look good!"

"Hey!"

Raine had reached up and was now rubbing her temples. Much of the dinner went on like this, as she attempted to block out our incessant, childish bickering. It looked like having Zelos around was only going to add fuel to the fire. That was okay, though; we weren't really mad at each other, and going on like this helped me forget about the two emotionless girls sitting with us at the table. Besides that, it had been a while since Lloyd had been up to this sort of conversation. Maybe the next part of the journey wouldn't be so bad...

After we had all finished, Raine finally grew fed up with us and suggested that we get ready for bed. Her tone of voice implied that she'd throw a heavy object at our heads if we failed to comply. And so, we hastily made our way upstairs--besides Zelos, of course. The Professor couldn't really boss him around in his own house.

As we each chose our rooms and went about the process of getting comfortable, we took turns using the shower. Zelos showed us how to use it, all the while looking at us with pity. I stubbornly refused his help, partly because I already knew how to use a shower and partly because the last thing I wanted was Zelos instructing me on how to bathe. Raine had already driven him out of the bathroom early with an icy glare; I wasn't sure I wanted to know what sort of lewd remarks he'd said to her.

"Hunny, are you sure you won't need any help?" Zelos asked, tilting his head. "You don't need to be ashamed of your barbaric Sylvaranti origi--"

"I'm not ashamed of anything," I said, rolling my eyes. Of course, he didn't see this gesture, because I'd hastily turned my back to him when he approached, pretending to be busy with something. I found that it was easier to talk to him when I didn't have to look him in those gorgeous eyes--dammit! Don't think about it!

"I think I'll be able to figure it out on my own. Trust me, if I have any trouble, I'll ask," I continued, faltering only a little.

Suddenly a lock of red hair fell over my shoulder, and I realized with shock that Zelos was leaning very close to me.

"Eh? Are we going somewhere?" He asked, amused.

It was only then that I realized I'd gathered up my blue coat, and understood my own intentions. I just couldn't let it go, could I? Oh well...I couldn't help my own stubbornness.

I shrugged, moving away from him. "Just a quick walk while I'm waiting for the shower. I won't be long."

Zelos' face lit up, and he grinned. "Well! I'll just have to go with you, then."

"H-Huh?!" I blurted out, feeling panicked.

"You didn't think I was going to let you run off on your own, did you?" The Chosen asked, slinging an arm around my shoulders. "After all, Meltokio can be a scary place at night. Wouldn't want you to get lost and end up in the slums, now would I?"

I frantically tried to think of some argument, but his eyes had locked on to mine and my thought processes had screeched to a halt. After a second or two, I relented and let out a defeated sigh.

"...I guess not."

Zelos' grin grew. "All right then! Where to, my little spitfire?"

"Um...the square in front of the castle," I replied. "Where we first ran into you."

If all else failed, maybe the Wonder Chef could scare Zelos off...

----

"So, hunny, any particular reason why you wanted to come here?" The Chosen asked as I broke away from him, wandering in the light of a street lamp.

"Oh, you know..." I murmured vaguely, turning my back on him for the millionth time. He was going to notice this habit eventually, I swear.

Trying to ignore my own awkwardness, I headed further into the square, towards the statue I'd been staring at all day. The sound of footsteps behind me indicated that Zelos was following.

"...Eh?" He frowned when I stopped in front of it, looking perplexed. "I don't remember this thing being here."

"It's been bugging me all day," I remarked, reaching out to poke the fish on its gill.

As expected, a huge burst of smoke came out of nowhere, causing Zelos to stumble backwards. Even I jumped a little, and I had seen it coming.

"Whoa!" Zelos coughed, fumbling for his sword hilt. "What the hell?!"

Lo and behold, the infamous Wonder Chef stood before us as the smoke slowly cleared. He had a cheesy grin on his face as his eyes lit up with recognition.

"Oh! Fancy seeing you here!" He said to me, as if him popping up like this was the most normal thing in the world.

"Uh...yeah. Why the fish statue, anyway?" I asked slowly.

He clapped his hands together. "Because this time, I'm going to teach you how to make sashimi!"

"Hold on, you know this guy?" Zelos muttered to me incredulously.

I smiled before I could stop myself. "'Course I do. He's the Wonder Chef; who doesn't know him?"

"The Wonder Chef, huh..." Zelos gave the blonde a deadpan stare, and I had to fight laughter. What was it with magic swordsmen and their wariness of chefs? Maybe the giant fork was intimidating.

Or maybe it was because the chef was now holding up a salmon about the length of my arm. And it was alive.

"Wh-Wha...?!" I gave him a bewildered look, and then shook my head. "Where did you...why is it...?"

The Wonder Chef tilted his head at me, struggling to keep the fish still. "Well, sashimi is raw fish, of course. Now we just need a kitchen!"

I subconsciously glanced over at Zelos, and he frowned.

"I'm not lettin' that guy in my house."

The Wonder Chef pouted, and I sort of felt bad for some reason--maybe because our last encounter hadn't gone so well. I attempted a smile, wanting to cheer him up somehow.

"Look, uh...Wonder Chef," I said, "maybe you could put that thing away now, and...when we're in another town, you can teach me."

"Nonsense!" The chef cried. "How can I refuse a woman in need?"

Jeez, it wasn't like I was gonna die if I was a bad cook. I tried a different tactic.

"Your nose healed up pretty well," I commented.

Instantly distracted, he flashed me a brilliant grin. "It did, didn't it? Honetly, I had no idea my fans were so aggressive."

"Seriously, who are you?" Zelos asked helplessly, staring between me and the chef. I had to fight more laughter; he had reminded me of Lloyd for a minute there.

"I'm the Wonder Chef!" The blonde said, tipping his chef's hat in the Chosen's direction. "Who are you?"

"You don't know who I am?" Zelos asked in disbelief.

"Well, don't we think highly of ourselves!" The chef said in mock annoyance, crossing his arms.

I facepalmed. "He's Zelos, the Choesn."

"Who?"

"..." Zelos gave him another stare.

"You know...the Chosen," I said, gesturing vaguely while rolling my eyes. "World Regeneration? Cruxis? Stuff like that?"

"...Who?"

"This guy is tiring me out," Zelos muttered, looking exasperated for the first time since I'd met him.

I snorted, hiding a grin. "He tends to do that."

After a pause, I frowned at the chef. "Hold on a second...last time I saw you, we were in Sylvarant. How the hell did you get here?"

The Wonder Chef stared at his feet, shifting uncomfortably like a child that had been caught red handed.

"Ah, well...that is..."

Zelos' eyes narrowed in slight suspicion. "That's strange. How--"

"Gotta go, bye!" The chef yelled suddenly, and poofed away in a cloud of smoke.

Cue several seconds of coughing and swearing. When the smoke finally cleared, Zelos ran a hand through his hair in a sexy-- ahem, irritated--gesture. Oh Christ, not again.

"What the hell just happened?"

Unable to help myself, I grinned. "Don't try to understand it, Zelly. You'll just give yourself a headache."

"...You're probably right," Zelos said, and smiled easily, his confidence coming back. "Anyway, there's plenty of time left. Where to next, cutie? You know I can't leave you--"

"Master Zelos!"

Oh dear God.

I turned away, massaging my forehead, quite sure that the high pitched voice I'd just heard had destroyed something in my inner ear. Zelos' floozies roamed the city at night?! What horrible luck!

"My beautiful hunnies!" The Chosen said in obvious delight. "Oh, you shouldn't be out so late...you never know what kind of shady characters you could meet at this time of night."

The girls swooned at this, begging The Great Zelos to protect them. I facepalmed; shady characters? He was practically talking about himself. He was the only person I knew here who was ready and willing to sweep a woman off into the night.

I noticed several of the girls sneering at me, and recognized a few from earlier. Did they think I was upset that they'd stolen Zelos' attention? On the contrary, I rather liked seeing them make idiots of themselves instead of doing it myself.

The Chosen looked over his shoulder at me. "Well, my lovely spitfire? You wouldn't mind having them tag along, would you?"

I raised my eyebrows, having an idea. Yay, perfect chance to throw Zelos off! "Those uppity snobs? No thanks. You go ahead, Zelos, I'm heading back."

"Excuse me?!" One of the girls screeched, and I winced.

"Calm down, beautiful," Zelos said gently; she swooned, wrapped around his finger. He gave me an earnest look.

"Are you sure you'll be all right, Brittany? I could never forgive myself if something happened to one of my lovely hunnies."

I almost shivered at the way he said my name, and then wanted to bash my head against a brick wall to knock some sense into myself.

"Um...yeah. I'll be fine, really." I looked away, hiding my beet red face.

"Well...all right, then." Zelos shrugged, and then put his arms around a few of the women. "To the bar, hunnies? This is my last night in Meltokio! Let's make it last!"

"Yes, Master Zelos!" They chorused, and the group moved off in another direction.

I let out a long sigh. Make the night last by drinking till you pass out? Good call, Zelos. I really hoped we wouldn't have to carry him home from the bar or something. Hell, I didn't even know where the bar was.

Shrugging, I headed back in the direction of Zelos' home. Either way, I was finally rid of him, and I at least felt like myself again. Jeez...I really needed to get over this. I couldn't spend the whole journey avoiding him, he was bound to notice sooner or later. And if he noticed why, he'd probably take it upon himself to embarrass me even more.

Besides, I was kinda hoping to be friends with Zelos. Not friends with benefits, just friends, goddammit. Maybe I could try focusing on something extremely un-sexy when I was around him, and that would drive off the hormonal issue?

Okay. So whenever I saw Zelos, I'd think about Rodyle! Ew, just thinking about the Desian now was giving me the creeps. Maybe that wouldn't work so well...then Zelos would wonder why I was always giving him weird looks instead. Man, I just couldn't win.

After a few minutes, I finally made it back to the Chosen's enormous house. Upon entering, I found Raine sitting in the living room, immersed in a book. Colette stood in the corner of the room and stared in the direction of the window next to me. I heard the sound of running water upstairs; it looked like the shower was still being used. I wanted to be the last one to use it so that I could take as long as I wanted, so I didn't feel too impatient at the moment.

"Hey, Professor," I said casually, walking up to where she sat. "What book are you reading?"

I was sure I probably didn't want to know the answer to this question, but I was starting to get bored. One of Raine's long-winded lectures would at least kill some time.

She looked up, smiling slightly. "It's a book on the history of Tethe'alla. I found it in a bookcase upstairs." Raine let out a sad sigh. "It's too bad...I doubt we'll get the chance to explore all of the fascinating ruins this world has to offer."

"Well, we might have to go make the pact with Volt eventually, right? That means we get to check out the Temple of Lightning, wherever that is," I said.

"You're right," she said, surprised. Then she grew serious. "But we don't know for sure when we'll be able to go back to Sylvarant. Once Colette is back to normal, I doubt Zelos will simply let us go."

"Yeah, I know," I murmured, shrugging. "We'll probably have to give him the slip eventually."

"Speaking of which...didn't you leave with him? Where is he?" The Professor asked, frowning.

I waved a hand vaguely. "Ah, he ran into a couple of his floozies. I didn't really want to hang out with them, so I came back here."

I could tell by the look she gave me that she didn't blame me for doing so. She shook her head.

"That man is going to be trouble, I can tell already," she said quietly.

"Eh, he's not that bad. You just can't take him too seriously."

Raine stared at me, and I shifted uncomfortably, feeling my face flush.

"What? I'm not defending him just 'cause I think he's hot, honest! Professor, don't look at me like that!"

She closed the book, crossing her arms. "Just don't let him take advantage of that attitude of yours. All right?"

My face reddened even more. "Huh? Yeah, of course. I'd never let him actually do anything. I'm not like that."

"I know. I just thought I'd warn you," she said, standing up. "I'm heading to bed now. If you see Zelos, please tell him that we plan to leave early tomorrow regardless of how tired he is."

"Can do," I said, grinning. Then I paused for a moment. "One more thing, Professor."

"What is it?" She asked, looking over her shoulder.

"Where's Colette staying?" I nodded my head in the direction of the blonde.

Raine hesitated. "She hasn't moved from that spot for most of the day. Sebastian agreed to look after her for us, as he will be awake for much of the night."

"Won't she be lonely down here, though?" I asked quietly.

The Professor stopped, giving me a very saddened look. "Brittany..."

"I know she's not really responsive," I said. "It's just...I don't know. It'd make me feel better if she was with one of us. You wouldn't mind if she roomed with me, would you, Professor?"

She stared at me for what felt like a very long time. Eventually, she just gave me a weak smile.

"No, it's fine. Goodnight, Brittany."

I smiled back. "Night, Professor."

With that, she walked up the stairs and disappeared down the hallway. I listened until I heard the sound of her door closing, and then turned to the lifeless form of Colette.

"Well, let's go," I murmured, gently taking her hand.

She let me pull her up the stairs and down the hallway without any resistance. I pushed open my own door, which was much further down the hall from Raine's room. Actually, I had chosen a room that was surrounded by unoccupied rooms; I did like my privacy, after all. When you spent every day traveling with the same group of people, privacy was a rare luxury.

Leading Colette into the room, I closed the door behind us and let her walk to a spot near the wall to my right. She resumed her staring, and I forced a smile.

"I thought you might like it better in here," I said, feeling like I was talking to a mannequin. "Even if you're just watching me sleep, it's better than staring at an empty room."

Walking up to the window, I pulled open the drapes a bit so that Colette could look out over the city if she wanted. She couldn't approach the window of her own free will, but with her angelic sight she should have been able to see well enough.

"Listen, Colette..." I rubbed the back of my neck, turning to her. "I know you're fully aware of what's going on around you. Don't bother wondering how I know; I just do. It's gotta suck being trapped inside your own body and having everyone act like you can't hear them, so...I figured I might try to make things easier to bear, at least until we get to Sybak."

I shrugged, still feeling incredibly awkward. "Just think of it as my way of apologizing."

That statement made me pause. Apologizing? Why had I said that?

Ah...I felt guilty for letting all of this happen to her when I had knowledge of the future. But still...I couldn't explain that to her. That was my own burden to bear.

"Brittany!" There was a knock on the door, accompanied by Genis' voice. "Your turn!"

"Okay!" I called back, and heard Genis moving down the hallway towards his room. Well, my turn to use the shower, finally.

"Be back in a little bit," I said to Colette, and then slipped out the door.

----

"Ahhh...." I sighed to myself, smiling as the steaming hot water hit my skin.

It felt indescribably good to finally take a shower again. It had been months, but it felt like years. I scrubbed shampoo and conditioner into my hair, rinsed it out, and then did it a second time for good measure. Who knew how much grime was stuck up there.

I noted with delight that Zelos also had a series of good smelling body washes as well, and chose one that smelled like coconut. Man, this was just awesome! I got to be clean, and smell pretty too? I didn't even want to think about how tomorrow I'd be back to bathing in streams.

I must have spent at least ten minutes just standing there, letting the water flow over me. Usually I was out of the shower within fifteen to twenty minutes, but I was pretty sure I was in there for at least a half hour this time. I had to make it last; hell, this could be the last shower I'd ever take, for all I knew.

Finally, I reluctantly stepped out of the tub and dried myself off. After pulling on some pajamas, I wiped away at the fogged up mirror and began to meticulously brush my hair with a brush that looked rather unused. That was another sensation I'd missed--the feeling of the bristles pulling through clean, shining wet hair.

Putting the brush down, I smiled and ran a hand through my hair, which was no longer messy for once. The water made my thick hair heavier, causing my curls to hang down lower. I actually looked like a pretty young woman instead of a crazed, bloodied savage!

After a few seconds of staring at my visage in the mirror, I gathered up my dirty clothes and threw them over one arm. Then I approached the door, pulling it open--at the same time someone else pushed it open from the other side.

And suddenly I was face-to-face with a certain redheaded Chosen. Oh, joy.

"Heeeey, hunny!" He said happily, with a slight slur to his voice. Tipsy, but not fully drunk. Well, that made sense, he hadn't been out long enough to get that drunk anyway.

Oh, right, focus!

"Uh...Zelos?" I blinked, and noticed he had a woman on one arm. She smiled demurely at me, and then snuggled closer to Zelos. Ugh.

"You all done in there?" He asked, grinning. "We kinda need the shower."

Dear God. I did not need these images!

"Yeah. Done." I muttered, opening the door further to let him through.

"You sure about that?" He paused, using his other arm to pull me closer to him. "After all, you're welcome to join in."

"I'll pass," I said, and felt the familiar sensation of blood rushing to my face. Must escape! Agh, think of Rodyle! No, it wasn't working!

Clearing my throat, I hurriedly pulled away from him and moved out the door.

"Aw, all right," Zelos said, the grin never leaving his face. "Maybe next time, right, hunny?"

In reply, I made a face and pulled the door shut for him. Before he could say anything else, I hurried off in the direction of my room. When I slipped back through my bedroom door, I found Colette in the same spot I left her in.

"Christ," I murmured to her, rubbing my forehead. "Zelos just--no, never mind."

Heaving a sigh, I sat down on my bed and rested my elbows on my knees. After a few seconds of sitting like that, I froze.

"Oh, crap," I said, eyes wide. "I think I left my other bra in there."

I had a feeling this was going to end badly...

----

**A/N: Hahaha, I love how OC Brit is the one being tortured this time around instead of vice versa. XD I guess the lack of Kratos has made a difference.**

**Yeah, so this chapter was pretty random and all over the place. They're heading to the Bridge of Doom next chapter, so the plot should pick up a little more. **

**Review and...I'll give you some of that coconut body wash? XD I'm running out of ideas.**

**Next time: Moar embarrassed Brit, evil bridge, and sexy college babes! Or something like that.**


	33. Stupid Bridge

**A/N: Ahh...this chapter was a bitch. Sorry guys, it's a little shorter in comparison to the past few, but I thought I'd at least update lol. I _should_ be getting my laptop back this week, finally. We'll see if that really happens.**

**I dunno if I really like this chapter, either...XD though its randomness at certain points amuses me. Yay for more Zelos?**

**Disclaimer: I don't own ToS!**

* * *

My eyes snapped open, and the dark room around me slowly came into focus. I saw Colette's blonde hair gleaming with some light from the window; a street lamp was right outside, and provided the only source of light in the room.

I groaned quietly, sitting up and rubbing my eyes. Again...? Since I had confided in Lloyd, I had felt like a weight had been taken off my chest...and yet, it seemed like Kratos' betrayal was still eating at me. I still couldn't sleep past five in the morning.

"Good morning, Colette," I murmured to the blonde, standing up. "...You've probably noticed by now, but I have some serious sleeping issues. I still can't get over not having our old backstabbing friend around."

Stretching, I let out a heavy sigh. "I wish I hadn't let myself get so attached to him. I let it happen, even though I knew he..." I caught myself, frowning. "...Agh, it doesn't matter."

Damn, I was getting too used to this already. Colette wasn't my own personal diary. I couldn't tell her everything, no matter how much I wanted to. She might listen patiently now, but later on I would pay for it.

"Anyway, I don't feel like sitting around here waiting for the others to wake up. Come on, Colette, let's go raid Zelos' fridge or something." I smiled weakly, grabbing her hand and gently pulling her out of the room with me.

We walked quietly down the hall, making sure our footfalls were quiet on the stairs. It wasn't hard to get Colette to do this--she just instinctively followed my lead. I half expected to see Sebastian doing something downstairs, but it was pretty much deserted. Well, that made sense--the staff had to sleep at some point. If I wasn't mistaken, though, Sebastian's room was somewhere on this floor. Maybe that was where he was.

I led her into the kitchen, letting her stand off to one side as I put my hands on my hips and looked around. Okay, what to do now...I did feel a tad awkward. I mean, I wasn't really the shameless sort of guest who would just make themselves totally at home. But still, I was seriously going to get bored if I had to wait in my room upstairs for the next hour or two. Maybe I could find something to snack on while we were in here, and I could have another riveting conversation with Colette. I had a feeling Zelos wouldn't mind me stealing his food either way.

I turned to smile at the blonde. "You're gonna like hanging around me, Colette. Trust me, I have some crazy adventures."

Like running around Desian ranches alone, getting abused by a certain snarky resistance leader, and having exciting encounters with an insane chef.

"I thought she couldn't hear you," a male voice suddenly said, and I jumped.

"We don't know that for sure," I said sheepishly, turning to Zelos, who was standing in the doorway. What the hell was he doing up? "You're up pretty early."

"Eh?" Zelos tilted his head, frowning. "I haven't gone to bed yet. Do you mean to say you actually woke up at this ungodly hour?"

"...Haven't gone to bed yet..." I echoed his words, facepalming. "We always leave pretty early, you know. And we travel most of the day. You're going to be so tired..."

"I'll be fine, I'll be fine," Zelos said happily, waving one hand. "I couldn't leave without saying a proper goodbye to my hunnies, after all." He then looked me in the eyes. "Are you really that worried about me, my little spitfire? I'm touched."

"Stop doing that," I groaned helplessly, hanging my head. Stop being so attractive. Argh.

"You should probably go back to bed, if you're so concerned about sleep," Zelos said, a knowing smirk on his face. He knew what I'd meant by my last statement, and I realized that I'd only encouraged him. Great.

"Can't," I said quietly, waving one hand. "My internal alarm clock hates me. I can't sleep past five in the morning, end of story."

The redhead frowned, looking bemused. "Really? Man, you must not get out much at night, then." A slow grin came on to his face. "Ohhh, so that's why you refused last night. You needed to sleep."

Once more, I was grateful for the darkness of my surroundings, because my face was red.

"Uh, actually, I'm not a huge fan of threesomes. Or sleeping with men I've just met--agh, never mind, that has nothing to do with anything!" I threw up my arms in frustration, turning my back to him. "It's way too early for this..."

"In that case, you might want to reclaim a certain item of yours before someone gets the wrong idea, hunny," Zelos sang, and I knew what was coming.

I turned around to see him holding up my bra with a devilish grin on his face. Was it possible for my face to explode from all the blood being pumped into it? Part of me had to wonder.

Ack! It was my favorite one, too; one of the only clothing articles I had left from Earth. It was easy to see why Zelos' grin was especially big, since in a place like Tethe'alla or Sylvarant, that bra could be considered risqué...even though it was pretty normal for a girl from Earth.

"...My bra, please," I finally said in a flat voice, holding one hand out.

"So, do all Sylvarant girls wear clothes this...exotic?" Zelos asked shamelessly, running a finger over one of the bra's tiger-striped straps.

"It's not exotic! It's cute!" I protested, stomping one foot lightly. "Don't look at me like that!"

"Hey, hey, I'm not implying anything," the redhead said innocently. "Really!"

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, sure. You can call a certain profession 'exotic dancing,' but it's really just a flowery name for 'stripper.'"

"Now, don't be like that," Zelos said, his eyes dancing with laughter. "Besides, stripping's a great profession. If anything, hunny, you should take it as a compliment."

I facepalmed. "...Can I have my bra back now?"

"Sure thing," he said, tossing it to me.

I caught it, and hastily shoved it into one of the pockets on my pajama pants as Zelos watched with amusement.

"Awesome," I remarked after a second. "Now that that incredibly awkward moment is over with, I think we should try not embarrassing me for the next few hours."

Okay, this was better. I was still blushing like crazy, but after a point, I had just given up and decided to act normally. It wasn't like getting all quiet and trying to hide my face was going to solve anything.

"Well, that's no fun," Zelos said with a mild pout. I ignored him, wanting very much to change the subject.

"You..." I murmured, and then put my hands on my hips. "You should go to bed, Zelly. Or the Professor will murder you when you pass out later on."

The Chosen smirked. "What sort of punishments does Professor Sage administer?"

"Nothing kinky, you'll find that out pretty soon," I said in a half-groan. Did Zelos have to make everything into a perverted joke? And why couldn't I stop being embarrassed so I could find these jokes amusing?

"Seriously, man, go to bed," I insisted. "You're used to living in luxury like this. Traveling sucks royally, especially with a bunch of people who are extremely depressed."

"All right, all right," Zelos finally relented, to my relief. "But only 'cause you're so worried about me. So, how 'bout it? Will you--"

"No," I said immediately, already anticipating that particular question, and I was certainly not willing to join him.

He paused just long enough to pout, and then shrugged. "Well, your loss. Night, hunny!"

"Uh...night," I replied, even though it was morning.

He left, and I listened until the sound of his footsteps faded upstairs before letting out a heavy sigh.

"I hate my hormones," I grumbled, taking a seat at the small kitchen table and laying my head down in my arms.

If only I could just get used to Zelos' flirting...agh, but that was easier said than done. I had never met a womanizer that was this attractive. Usually they were just creeps that I instantly ignored.

Dammit...one of these days, I'd...

...

"...Brittany?"

I rose my head a little. Who was it now?

"Wha...huh?" The room was a lot brighter than I remembered. When had it gotten light out?

"Of all the places to fall asleep..." Lloyd was regarding me with an air of tired amusement. "You are such a dork."

Whoa...I had actually fallen asleep like this. I almost scowled; if I had tried to sleep in my bed, I wouldn't have been able to. And yet, when I'm sitting at the damn table, suddenly I can? It wasn't fair!

"I didn't mean to fall asleep..." I mumbled, running a hand through my bangs. I looked at the clock, and saw that it was still only seven in the morning. Well, the others would be up soon.

"What're you doing up?" I asked, stretching. "Usually you're the last one to wake up."

He shrugged, sitting down at the table as well. "I kinda had trouble sleeping...I've been waking up at weird times all night. So I thought I'd go see if anyone else was up, and then I saw your door open and your room empty."

"You feel tired?" I asked, feeling pretty sleepy myself.

"A little," he replied, glancing up for a moment before looking back at me. I could tell he had noticed Colette. "But I'll be fine. How long do you think it'll take to get to Sybak?"

I frowned thoughtfully, mapping out Tethe'alla in my head. "Well...the Grand Tethe'alla Bridge should take a couple hours to cross, at the least. I bet we'll be traveling for two or three days."

"The bridge is that long?" Lloyd gave me a surprised look. "I thought it'd be just a normal bridge..."

Oh--crud! I wasn't supposed to know how huge the bridge was. Something told me Lloyd had picked up on this, too. I faked a smile, shrugging.

"Well, Zelos said it connects two continents, right? It's gotta be pretty big. It's even got a big sounding name."

"Yeah, I guess you have a point," he said, giving me a mildly troubled look.

"Anyway," I changed the subject, standing up. "I feel like raiding Zelos' fridge. You want anything?"

Lloyd blinked. "...What's a fridge?"

"You poor thing..." I rubbed my forehead, sighing.

I spent the next ten minutes explaining different kitchen appliances to him, and I was pleased to see that Zelos had a fully equipped kitchen. I felt almost like I was back on Earth, only a few decades in the past.

"What's that one?" Lloyd asked, pointing to a small black machine sitting on the counter.

I tilted my head, leaning over a bit to examine it. "I don't...hmm." I looked over, seeing the coffee maker sitting right next to it, and grinned. "It's an espresso machine! Looks a lot like the one I have on my kitchen counter at home, now that I think about it."

"I hate coffee," Lloyd grumbled. "And I don't get it. Does it use mana to make the espresso or something?"

"Watch and learn, Lloydie," I said, smiling giddily and shuffling through Zelos' cabinets for the necessary items.

After pouring espresso grounds into the filter basket and tamping them down, I put it into the filter holder and inserted that on to the machine. And then...I let the magic begin.

Man, I really needed to get over my obsession with coffee.

"Want a sip?" I asked, grinning, when the cup was full. "Espresso is better than regular coffee, trust me."

Lloyd relented, took a small sip, and then recoiled like he'd been hit with an electric shock.

"Better than regular coffee?!" He made a face as I burst out laughing, almost spilling the rest of what was in the cup. "How can you drink that stuff?!"

My shameless grin didn't fade. "I don't. Even I can't drink undiluted espresso. I just wanted to see the look on your face, that's all."

He let out a groan, slumping back down at the table, and I considered my mission accomplished. Well, it looked like he had totally forgotten about my mysterious knowlege of the Grand Tethe'alla Bridge. But still, I couldn't shake the feeling that he had set me up for that somehow...agh, I was just being paranoid. Stupid Lloyd and his stupid perceptiveness.

As Lloyd mumbled pathetically to himself about how his taste buds had just been killed, I went about the process of making myself an iced latte with barely contained glee. I even found some caramel syrup in one of Zelos' cabinets. He had everything!

While I was busy stirring my little creation, Lloyd looked up at me.

"Any idea when the others will be up?" He asked.

"I don't know," I replied. "I think they should be waking up soon--ahhhh."

"What? What is it?" He looked disturbed at the sudden moan I had let out.

"So good..." I murmured to myself. It had been so long since I'd had a latte...I was in heaven right now. "It's perfect! I can't believe I got the ratio of espresso to milk correct, even after all this time...the grounds were even of the right consistency! The strength is perfect! I have to ask Zelos where he got this stuff!"

"...Is Brittany okay?" Genis had appeared in the doorway to the kitchen, and was giving me a rather frightened look. "She's starting to remind me of Raine when she's in Ruin Mode..."

"I think this is what we would call Coffee Mode," Lloyd mumbled to Genis, as the two of them looked at me like I was crazy.

Hey! When they had spent several months away from their world and everything familiar to them, maybe then they could judge me.

"I like coffee," I said, pouting.

Even the coffee grinds I'd taken from the Asgard ranch had been lost a long time ago; I'd never gotten the chance to use them. So really, this was one of the first caffeinated drinks I'd had in a long while.

"Coffee Mode," Genis agreed, and I huffed. Fine, be that way. Maybe I'd team up with Raine and scare the world into submission.

The sound of approaching footsteps caused us all to turn, and in the doorway stood the Professor and Presea. Genis instantly blushed like a lovesick schoolgirl.

"Is everyone awake?" Raine asked, looking around at the lot of us. "If so, Sebastian has offered to start breakfast."

"Uh, I think we're still missing Zelos," Lloyd said with a frown. "Anyone know where he is?"

"Sleeping," I replied. "He just went to bed around two hours ago."

"What?! That idiot!" Genis growled. "He'd better not slow us down!"

"Too bad we don't have Noishe," I sighed. "We could've just had him carry Zelos or something."

Raine had a very exasperated look on her face. "I'll go wake him up, then..." She muttered reluctantly, and left the room.

We were quiet for a few moments, but then Lloyd spoke up, sounding bothered.

"Now that you mention it, I hope Noishe is all right...we had to leave him back in Hima."

"He's a smart Pro--um, dog," I said awkwardly. "I'm sure he'll be fine."

"...Yeah," Lloyd said, nodding to himself and looking a little homesick.

A loud bang and a yell came from upstairs, and I had a feeling that Zelos might be awake now.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, a certain redheaded Chosen was sulking around with a pout on his face while Sebastian made breakfast. Raine hadn't hit him, but she had made a noise loud enough to wake up the dead. Now, as Zelos complained of a pounding headache, everyone ignored him for the most part.

I felt kind of bad, but I was pretty sure it was only because Zelos was very good at looking pathetic. Letting out a sigh, I walked up to him and held out a small cup filled with espresso.

"Maybe this'll help," I said with a shrug.

"Oh, hunny!" Zelos gave me a touched look, placing the cup on the table before snatching both of my hands in his. "No matter what, I always knew I could count on my little spitfire to be there for me!"

"Uh...yeah..." I said awkwardly, lost in the brilliant grin he was giving me. Then I could feel Raine glaring at me, so I quickly pulled my hands away.

"Just, uh...get more sleep next time," I tried, clearing my throat and resisting my hormones.

When I felt my face heating up, I turned around and pretended to be busy with something. Zelos seemed to sit back, pleased that he would have at least one person to flirt with during the journey. Ugh.

Meanwhile, Genis grumbled to himself, but made sure to mutter just loud enough for Zelos to hear. The Chosen just ignored him, which only seemed to aggravate the half elf more.

Raine had given up glaring at me, and was now trying to help Sebastian with breakfast as Lloyd watched with growing concern. The butler had settled with giving her extremely menial tasks, but had to repeatedly stop her from adding her own twist to the meal.

Colette was still in the place I left her in. Presea sat at the table across from Zelos, and stared at a spot somewhere above my head. Just as I began to wonder if there was a giant spider or something lowering itself into my hair, Zelos started to say something. His voice was back to being jovial, as if his mood from earlier had never existed in the first place.

"Weeell! What's this I'm seeing?" He sounded highly amused, and I wondered what it could possibly be now.

"Huh? What is it?" Lloyd looked over, confused, as I heard the sound of Zelos getting up.

With growing discomfort, I noticed his shadow fall over mine. Oh dear God, when would he stop picking on me? Agh, it just wasn't fair! Hit on Raine, dammit! Where was Sheena when you needed her?

Suddenly I felt him grip the hem of my pajama shirt, pulling the back of it up slightly. I froze, my eyebrows flying up in shock.

"Uh, Zelos...do you mind?" I asked, attempting to tug away. What the hell was he doing?!

"Ahhh, it is! My darling spitfire has a tattoo!" He smiled happily as I swung around to face him, embarrassed. "I'm liking you more and more every minute!"

"Eh? A tattoo?" Lloyd frowned.

"Oh Christ..." I muttered.

It was a firebird on my lower back, the same bird often painted on the hood of the Pontiac Trans Am. I was a fan of the car, and...yeah. I had forgotten all about it, since I had gotten it no more than a month before this whole adventure began. Ugh, hopefully they didn't call tattoos on your lower back 'tramp stamps' here, too...I had found it amusing back on Earth, but I really didn't want to give Zelos any more opportunities to embarrass me. Okay, I was definitely not letting him see my navel piercing.

"Why'd you get that?" Genis asked, his brow furrowed. It was probably more unusual in Sylvarant for a girl to get a tattoo, since things were more traditional over there.

After a second's hesiation, I shrugged. "How should I know? I don't remember," I replied.

"Oh, right..." Genis frowned, understanding.

Zelos, meanwhile, only smirked. "Don't remember? How drunk were you?"

"Agh!" I threw my hands up. "I'm not like that! Really!"

Raine waved one hand, sighing. "We haven't explained your circumstances to him yet. Regardless, Brittany, your behavior isn't exactly helping your credibility."

"But Professor!" I whined. "He makes me look like some sort of party girl who gets into bar fights, gambles all her money away and then passes out the next morning in some random guy's bed after giving him--"

"That's quite enough," Raine interrupted, rubbing her temples, while Zelos continued to grin shamelessly.

"...After giving him what?" Lloyd asked, sounding disturbed.

"I'll tell you when you hit puberty, Lloyd," I huffed, crossing my arms.

"Wh-What? ...Hey!"

Ignoring Lloyd's protest, I quickly headed for the door while stubbornly tugging my shirt down.

"I'm getting dressed," I declared loudly. "See you guys in a bit."

The Professor sighed. "We'll let you know when breakfast is ready."

I nodded, trying not to look at the highly amused look on Zelos' face. Man, I really needed to get my hormones under control! I hadn't even known the guy for two days yet, and I had already been embarrassed more times than I could count!

Scowling slightly, I turned on my heel and strode off in the direction of the stairs.

* * *

"Hey, is that it?" Genis' voice broke through the silence, and I saw him pointing to something off in the distance.

Shielding my eyes from the bright sunlight, I squinted to get a better view. Sure enough, the outline of the bridge's entrance was finally visible. We'd be standing right in front of it in another ten or twenty minutes.

Just as I'd predicted, it had taken us around a day to reach the bridge. We had camped out not too far from here, and we had just packed up and started moving again around an hour ago. I was glad we'd get the bridge over with early in the day; I wasn't really in the mood to camp out on the damn thing. Who knew if that was even safe.

I wasn't really looking forward to crossing the bridge...I was sure the whole traveling over the ocean thing would get old pretty fast. The bridge had been huge, even in the game. Maybe it would be good if I started thinking up conversation topics now, since things were about to get pretty monotonous. And I didn't really want to get stuck talking to Zelos, unless he was suddenly willing to have a serious conversation with me instead of teasing me.

...Yeah, that didn't sound likely. Okay, then Lloyd was probably my next best bet...agh, but I couldn't help but feel like something was fishy between us, even after all that had happened. Freaking paranoia...

Presea? No. She was creepy, cruel as it sounded...and I would rather talk to her after she was herself again. At least I knew Colette, so the lack of a response wouldn't bother me with her. But I couldn't talk to her here, either...the others gave me the weirdest looks when I did that, and Lloyd got all frustrated and emo.

Genis and I could only ever manage awkward conversations for some reason...Raine, then? Maybe Raine.

Man...I missed Sheena. I hoped it wouldn't be too long before we had her back...at least I'd have someone to protect me from Zelos.

"Brit? You're being pretty quiet," Lloyd remarked, looking over at me. "What do you think?"

"Huh?" I blinked. "Sorry, I spaced out..."

He rolled his eyes. "We were just talking about the bridge. How long do you think it is?"

"Beats me," I shrugged.

"The Grand Tethe'alla Bridge is approximately 15.75 miles in length," Presea said in her usual monotone, and my mouth fell open in shock.

"Fifteen and three-quarter...?!" I shook my head in disbelief. "That's...really freaking long..."

Longer than any bridge on Earth, as far as I knew. That was insane! The longest bridge I'd ever seen was...was...ugh, I couldn't even compare.

"Listen and be amazed, bumpkins," Zelos took the lead, smirking back at us as he gestured to the bridge. "This is the largest drawbridge in the world. It connects the continents of Altamira and Fooji."

"A drawbridge..." The Professor murmured, intrigued. "Amazing. What could such an enormous structure possibly use for energy?"

Oh, crud. I had forgotten about this part...well, there went my conversation topics. Everyone was going to go Doom N' Gloom on me again.

Zelos' eyes lit up, happy that he'd caught her interest. "Well, it needs a hell of a lot, of course. Its control system incorporates over three thousand Exspheres."

An immediate silence fell over the group, as everyone suddenly looked at the enormous bridge in a new light. We were now close enough to see the side of the bridge, the crystalline glimmer of the Exspheres embedded in the structure.

"...Hm?" The Chosen frowned back at us. "What's with the long faces?"

"Three thousand..." Genis whispered, and then held his hand up to stare at the Exsphere on it.

"Three thousand human lives," Lloyd said quietly, staring at the bridge with revulsion. Raine lowered her eyes, bringing a hand up to her mouth.

"What was that?" Zelos' brow furrowed. "Human lives? What are you guys going on about back there?"

"I suppose we'd better tell him the truth," Raine spoke up, exchanging glances with the rest of us.

We had finally reached the entrance to the bridge, and we stopped right at the gate. Zelos turned around to face us, crossing his arms and raising his eyebrows. He was probably wondering why we looked so disgusted with an inanimate object. Yeah, about that...

No one was speaking. Oh, for God's sake...fine, things were going to get awkward if someone didn't explain it. I already knew how Zelos would react, so I wasn't too worried about him bursting out into shocked tears or anything. Besides, I needed to show that I at least knew what was going on, that I wasn't just some ditzy teenage girl for him to flirt with. Even though I kind of was.

"Exspheres gain their power by feeding off of humans," I explained solemnly. "That's what human ranches are for--they're Exsphere manufacturing plants. This bridge is operating at the cost of three thousand human lives."

The others didn't say a word, but at the same time I could almost feel their silent agreement.

Zelos' eyes widened in surprise. "Whoa...that's a pretty sobering story. Is it really true?"

"Do you think we'd joke about something like this?" Lloyd snapped, a disapproving look on his face.

"You don't want to believe it, I'm the proof," I said, pointing to my own Exsphere. "This thing was placed on me at a Desian ranch. Hell, I could be powering that bridge right now, if Lloyd hadn't made me a Key Crest."

"Huh..." Zelos frowned, staring at me for a moment before glancing over his shoulder at the bridge. "So Exspheres are made from human lives..."

Then he shrugged, smiling and looking at me. "Well, you're still alive, and that's what matters, right? As for the others...well, it's not like the dead are gonna come back to life at this point. It's always best to look on the bright side of things!"

"Did you even listen to anything we just said?!" Genis growled, clenching his fists. Raine put a hand on his shoulder, trying to calm him down.

The Professor sighed. "Regardless...we've wasted enough time standing here. Why don't we get going?"

"But Raine..." Genis protested quietly to her, but was silenced by one of her looks.

Zelos took the lead, and we all allowed him to stay at least twenty feet ahead of us. It seemed like he was receiving a collective group glare, but Zelos was either totally oblivious or ignoring it. Genis kept exchanging glances with Raine, while Colette and Presea tagged shortly behind them. I fell in step with Lloyd, because he looked very much like he wanted to punch something. I was surprised Lloyd hadn't told Zelos off; maybe he'd seen the futility of it.

"What's up with that guy?!" Lloyd hissed to me, seeming grateful to have someone to vent to. "How can he just shrug everything off like that?!"

"Lloyd, calm down," I said quietly to him, putting a hand on his shoulder.

I felt kind of like a hypocrite, because I remembered being pretty pissed off at Zelos at this point in the game, too. The only difference was that now I knew how Zelos really was, and that he cared far more than he let on.

"Doesn't it make you mad?" Lloyd asked me, managing to lower the volume of his voice.

"Look, what did you expect?" I asked, shaking my head. "We can't be mad at him just because he didn't react the way we wanted him to. He didn't do anything wrong, and in a way, he's right."

"What are you talking about?" The brunette growled to me. "You know just as well as any of us how terrible Exspheres are!"

"Still, just because he isn't sulking like us doesn't mean he doesn't care at all," I insisted. "You can't tell someone how to react to something, how to feel about something."

I sighed. "Look at it this way. If someone close to you dies, and you don't cry at the funeral, does that make you a bad person? No. There's dozens of reasons why you wouldn't cry, shock being one of them. For all we know, the stuff we just told Zelos hasn't really hit him yet. Maybe he doesn't want to accept it, and if that's the case, I don't blame him. Just don't jump to the conclusion that he's a jerk, because we've only known the guy for two days. We don't have any right to presume to know him at this point."

Lloyd stared at me for what felt like a long time; it weirded me out a bit, but at least he looked like he had calmed down. Had I gone too far? Maybe I was defending Zelos a little too adamantly. I just...I really didn't want everyone to treat him like crap, and then have to watch him die in the end. If there was one thing I'd really regret, it would be my failure at preventing Zelos' death.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Lloyd murmured after a few more seconds. "...You know, you have some weirdly insightful moments."

"Do I?" I asked, feeling uneasy at that remark. I decided to change the subject. "You just used the word 'insightful' correctly in a sentence. I'm proud of you, Lloyd."

"Oh, come on," Lloyd shoved me, rolling his eyes. I could tell he wasn't in the mood to joke, but to his credit, he did manage to crack a weak smile.

I wanted to cheer him up, I really did. Unhappy Lloyd equals brooding Brittany. But seriously, I didn't know what else to tell him. We were going to save Colette, yeah, but that didn't change anything about the whole Exsphere situation. Three thousand people...and that was just for this one bridge. Hell, Exspheres were probably used for a lot more stuff in this world, too. There were probably very few who knew the Exspheres' true nature...but still, what a nasty abuse of human life.

At that thought, I absently reached up to touch my Exsphere. Even at this moment, people continued to die...and what about Elena? What had become of her? I couldn't forget...the impact of each individual death created a ripple of pain and sorrow that passed into countless friends and family members. Three thousand people. What was the real number of people affected by this? It had to be astronomical. Everyone was connected, in one way or another.

"...I still can't believe it," Lloyd said when he saw that I had grown serious once more. "Three thousand Exspheres...that's the prisoners of Asgard and Palmacosta combined, and then some."

"So, what do you think?" I asked quietly. "Even after Colette's better, we can't just leave things the way they are."

"I know. I told you," he said, "I'm going to find a way to stop Cruxis."

"That won't be such an easy feat, Lloyd," Raine said, having heard our conversation. "You must consider the strength of that man, Yggdrasill. Not to mention, they have innumerable resources, while we are virtually stranded and under surveillance."

"Things have really gone downhill, haven't they?" Genis sighed. "I wish Sheena was here."

"We can't give up before we even try," Lloyd said. "There's a way, there has to be. Otherwise, we're saving Colette for nothing."

"I agree with Lloyd," I remarked. "'Sides, it's basically us against everyone, anyway. We'd might as well wing it!"

The Professor placed a palm to her forehead. "I'm not sure 'winging it' would be the best choice..."

"Man, you guys talk as if the Papal Knights are gonna attack at any minute. We made a deal, didn't we? Chill." Zelos was staring at us over one shoulder, eyebrows raised.

I frowned slightly at the irony of his remark. We were being spied on by the Papal Knights, after all...aw, shit, that reminded me. There had to be something I could do about the whole ordeal that was supposed to occur in Sybak...

"Easy for you to say," Genis huffed. "You don't take anything seriously."

"Did I ask for your input, brat?" Zelos scowled.

"Hey, here's an idea. How about we stop arguing like children?" I interjected, earning looks from the both of them.

"Fine, okay...how about I tell a story?" I suggested after a second, clapping my hands together. "That should kill some time."

"A story?" Genis asked skeptically.

I nodded. "Yeah. Besides, what else do we have to do?"

Lloyd was giving me a curious look. "Okay, you're right. What kind of story is it?"

"Oh, you know..." I waved one hand vaguely. "The good kind."

Raine was already looking like she was getting a headache, but she didn't raise any protest. I could tell she was expecting me to pull out one of my dirty books and start reading from it, though. Even though she didn't know I still had one or two of those things left. Heh heh.

"Anyway! Lemme start." I said loudly, grinning at the story I had in mind. I'd have to modify a few names and places to save myself the explanation, but maybe this would be fun.

"The story is called 'The Legend of Zelos,'" I continued, holding back my own laughter.

"Hey, I like this story already!" Zelos interrupted happily as Genis almost groaned.

"This isn't going to be...inappropriate, is it?" The Professor murmured wearily.

"Once upon a time, long ago, in the land of Tethe'alla...there was a young prince named Zelos." I ignored Raine, falling easily into the tale. "All was peaceful for many years...but as always, peaceful times come to an end."

Shoving my hands in my pockets, I frowned gravely. "One day, the King's throne was usurped by a man who had pretended to be the King's friend! The man was a fiend who called himself...uh...he called himself Yuan." I nodded to myself, amused.

"Oh, brother..." Genis muttered, but seemed to be wondering where this was going. Lloyd, hilariously enough, seemed interested.

"Hey, hey! The Great Zelos drove the guy off, right?" Zelos interrupted again, but I shook my head sadly.

"Zelos was powerless against Yuan's might, and he was only a child at the time. His caretaker, Sheena, rushed him from the castle just in time and hid him away."

"But I'm getting ahead of myself," I said quickly, hiding a grin. "Let's go back in time a bit. Let's learn about the hero of our story. Now, then...far from the castle, in...hey, what's the name of some woods around here?"

"Huh? Um...Gaoracchia Forest," Zelos replied with a frown.

"Right, right. Anyway, in Gaoracchia Forest, there lived a tribe of children called the Kokiri...and the bravest of them all was a girl named Colette Brunel. One day, their leader, the Great Deku Tree, summoned her..."

* * *

"...And when Colette explored the world as an adult wielding the Master Sword, she saw all of the terrible things Yuan had done. Prince Zelos had been forced to live in hiding for years and years, disguised as a Mizuho woman--"

"Hey, hey, what?!"

"I believe it," Genis volunteered, snickering.

"I'm just telling the story, Zelly," I said, grinning.

"We have arrived," Presea interrupted in her monotone, immediately getting our attention since she hadn't spoken in hours.

When we looked up, it was easy to see Sybak in the distance. We were at the end of the bridge...finally. Man, that had taken forever. Night was already falling. Ah, well...I had the whole other half of the game to tell them about another time. Heh...

"Well, I guess we'll just pick this up another day," I remarked.

"It was just getting good, too," Lloyd protested with a laugh. "We're getting Colette back tomorrow, right? You've gotta tell her about how she saved Genis from the whale's belly."

I snorted, glancing over at the emotionless Colette. Lloyd must've been in good spirits if he could say her name without going emo; that was a pretty good sign.

"We'll have to get a room quickly," Raine said, sounding tired after listening to my epic tale. "It's getting dark."

"...Raine, do we have any money left?" Genis asked, troubled. "We used most of it on our rooms in Meltokio..."

"Good thing I'm around, then," Zelos said, grinning. "No worries, my lovely hunnies. The Great Zelos will take care of everything."

"Yay for mooching off Zelos!" I cheered, and received a smack from Raine.

"...We're very grateful," she said grudgingly, knowing it would only inflate his ego.

"It's no trouble at all, my beautiful Professor~!" Zelos sang. "After all, you can always thank me later on tonight."

Raine didn't comment on that, but Genis looked about ready to kill him. I just let out a sigh; so far, Zelos wasn't earning very many brownie points with the group. Then again, it wouldn't be like him to walk on eggshells around us anyway.

Personally, I liked Zelos, but I wasn't sure if that was the hormones and prior knowledge talking. Ah, well.

After a few more minutes of walking, we finally reached the entrance to the town. Just as we were about to enter, Presea stopped walking.

"Guys, wait!" Genis called, and we all took notice. He turned to her. "Wh-What is it, Presea?"

I still couldn't see any trace of emotion on her pale face. She stood stock still, staring straight ahead at the buildings before us.

"I hate this place..." She said quietly. "I want to go home."

"Just wait a little bit longer, little one," Zelos said, bending over to see her eye-to-eye. "We'll be out of here in a jiffy, and then it's off to Ozette. Right, Lloyd?"

"Uh...yeah," Lloyd replied, and then hung his head, guilty. "Sorry about this..."

We headed deeper into the city, most of us now caught up in a thoughtful silence. Presea's little remark had sort of an ominous quality to it, so I guess the others were a little bothered by it. I was quiet too, but only because I always have a lot of things on my mind.

Zelos wasn't too good at being quiet, so he was busy pointing out all of the different buildings to us. I pushed away some of my more troubling thoughts, attempting to listen to him. We'd be coming back here later, so the knowledge would probably be useful.

Sybak was about the same as I remembered; as always, though, it was a lot bigger. Despite this, it felt about as cramped to me as it had felt in the game. It was a college campus, but wasn't nearly as wide open and pretty as the ones I'd toured on Earth. There were a lot of tired looking students running around, most of them leaving the town's largest building. I had a feeling that was the Academy itself.

All in all, the town wasn't too bad. There wasn't a lot of green, but there was a nice amount of shops and cafes scattered around, as well as an inn. I could see a cluster of buildings down the street a ways, which probably contained dorm rooms. The library was a pretty impressive building too, but we didn't have to head there just yet.

I wouldn't have minded this so much if I hadn't been able to hear the town's annoying theme music playing over and over in my head. Damn it all, why did I have to remember the only song that grated on my nerves?

"...And that, my hunnies, is where we're going to sleep tonight." Zelos finished his speech with a sweeping gesture to the inn I had spotted.

"Great, I'm beat," Lloyd remarked, rubbing the back of his neck.

Upon heading inside, we discovered that there were only three available rooms left. Well, looked like we were back to sharing rooms...

"I-I'm sorry, Chosen One," the girl at the front desk said, hanging her head. "Since this is the only inn in town, we..."

"It's fine, beautiful," Zelos said with his best smile. Even though it wasn't directed at me, I felt myself melt. "We'll take the rooms."

He held out some coins to her, but she hurriedly shook her head. "Oh, no, Chosen! I can't take money from you!"

"Just think of it as a little tip, then," he said with a wink. She blushed, before rushing to get the keys to our rooms.

"...Can you believe this guy?" Genis muttered.

"Mm..." I said in reply, because I couldn't trust myself to form a coherent statement right now. Genis saw the faraway look in my eyes, and looked disgusted. Don't say anything, Genis, you little bastard.

The girl returned after a few seconds, and Zelos took the keys from her outstretched hand. He turned to us, grinning.

"All right! So, the rooming arrangements. I'll be sharing with--"

Raine snatched two keys from his hand. "With Lloyd and Genis," she finished for him, and his face fell.

She turned to me, handing me a key. "I'll be staying with Colette. You can room with Presea. Is that all right?"

Presea? Dammit! I wanted Colette!

"Sure, Professor," I said, forcing a smile. I couldn't exactly refuse without sounding weird. Plus, Genis would murder me if I said anything negative about his precious little Presea.

Agh, it wasn't that I didn't like her! I just didn't like the condition she was in now.

"All right, then," Raine nodded to each of us. "Let's get to bed. We'll meet out here in the morning."

"Okay, Professor," Lloyd replied. He, Genis and a reluctant Zelos headed off to where their room was.

Poor Zelos. Not only was he not allowed to room with a girl, but now he couldn't invite any girls to his room either. He looked like a kicked puppy right now. Poor guy needed to go to sex rehab, or something.

Raine led Colette off to their room, so I let out a sigh and turned to Presea. She didn't move or acknowledge my presence; awesome. Shrugging, I forced another smile and gestured for her to follow me. And so, we headed to our room as well.

The room seemed pretty cozy; it wasn't as lavish as Zelos' rooms in Meltokio, but at least it possessed some of the same technology. Once again, I was free to use an actual bathroom instead of running outside to some disgusting outhouse. Oh man, Zelos was going to flip out when we went to Sylvarant for the first time...

"Not bad, is it, Presea?" I asked the question I would've said to Colette, hoping it would gain some sort of response from Presea.

"I want to go home..."

...Oh, right. She hated this place. Christ...what the hell was I supposed to say?

"Tomorrow, Presea," I said with a sigh. "We'll be out of here by tomorrow, I promise. Let's just get some sleep, okay?"

"..." She didn't reply, but instead started putting her things down in preparation for bed.

I didn't have anything against her. It was just really hard trying to socialize with someone who acted like that. And Presea...scared the crap out of me sometimes, frankly. I couldn't stop thinking about how that could've been me. How that could be who I would become, if I wasn't careful. She was a reminder of the situation I was in, and I really hated it.

I heaved another sigh, kicking off my boots and pulling my pajamas out of my bag. I'd just have to save all the Brittany and Presea bonding time for when she got her Key Crest. Till then, my attempts at conversation would probably about as awkward as Genis'.

After changing, I slipped into my bed and turned off the lamp.

"...Good night, Presea," I murmured as an afterthought, and received no reply.

With that, I sank into my own thoughts, staring at the ceiling. Presea was quiet enough that I practically forgot she was there within a matter of minutes.

So, we were finally in Sybak. Tomorrow, we would become fugitives...

Wasn't there something I could do? This whole thing just left a bad taste in my mouth. I couldn't just let Raine and Genis get dragged off like that...it was too risky. What if we didn't catch up to them in time? They'd be executed, and it would be my fault for letting it happen. I couldn't just leave their lives to chance, even if things had worked out in the game.

Not only that...it just didn't make sense. It had taken us hours to cross the Tethe'alla Bridge, whereas in the game it only took a minute or two. If the Papal Knights were already on the other end of the bridge by the time we escaped, we were screwed. And I didn't really want to take a leap of faith across the drawbridge, either.

What were my options, then? Maybe I could do something to put off the topic of heading to Sylvarant till we were safely out of the town...

But then, if Raine and Genis weren't captured, would they ever reveal their real race to the group?

Agh, that didn't matter! They couldn't say anything to anyone if they were dead. Maybe I could do something to distract the Papal Knights while they escaped...but that probably wouldn't work.

I rolled over on to my side, frowning deeply. The clock was ticking...I had to figure this out. I had to.

Ten more minutes of brainstorming ideas got me nowhere, and I would've let out a groan if I hadn't remembered Presea was sleeping in the other bed. I gathered fistfuls of the blanket covering me, gritting my teeth with frustration and worry.

Raine...Genis...

For the millionth time since I joined the group, I felt utterly helpless.

* * *

**A/N: I thought this would be a good cutoff point, instead of cutting off the chapter in the middle of the Papal Knight incident, lol.**

**Also, writing The Legend of Zelos made me grin like an idiot. Poor Zelos, getting picked on just because he wears pink and his name begins with the letter Z. XD Yeah, expect more story-time from Brit later on. I've already got a movie in mind that she can completely screw up...**

**Okay! So it's 3 am over here, and I'm thinking now would be a good time to go pass out somewhere. :D**

**Reviewers will get an exclusive edition of The Legend of Zelos: Linkite Flute of Time sent to them! XD Fight Yuan-dorf with your trusty Master Sword!**

**Next time: SHEENA'S BACK OHMYGAWD--oh yeah, gotta save Genis and Raine.**


	34. Discrimination

**A/N: Whew! There we go. It seems like every single time I finish a chapter, document manager decides to stop working. D: so I had to wait a while before posting this.**

**Shorter chapter...and it didn't go as far as I'd originally intended, but I found a good ending spot and took it. Besides, I was taking forever to update anyway. Ugh. In other news, I may get my laptop back this week. I keep thinking I'm gonna get it back and don't, so we'll see. It had a virus so the whole friggin' thing had to be wiped clean, and now I have to reinstall all sorts of shit. Yay.**

**So! Sybak time!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own ToS or any of its characters.**

* * *

"All right! Everyone ready?" Zelos' voice cut through my muddled thoughts.

His voice was carefree and cheery as ever, despite it being early morning. I swear, nothing could bring that guy down. Even yesterday when he'd been running on hardly any sleep, he'd kept up his jovial demeanor for almost the entire day.

"Yeah!" Lloyd replied, grinning. Those two were pretty much BFFs today; it looked like Lloyd had forgotten all about the bridge incident already. All that mattered now was getting Colette back to normal, and Zelos was helping us, therefore Zelos was awesome. At least, that's what I thought Lloyd's thoughts were.

Anyway, it was kinda weird seeing those two all buddy-buddy all of a sudden, but I wasn't complaining. I liked seeing Lloyd happy like this, because when he was sad, so was everyone else.

"Today's the day," I said, wishing I felt as optimistic as I sounded. Those two didn't realize the real meaning behind those words. A totally different event was going to occur today.

Genis had a happy smile on his face as well, but I could tell that his sister felt uneasy. Raine wasn't getting her hopes up, and she didn't want to shoot us down. She was right to feel that way, though...the only reason I was playing along with their little celebration was because I knew for sure that Colette would get better eventually. This was just the first step we had to take.

"This way, this way," Zelos said, leading us in the direction of the Research Academy.

I stared at the large building as we approached it, frowning slightly. That place was a prison for half-elves. I couldn't help but feel some revulsion stewing in the pit of my stomach as we approached. Everything looked nice and pretty, sure...but underneath all of this was discrimination and prejudice. The people who allowed it to go on were no better than Desians.

Raine and Genis were looking around with fascination; now that it was daytime, all of the buildings of the campus were more visible. Students bustled past us, some socializing happily while others seemed caught up in their own world. Zelos hit on a couple nerdy girls as they passed by, and they just about had an emotional breakdown.

Well! At least I wasn't that pathetic. Moving on...

After a minute or two of walking, we stood at the front doors to the large school. Plenty of students passed by us, heading through the doors, but we were stopped by a guard since none of us were wearing a school uniform.

"Yo!" Zelos said, laid back as always. "There should be word from Meltokio."

The guard took notice of Zelos instantly, and nodded. "Oh, yes, Chosen One. Just a moment, please."

We watched him disappear inside the school. I frowned thoughtfully; were there guards like that posted throughout the building? I didn't remember that...then again, this was a pretty important place. People couldn't be allowed to just waltz in and out; some might try to steal valuable research. Maybe students around here had to carry identification, too...that's what we had to do when I was in high school. Ack, bad memories...

"There's a certain researcher dude that we're supposed to talk to. The guard's probably just fetching him for us," Zelos explained, turning to us.

"Researcher dude...?" Genis gave Zelos a deadpan stare. Yes, Genis, Zelly is very eloquent.

"So you went to school here?" I asked, wanting to interrupt before they started bickering.

Zelos' face lit up. "Sure did, hunny. So, what do you think? Pretty great place, huh?"

"I dunno, seems kinda stuffy," I said, looking around. Whoa, was I having a normal conversation? "Then again, I never cared much for school..."

"Stuffy?!" Raine's head snapped in my direction. "Nonsense! Such an ideal learning environment...it's marvelous!"

"Heh," Genis snickered. "The only thing Brit's good at is math. She's about as useful as you, Zelos."

"Impudent little brat," Zelos said, immediately slinging an arm around my shoulders. "You shouldn't talk about pretty girls like that."

Nnnghh. "Uh, Zelos...it's cool, we always rip on each other--"

"My little spitfire here is far smarter than she lets on!" The redhead said with a grin, ignoring me. "While the rest of you bumpkins were wandering around cluelessly, she figured out to use almost everything in my house without any help!"

Genis actually looked impressed. "You did? Really?"

Not only was my face red once again, I suddenly felt extremely uncomfortable at Zelos' revelation. Genis seemed to have a perfectly innocent interest, and Lloyd already knew all about it, but Raine...she was giving me a scrutinizing look. She was starting to catch on, I knew she was. That was the sort of look Kratos had given me all the time, and he had figured most of it out in the end without me even telling him anything.

"...It wasn't that big of a deal," I finally said with a sigh. "All it took was a little tinkering."

"Now, now, don't be modest," Zelos said happily, and I wanted to punch him. "Are you guys sure she's not from Tethe'alla?"

Raine put a finger to her lip, seeming deep in thought. "Honestly, there's no way we can be sure."

That got his attention. His eyebrows flew up. "Eh? What's that supposed to mean?"

"Brittany doesn't remember anything from before we met her," Genis volunteered. "We found her unconscious in the middle of the woods."

"Man, that sucks," Zelos remarked, glancing at me.

I snorted. "I'm used to it."

"Still, it's very strange that you still haven't recovered your memory by now," Raine mused. "Perhaps there is something suppressing it..."

Lloyd was staring intently at me. I glared at him, trying to send the message that now definitely wasn't the time. After a second or two, I shrugged for the others' benefit.

"Who knows. Maybe something bad happened, and I don't want to remember it," I suggested. Hey, it was a good explanation! I had seen that happen in an anime once, and animes always made perfect sense...okay, not really.

"Hmm...I suppose it's possible..." The Professor murmured to herself. She seemed like she was about to say something else, but I heard footsteps approaching from behind me.

Zelos dropped his arm, to my relief, and turned around to face whoever was coming. It turned out to be the researcher Zelos had been talking about a few minutes ago.

"Chosen One!" The man said with a smile. "We've been waiting for you. Please, come this way."

Whew, talk about a good time to interrupt. I really didn't like where that conversation had been going.

We followed the researcher into the building, and I instantly looked up, amazed by the dragon skeleton that was on display in the entrance area. I had seen dragons before, but it was still strange seeing solid proof that mythical creatures really existed. If only I had my camera...

The researcher led us through a bunch of confusing hallways, and I quickly lost my sense of direction. Inside the building, though, everything was very clean and pretty. If I hadn't known the truth, I'd think this place had a nice, comfortable atmosphere. A lot of the students looked pretty hassled and sleep-deprived, though.

After a few minutes of walking, the man ushered us into a moderately sized office. An insane amount of books were piled along the walls, and there was a large desk in the center of the room. The researcher stood in front of this desk as he explained the situation to us.

"So, what's the deal?" Zelos asked, leaning against a part of the wall that wasn't blocked off by books.

"When we received the report of Colette's symptoms, we turned most of our attention towards research data regarding the Chosen's Cruxis Crystal," the man explained.

"Well, now! So my crystal was useful. When Colette returns to normal, I'll have to make sure she thanks me generously." Zelos grinned, looking over his shoulder at the lifeless form of Colette. Everyone took this moment to send him a death glare, while I just heaved a sigh.

"What sort of information did you find? Is this condition of hers something we can cure?" Raine spoke up, clearly wanting to forget Zelos' perversion for the time being.

The researcher looked at her. "In order to determine that, we had to look at the problem's source: the crystal. From the data we've collected, it seems that Cruxis Crystals are simply evolved forms of Exspheres. And both Exspheres and Cruxis Crystals are lifeless beings."

"Lifeless beings?!" Raine's eyes widened.

"Huh?" Lloyd voiced his confusion.

The Professor shook her head. "Lifeless beings...how should I put it? ...Basically, it means that Exspheres are alive, though not in the same way we are."

"I don't get it," the brunette said helplessly.

"Existing, but not sentient...I think I know what you mean, Raine." Genis frowned.

Lloyd, however, was obviously just more confused by Genis' elaboration. I rolled my eyes, fighting to think of a way to simplify it for him. Unfortunately, I hadn't fully understood the whole 'lifeless beings' thing myself. I mean, the very phrase contradicted itself...

"Like plants, or...I don't know, artificial intelligence? Or..." I waved a hand vaguely, shrugging.

"Artificial what?" Genis looked over at me, brow furrowed.

I blinked, realizing what I had just said, and wanted to bash my head against the wall. Wow, way to look suspicious. Dammit, they didn't have that kind of technology here!

"...Okay. I don't really get it, but go on," Lloyd interrupted, nodding to the researcher. Nice save, Lloyd.

The man nodded. "Both of these crystals fuse with other life forms in a sort of parasitic process."

"Parasites..." Lloyd frowned. "That's right, they feed off the body's mana."

"When a crystal fuses with an individual, the mana in the body loses balance and goes out of control. This can only be prevented with a Key Crest," the researcher continued.

"And that's why Exspheres without Key Crests turn people into monsters," Genis remarked.

"That's correct. And as Cruxis Crystals possess many of the same qualities as Exspheres, we believe it's possible that Colette is suffering from a parasitical infection by the Cruxis Crystal."

"I see," Raine said, frowning. "In which case, the ritual of releasing the seals may be promoting the fusion with the Cruxis Crystal."

"The Angel Toxicosis..." I murmured, wanting to give some non-suspicious input. "It was just a sickness induced by the infection."

"So if she got a Key Crest, she'd return to normal, right?" Zelos spoke up.

"Yes," the man confirmed. "Cruxis Crystals seem to function the same way as Exspheres. Therefore, Colette would be able to freely control her crystal if she had a Key Crest."

"A Key Crest, huh?" Lloyd was practically shaking with excitement. I couldn't blame him; this was the confirmation--Colette could be saved. And it wasn't even a totally hard task, either.

Well, it seemed that way at first glance. But nothing could be easy in Symphonialand, now could it?

"Got it!" Zelos said, flashing the researcher the OK sign. "Thanks for the help, man. That's everything?"

The researcher nodded. After a few more words between him and Zelos, he left the room. He probably had other stuff to do...like research. Yeah.

"I wonder if we can get one somewhere..." Lloyd said to himself when we were alone again.

Aw, hell. I knew where it was, and I really didn't want to sit around here pondering.

"I saw a bunch of shops outside," I said, and the others looked over at me. "Maybe we could check around there?"

"You think they'd just be selling Key Crests?" Genis said skeptically, giving me a deadpan stare.

"Hey, I don't see you coming up with any better ideas!" I shot back, pouting.

Raine sighed. "Let's head back outside. If there are people researching Exspheres in this facility, perhaps we'll be able to find someone with knowledge of how to acquire a Key Crest."

"So we'll be asking around?" Lloyd looked thoughtful. "Maybe we should split up to save time, then. We can meet up somewhere afterwards.

"All right. We'll meet in front of the inn before dark," the Professor said. I remembered that the shadows had been getting a bit longer outside, meaning it was probably early evening...that gave us around an hour or two before the sun started to set. Hopefully it wouldn't actually take that long.

"I...I'll go with Presea!" Genis volunteered instantly. Wow, I totally hadn't expected that. Nope, no sir.

He then looked tentatively over at the girl, blushing. "I-I mean...if that's okay with you."

Presea just stared straight ahead. "...Affirmative."

Raine looked between the two of them for a moment, and then sighed. "All right. I'll go with Colette. Can I trust you three not to cause trouble?" She glanced over at those of us who remained.

"Don't worry, Professor," Zelos said with a wink, throwing an arm around Lloyd's shoulders and pulling me to him by the waist. "I'll keep these two in check."

"I think it's you she's worried about," Genis muttered.

"You say something, pipsqueak?" The Chosen looked down at Genis, and received a glare in return. Those two were never gonna get along, were they?

In other news, I was attempting to wriggle my way out of an awkward situation once more, but Zelos' arm was impossible to escape from once it was snaked around you. Maybe that was why he was able to get so many women.

Poor Professor. Being the leader of the group really was taking its toll on her. She just sighed for the umpteenth time today, before turning towards the door.

"Well, let's get going. Ask around, but don't dawdle. Understood?"

"Yes, Professor," we chorused. And at long last, the search was on.

* * *

"...Man, how long's he gonna take?"

"Beats me. Should we go tell him off?"

"Nah, give him a minute. Maybe he's on to something."

"Whatever you say, Lloyd."

The two of us were standing off near a few of the shop stalls, watching as Zelos flirted with a female scholar near the entrance to the library. To be fair, we'd had no luck asking around--people didn't trust us enough to hand out information that easily. Zelos, on the other hand...hell, they'd fork over their life savings if it meant The Amazing Chosen One would bat an eyelash in their direction. In the end, Lloyd and I had just let Zelos do the talking. That choice was producing mixed results.

"From the way she's blushing, I highly doubt they're talking about Key Crests," I remarked dryly. "Unless she's got some really weird fetishes."

"...Hey, now that it's just us...what were you talking about earlier?" Lloyd asked, looking over at me.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Uh...artificial something-or-other."

"Oh." I paused, thoughtful. "Well...I don't know how to explain it. It's like, the intelligence of machines. On Earth, our technology is advanced enough that we've tried to replicate human thinking in a machine."

The brunette frowned at me. "That's...strange. You could build a computer that thinks like a human?"

"I don't think it's been that successful," I said with a shrug. "I've just seen some crazy sci-fi movies with it."

"...Movies?"

I smacked my forehead. "Don't worry about it."

He stared at me in confusion for another second or two, and then shrugged. "Earth sounds weird."

"We don't have sparkly angels and killer ladybugs, but I guess that would be weird to you," I said with a grin.

"You think I could come visit when we find a way to get you home?" Lloyd gave me his typical excited look, turning to face me fully.

I blinked, surprised at the idea. Lloyd, come visit? Well, I guess it would be possible, if he used the Eternal Sword...oh man, but that'd be a disaster waiting to happen. What if the sword dumped him in the middle of some far-off country? Or worse yet, an anime con? He'd be molested to death by crazy fangirls!

"Uh...I don't know if that would work out so well..." I said hesitantly, disturbed by the images I'd just given myself.

"Why not?" Lloyd said, pouting. "You made it in our world, why couldn't I last in yours?"

"Well...I guess it might be okay..." I muttered tentatively. "As long as you stayed out of sight of the general public...or at least changed your clothes..."

"What's wrong with my clothes?" Lloyd asked defensively. "It's the red, isn't it? It's always the red!"

"Yes, Lloyd, Earth hates the color red. That's exactly the reason why." I facepalmed, shaking my head.

"Well, why--"

"Shh, Zelly's coming back," I warned him, seeing the Chosen finally break away from the girl he'd been talking to. Zelos looked over at us and then started to approach, but then got distracted with talking to another girl.

"...Oh, false alarm," I said with an exasperated sigh.

"Maybe we should just start looking on our own," Lloyd suggested wearily. "What were you suggesting earlier? Shop stalls?"

I nodded, brightening up at his suggestion. "Yeah. It's not like we're getting anywhere asking students."

He shrugged. "Okay, I'm getting bored with waiting, anyway. Maybe we can look at some new swords while we're at it."

And so we headed over to the weapons stall, where Lloyd drooled over a pair of kotetsu, which were far too expensive for him to hope to buy. Unless he mooched off Zelos. On second thought, everything here was affordable!

As Lloyd was preoccupied with the blades, I stood at the counter and asked the dealer a few questions.

"I know this is a strange question, but do you have any idea where we could find a Key Crest?" I asked, my arms crossed. The dealer gave me a blank look, so I tried to elaborate.

"It's this gold thing," I said, pointing to my Key Crest. "I guess it's not really something you'd sell in a weapons shop, but we really don't know where to look..."

The arms dealer looked thoughtful for a moment. "...Well, there's an antique shop of sorts over that way," he said, pointing to my left.

"That's a shop? I thought it was just a pile of junk," Lloyd spoke up, looking over at us.

"...That's essentially what it is," the man said with a sigh. "It's mostly junk. But occasionally the owner comes across something interesting. If anything, it's worth a try."

"Great! Thanks for the help," I said with a smile. Mission accomplished.

"It's no trouble," the weapons dealer replied. He looked over at Lloyd. "You gonna buy those?"

"I wish..." Lloyd stared at them longingly.

"Suck it up," I said, rolling my eyes and pulling him away from the stall. "Besides, just look at me. I'm still using the sword I started out with, and I'm doing perfectly fine."

"Uh, about that..." Lloyd stared at the blade on my back, which was hanging in its sheath. "Your sword's starting to look a little beat up."

"Loki is fine," I snapped.

"...You named it?" He raised his eyebrows.

"What's wrong with that?" I asked, sticking my tongue out at him.

Lloyd just gave me a bemused look. "Dork. Don't blame me when it breaks."

"It's never gonna break," I said, just because I wanted to contradict him. "Besides...if I asked Zelos to buy me a sword, he'd probably offer to show me his."

"What? Why would he want to show you his sword...?" Lloyd asked, confused.

"...Never mind," I muttered, shaking my head with pity. Lloyd seriously needed to learn his sexual innuendos.

We made our way over to the pile of junk that was supposed to be a shop. It was located in a corner between buildings, separated from all of the other shop stalls. Not a lot of people seemed to be hanging out there, either. Probably because it looked like a bunch of cheap crap.

Oh! I saw something shiny on top of one of those boxes...

"Look!" Lloyd elbowed me when we got closer, pointing out the object. "That's it! It's a Key Crest!"

"Eh?" I feigned surprise, even though I'd already spotted it. "Great! My ideas aren't so bad after all, are they?"

"Huh?" The junk collector looked over at us, picking up the Key Crest. "You want this piece of junk?"

"Yeah!" Lloyd said eagerly, excited. "How much?"

I almost facepalmed. Lloyd clearly didn't understand how this worked...now the guy was really going to take advantage.

"Ah...let's see." I caught sight of a sly gleam in the shopkeeper's eye. "Well, it is made of some pretty hard-to-find material. I suppose I could part with it for...ten thousand Gald."

"What? That's expensive!" Lloyd's face fell.

I rolled my eyes, taking a step forward. "Oi, lemme see, please."

The junk collector frowned, but showed me the Key Crest in his hand. It was a bit battered looking, but nothing that Lloyd couldn't fix.

Narrowing my eyes, I scoffed derisively. "Not even real gold. You trying to pass that off as authentic?"

"...Brit?" Lloyd looked confused. "What..." Then he shut up, seeming to realize what I was doing.

I backed off, shaking my head. "Well...I'll pay a maximum of two hundred Gald for it. And that's being generous."

"Two hundred Gald!" The shopkeeper scowled. "You're trying to bankrupt me, girl!"

"After seeing all the worthless crap you've got on sale here, I'm surprised you're not already bankrupt," I said. "Five hundred Gald. Take it or leave it."

"Two thousand Gald!" The man growled.

"Come on, Lloyd, we're going," I grumbled, grabbing the brunette by the sleeve. "We'll just have to go to that place in Meltokio we heard about earlier."

"But we can't!" Lloyd said, eyes wide. Dammit, Lloyd, why are you so slow? "This is the only--"

"Shut up!" I hissed in his ear, but the junk collector had already heard. He was sneering at us.

"Ten thousand Gald, miss. That's the only price I can give for such a rare item."

"Taking advantage of people in need..." Lloyd turned around to give the man a nasty look.

"This is a business, after all," the man said with an infuriating smile.

"Is it, now?" Another voice joined our conversation, and suddenly Zelos had walked up between us. He slung an arm around each of our shoulders, smirking at the junk collector. "All right, then. Call the one responsible for this bazaar right now, and I'll make sure he can't do business anymore."

"Wh-Who are you?" The man stared at Zelos nervously, clutching the Key Crest in his hands.

"Ha! You've got some nerve to be ignorant of the great Chosen One, Zelos Wilder!" Zelos' eyes grew hard, but he still kept a dangerous little smile on his lips. Ohhh man...

"Ch-Chosen One?!" The junk collector grew flustered, before thrusting his hand out in front of him and offering up the Key Crest. "Please, take this junk--I mean, I humbly offer this up to you, so please forgive me!"

Zelos reached out, snatching the Key Crest before the other man could have any second thoughts. His stern look faded, and he grinned easily.

"Now, that wasn't so hard, was it?" He laughed happily, nodding to the shopkeeper. "I like your attitude, man. I'll remember you."

The junk collector laughed nervously in return, inching backwards in a feeble attempt to hide amongst his junk. Ah, well, we could probably leave the poor bastard alone now. I still wanted to punch him in his stupid face, though.

Zelos pulled the two of us away from the junk shop, handing the Key Crest to Lloyd.

"Well, looks like we're all done here!"

"That was pretty smooth, Zelos," I said, giving up on trying to get away from his arm. "Did you get your fill of schoolgirls?"

"Oh, Brittany," Zelos sighed, pulling me close. "All the cute girls in the world could never replace the attentions of my beloved spitfire!"

"...Nngh," I squeezed my eyes shut in reply, trying to escape once more.

"Uh...we should go wait for the others," Lloyd suggested, giving the two of us an odd look.

"Oh, right, right," the redhead replied, nodding. "Let's get going, then!"

And with that, we headed off in the direction of the inn, where we were probably going to wait for the others for the next hour...

* * *

"...I hate waiting," I said quietly.

We seemed to be doing a lot of waiting, ever since we came to Tethe'alla. It was a hell of a lot better than fighting, but still...it was so boring. And it had the potential to be nerve wracking, depending on the circumstances. As a matter of fact, I felt pretty nervous right now.

I was sitting on a bench in one of the academy's hallways, not very far from the lab Lloyd had borrowed to work on the Key Crest. I had gone in there to bug him once or twice, but he always ended up poking me with his carving knives and telling me to go away. When I noticed the little red marks that had formed where Lloyd jabbed me, I decided that maybe it would be better if I left him alone. Alas, I was left with my boredom.

"Well, I'm gonna go talk to Presea. She seemed lonely earlier." Genis, who had been sitting next to me, stood up.

One of the things about Presea's blank expression was that Genis could convince himself that he saw almost any emotion festering in those eyes of hers. It was both amusing and kind of sad.

"You know..." I leaned back on the bench, staring at him. "Girls don't care much for clingy guys. You might want to give her some space every now and then."

"...Eh?" That got Genis' attention; he instantly whipped around to face me. "Y-You think so? Am I being too forward?"

"It's possible, man," Zelos said, approaching us from the other end of the hallway. He had a look of feigned seriousness on his face. "Chicks dig the aloof sort of guy. Like me!"

Genis scowled. "You--! I don't want to be like you!"

Zelos threw up his hands defensively. "Hey, hey, I was just trying to help."

"I..." The mage hesitated, glancing at me, but then frowned again. "I'm going to talk to her. I'll do this my way!"

With that, he stormed off to find Presea, who was probably staring at a wall somewhere. I thought I saw her walking off with Raine and Colette, but...ah, it didn't matter.

"So he's gonna do it the incredibly awkward, prepubescent way. Ah, young love." I snorted, watching him disappear around a corner.

"I gotta say, our little rosebud is quite the frigid lover. I wonder when she'll return the poor brat's affections?" Zelos wondered aloud. I just gave him a deadpan look, and then we both burst out laughing.

"Ew," I said, calming down, "that'd be seriously awkward. Don't give me weird images like that." Especially since Presea was actually in her late twenties.

Zelos grinned shamelessly. "Ah, speaking of young love...is Lloyd done yet? I saw you going in there earlier."

"Ugh..." I felt my face turn red, and I jabbed him in the chest with one finger. "It's not like that. And no, he's not done...don't try going in there, he'll stab you with his carving knife."

His grin fell slightly. "Aw, man...but I'm so bored! Can't he work faster?"

"I'm sure he's going as fast as he can," I pointed out. "The sooner he gets done, the sooner Colette recovers."

"That's right..." Zelos said, looking thoughtful, and then he smiled jovially. "I can't wait to see my cute little Colette back to normal!"

"If you try anything, they'll murder you," I said, rolling my eyes. "We don't need you corrupting her innocence, Zelly."

"Y'know, I really am starting to like that little pet name, hunny," the redhead said, leaning closer to me with a wink.

Aaagh! No! I was doing so good with conversation! "I-It's not a pet name!" I protested, blushing once more.

"Come on, now, don't be shy," he said happily. "Why else would you call me that?"

"I-I don't know, because it's easier than saying Zelos?"

"Oh, hunny~! It's so cute how you try to deny your undying affections for me!"

"Agh! H-Hey, stop it! Don't hug me! Zelooos!"

"Uh...what are you guys doing?" Another voice interrupted us, and my face became about as red as the coat that had just entered my peripheral vision.

"Nothing!" I said a little too loudly, quickly untangling myself from Zelos and standing up. "Y-You're done, right?"

"Um...yeah..." Lloyd said, looking between me and Zelos, who was grinning like an idiot. I was really going to die if that guy kept embarrassing me for his own amusement whenever he got bored.

"Hey, bud, that's great!" Zelos said, standing up. "Let's go find Colette then, shall we?"

"Yeah, let's go." The brunette instantly forgot his confusion, and grinned as well. He looked so happy; it kind of hurt to look at him, knowing that the Key Crest wasn't going to work right away.

Oh...dammit...

To Zelos' credit, he had made me completely forget about the predicament we were about to be in, so I hadn't turned into a nervous wreck. Now, though...I felt the familiar sensation building up once more. It was a good thing I had developed another one of my half-assed plans earlier, while the three of us had been walking around. I knew it wasn't a great plan, but it was at least something. At least now I wouldn't have to stand around while Raine and Genis got arrested.

"...Where are the others, anyway?" I questioned feebly, attempting to distract myself from my own nervousness.

"Well, the kid headed out towards the entrance," Zelos remarked, nodding to our left. "If he was going off after our little rosebud, I think it's safe to assume Colette and Raine are there, too."

"Okay," Lloyd said happily, striding off down the hallway. "C'mon!"

"R-Right..." I said quietly, hastening to follow. Zelos came as well, giving me a curious look.

"...Is something wrong, my little spitfire?" He asked, leaning over slightly to stare at me.

"Eh?" I blinked, suddenly paranoid. "No, nothing. Why?"

"You're looking a little pale," the redhead pointed out, and my eyes widened. Was it that obvious?

Lloyd looked over his shoulder at me, and the look in his eyes made me want to kill Zelos. The Chosen had just turned on Lloyd's Brittany's-Been-Lying-To-Me senses, and he was now looking at me with a very scrutinizing gaze. I swear, he must've gotten that from Kratos. He acted oblivious, but he was so freaking perceptive sometimes it was kind of scary. Dammit, hopefully Zelos wasn't the same way...

"Yeah, you are kinda pale," Lloyd remarked with a frown. "Seriously, what's wrong?"

I looked down, biting my lip. Okay, so they weren't going to believe the excuse that nothing was wrong. That meant I'd have to make up some believable reason.

"Well...I don't know. You know how I overthink things..." Yes, that was true. "I've just been worrying about Colette. I mean, what if the Key Crest doesn't work? Or what if Cruxis shows up again? It's not like we could fight them off if they did. You remember what happened to us at the Tower."

There we go, that was sufficient. Those would be two things I would worry about...if I didn't already know the answer to both 'what if's.

Lloyd stared at me, and then sighed. "But don't you remember? You said it yourself...we've got to take this one step at a time. Don't worry about all that stuff. We don't know for sure that it'll happen, so what's the point in getting worked up about it?"

"Yeah...I guess you're right..." I sighed in fake resignation. Inside, I was attempting to fix some loopholes in my plan. It wasn't working out too well, since there were too many loopholes to count.

"Don't worry, hunny," Zelos said. "I'm sure all those uptight angels won't bother us now that I'm here. With my superior fighting abilities and amazingly pretty face, I'd surprised if anyone dared to challenge us!"

"...Why would a pretty face discourage them?" Lloyd grumbled under his breath, rolling his eyes, while I burst out laughing.

"That wasn't supposed to be funny..." Zelos said, giving me a kicked-puppy look.

"Thanks, Zelos," I snickered. "That was incredibly reassuring."

I knew it! When he wasn't embarrassing the hell out of me, Zelos was pretty good at making me forget about what was worrying me. I'd have to hang around him more later...when I wasn't so goddamn awkward.

My amusement was pretty short-lived, since at that moment we passed through the doorway into the entrance area. The dragon skeleton loomed over us, and the others stood together in one corner of the room. Raine was conversing quietly with Genis, but she looked up when we approached.

"Lloyd," she said, her eyes widening slightly. "You're finished?"

"Yeah," he replied solemnly, nodding. We all crowded around Colette, who didn't move at all in reaction to the sudden attention.

"Well?" Genis said impatiently, shifting in place. "C'mon, hurry up and do it, Lloyd!"

The brunette didn't reply. He was holding a necklace in his hands; I recognized it as the one he'd made her for her birthday. As of now, it was also the Key Crest that would suppress her Angel Toxicosis. The look in Lloyd's eyes...was hard to describe. Emotional, that was the only word I could think of. There were far too many emotions there for me to name. We had been through a lot; but as we wallowed about in self-pity, Colette had been the one who suffered the most.

"I didn't think I'd be giving you your birthday present like this," Lloyd said to the girl, sighing after a moment. "I've attached a Key Crest to your necklace. It's late, but it's my present for you..."

He trailed off, reaching out to pull the necklace's chain around her neck, clasping it in the back. It hung loosely, the red jewel embedded in the center of the pendant contrasting with the pastel colors of her clothing.

Nothing happened. There was no flash of light, no indication that anything had happened at all. Lloyd had placed the necklace on her, and it had been about as exciting as watching someone dress up a store mannequin.

"...Colette? Can you hear me?" Lloyd tried tentatively.

The unnatural red shade of her eyes hadn't changed, and she was unresponsive as ever. She seemed to stare straight through Lloyd.

There was a suffocating silence that lasted at least a minute, or so it felt. We all stared apprehensively at Colette, and I could sense that most of the others didn't want to believe that it had been a failed attempt. Students bustled past us as if we weren't there, consumed by their own petty problems.

"It didn't work..." Genis finally said quietly, staring helplessly at his childhood friend.

"Huh? What's wrong with it?" Zelos leaned in, staring at the necklace and looking perplexed.

"I don't know," Lloyd said, shaking his head. "Maybe...maybe I didn't do it right. That Key Crest was kinda beat up. We might need to find a different one. Maybe too much of the inhibitor ore is worn away..."

"Lloyd..." Raine murmured, staring sadly at his crestfallen expression. After a moment, she frowned. "Perhaps...we could ask Dirk about it. He may be able to fix the Key Crest for us."

"But Dirk's all the way in Sylvarant," Genis pointed out, shaking his head. "And even if the Rheairds aren't too broken to work, they're still out of fuel..."

I bit my lip, knowing the big moment was coming. Okay, it was time to act, right now!

"Yeah, waltzing off to Sylvarant isn't going to be that easy," I agreed, shoving my hands in my pockets so I could clench my fists. The others turned to look at me, seeing that I had something more to say.

After a short pause, I let out a sigh. "...Genis, Professor. Can I talk to you guys for a second?"

"What is it?" Genis asked, confused.

I shook my head, grimacing slightly. "No...I mean, in private." I tried to shoot Raine a subtle look, suggesting that whatever I had to say was very important. I was hoping she'd assume I didn't want Zelos to hear, or something. Whatever they wanted to think. Anything to get them out of the room and away from here.

Lloyd and Zelos were frowning at me. Dammit, if only Raine and Genis had both been girls...I could've just suggested it was a feminine issue, and they would've backed off. Man, the suspicion levels were about to go through the roof, I could feel it...but it was worth it, right? It really was.

"Well...all right," Raine finally relented, looking very perplexed. "Should we go outside?"

I nodded. "C'mon, let's go." And then to Lloyd and Zelos, "We'll be right back."

To my relief, no one protested. The majority of the group seemed to trust me, and I acted strange on a regular basis, so I guess this was only slightly deviating from the norm. Zelos didn't really know me yet, but he probably couldn't see anything majorly wrong with what we were doing. It wasn't like we were gonna run off and leave half the group behind.

When the door leading outside shut behind us, Genis looked over at me.

"What's going on, Brittany? You're acting weird." He was confused, but it was fairly innocent confusion. He didn't seem to suspect anything. Raine wasn't quite the same.

"No, not here," I insisted. "This way."

Leading the way, I started to pull them away from the door at a brisk walk. I didn't know what the hell I was going to do--this was where my plan kind of ended. All that had been important was getting the two of them away from where the knights were undoubtedly hiding. I could pull some bullshit explanation out of my ass later. Right now I just wanted to get them the hell out of Sybak, or at least in a sufficient hiding place until whatever was about to happen blew over.

"I think this is far enough," Raine said firmly in her no-nonsense voice. Shit, she had definitely noticed the urgency in my movements. She knew something was up.

I tried seeing if ignoring her would work, but she gripped my arm with a bruising force and stopped me in my tracks. Genis had stopped as well, and the both of them were looking at me. Oh fuck...what could I possibly say to get them to shut up and run?

"Brittany, what's going on?" The Professor's blue eyes narrowed at me. "You said you wished to speak with us about something, correct? Is it really necessary to move this far away from the academy?"

"Yeah, and why just us?" Genis asked. "Lloyd could've come, too."

"I...I didn't want to leave Colette alone with just Zelos and Presea," I said after a moment's hesitation. My heart was racing, and hiding my skittishness was becoming extremely difficult. If I didn't think of an explanation quick, I might completely blow it.

After a moment, I sighed and lowered my voice. "We...I think we were being watched." There, that was the truth.

"Watched?" Raine gave me a surprised look. "But who--"

She was cut off when we heard the metallic clinking of heavy armor. My eyes widened, and I hastily grabbed the both of them and tugged them backwards into an alleyway behind us. Just in time, too; a trio of knights passed by seconds later, brandishing their large and threatening looking halberds.

"Papal Knights?" The Professor whispered, alarmed. We had to grab Genis when he shot forward, attempting to leave the protection of the alley.

He turned to look over his shoulder at us, glaring furiously, and continued to struggle. "They're heading to the Academy!" He hissed at us. "What about the others?!"

"We can't save them if we get caught, too!" I hissed back, but froze when I saw that a shadow had paused at the mouth of the alley.

"Boss!" Fuck, it was a Papal Knight! "There's more of them! I recognize these three!"

"Professor, Genis, run!" I yelled to them, drawing my sword.

"Brittany, what are you doing?!" Raine demanded, but I shook my head.

"All bets are off! You think they're on our side? Go, for Chrissake, go!"

They wouldn't kill me, and I sure as hell knew I could take a beating, though I wouldn't like it. Genis and Raine were in some deep shit right now if they didn't get moving, though.

Raine swore quietly, and with slight relief I could see her starting to pull Genis away, despite his protests. The relief didn't last very long, though; the light at the other end of the alley was now blocked off, and I realized we were caught. The Papal Knight in front of me wasn't moving, but the ones behind definitely were.

We were forced out of the alleyway and out into the open, in front of a group of three Papal Knights. Counting the ones in front and behind us, that amounted to six of them that we had to deal with...and that wasn't even taking their buddies in the academy into account.

"Companions of the Chosen One!" A knight stepped forward, as the rest surrounded us. "You have hereby been declared traitors attempting to destroy Tethe'alla." He turned to his men and nodded, though the gesture was barely noticeable under all that armor. "Restrain them and take a sample!"

"What? Wh-What are you doing?!" Genis sounded panicked, but there was little time to protest.

We were overpowered and shoved forward into the brick wall of a building, our hands pinned roughly behind us. I felt like we'd been busted by the cops or something, and half expected them to search us. Instead, a knight twisted my arm at a painful angle, shoving a needle through the skin at the crook of my elbow. I grimaced, realizing what they were doing.

"S-Sir! We've found a match!" Another knight spoke up, just as the needle was being pulled out of my arm. I realized that it wasn't a hollow syringe, but a sensor of sorts; it was connected to a device that probably detected mana levels in the blood, the way a thermometer detected temperature. And it looked like Genis and Raine had been found out.

The two of them were hauled backwards, away from me. I was being pulled in a different direction. Resisting fiercely, I somehow managed to get out of the knight's grip for a moment.

"Hey! Let them go!" I yelled feebly, knowing it wasn't going to work, but pissed off all the same.

"Hmph!" The knight holding Genis scoffed derisively. "So you're half-elves!"

Oh for God's sake, acting was the last thing I wanted to do right now! But I'd already acted suspicious enough...dammit!

"Half-elves?" I paused, widening my eyes in what I was sure was a very pathetic attempt at shock. "Professor, Genis, is that true?"

Raine didn't seem to notice my acting. Her eyes were downcast. "...Yes. It is."

"Raine!" Genis protested, but his sister shook her head.

"There's no point in hiding it now..."

The knight who spoke next was sneering; I could tell from his tone of voice. "These pathetic half-elves have engaged in shameless caste deception. They are to be sent to Meltokio for a public execution for their crimes."

Genis was hanging his head; he didn't even express shock at this new development. He was just looking miserable, as if he'd expected things to end up this way all along. Why hadn't I been able to do a damned thing?!

"What's wrong with you people?!" I snarled. "Public execution? That's fucking insane! What makes you think you're so much better than them?!"

It was useless and they were ignoring me. Four Papal Knights had moved over to Genis and the Professor, whose wrists were already bound behind their backs. The remaining two stood behind me, moving to restrain me once more. Instead, I ran out of their reach and moved to tackle the other four. I knew what a stupid decision it was, but if something happened to Genis or Raine, I'd never forgive myself for just standing around. Dammit, at least let me bruise one of those bastards!

I was shoved back and restrained, but in my adrenaline rush I managed to break away once more. Now, though, I noticed things had changed. Students and professors were barring my way, glaring angrily. A sharp pain hit just above my right ear, and I realized that someone had thrown a rock at me. The weak feeling in my stomach was worse than the pain, though.

Civilians. These were civilians. How could they actually help these guys? Normal people...people my age...they were yelling taunts at me, their eyes narrowed in disgust.

"Half-elf sympathizer!" One of them shouted.

"Scum!" Another one called.

"What the hell..." I growled, but sensed the knights coming up behind me. I attempted to resist, but with the constant distraction of the people of Sybak, I was quickly overpowered. Quite a few more rocks were thrown by the time we reached the academy's entrance, and I was already bleeding from the first blow. Head wounds always bled like a bitch...I hoped this one wasn't too bad.

Not that I cared, honestly. There were more important things at hand. Like Genis and Raine, who had probably been hit worse, and my sudden loss of faith in humanity.

It was going to be a long day.

* * *

**A/N: Never liked Sybak...and I didn't get around to bringing Sheena back, but that's okay. It'll happen soon. :D**

**I can't think of anything more to say, so...review! Review, and I'll...have more motivation to finish the next chapter faster? XD I can't think of any good bribes anymore.**

**Next time: Sheena, abuser of Zelos, and the really annoying bridge!**


	35. Exhaustion

**A/N: At long last, here's the new chapter! This one took me a while...Spring break and random laptop issues kind of disrupted my writing schedule. Oh well, at least this one's a decent length.**

**By the way, remember how I used to use four hyphens as my own way of signifying a scene change? Yeah, apparently FFN didn't like that or something, because they're gone now. From every single one of my chapters. DX So it's all this unbroken mess, and I'm sure it's at least a tad confusing for newcomers to the story...ugh. I don't want to go back and fix every single chapter, though...well, this one will be okay, at least.**

**Ummm. I don't know what else to say, really. So...enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

I wasn't really aware of too much of what ensued in the next few minutes. I hung my head for a little bit, but then forced myself to look up and meet the burning stares of the students, all of whom had stopped to watch the little procession. They knew what was going on. They knew. And yet they did nothing to stop it. Was this how the Holocaust had happened? A wave of nausea swept over me.

It was one thing seeing the Desians' cruelty. They were the Desians, they were an oppressive organization made up of heartless monsters. But these were college students...normal people who had been going about their daily routines just minutes ago. Why were they going along with this? Didn't they see something wrong here?

Raised to hate half-elves from birth...the fucking Hitler Youth, that's what these people were.

I couldn't meet their eyes anymore. Trying to prove a point to them was useless; they were already too set in their ways. I was nothing more than a criminal to them.

We reached a stairway, and I was dragged down to an ominous looking metal door. One of the knights opened it, while the other shoved me roughly in before I had a chance to gather myself.

Unable to regain my footing, I stumbled forward and fell facedown onto a hard stone floor. I barely registered the sound of the door closing behind me. The impact of the fall had knocked the wind out of me; for a moment, all I could do was grimace in pain.

"Brittany?!" Lloyd's frantic voice cleared my mind, and I took a shuddering gasp of air.

Turning my head slightly, I attempted to look up at the brunette. The most I could get was a view of his red boots. Since my hands were tied behind me, I was in a bit of a predicament.

"...Help me up?" I asked, wincing.

Two sets of footsteps rushed over to me, and I was immediately pulled to my feet. Lloyd and Zelos were on either side of me, and it looked like the both of them had a few questions to ask. Presea was standing in a corner, and it looked like she was attempting to hide from something. Colette...was just there.

"What happened?!" Lloyd was the first to question. "Are you all right? Where's Genis and the Professor?!"

"You know what happened," I said, leaning against the wall behind me. My legs felt like jelly. "I'm fine, it's just a flesh wound, and Genis and the Professor--"

"First Aid," Zelos interrupted, and I felt the cut on my head close, as well as my bruises.

"Thanks," I said, and then looked back to Lloyd. "We've got to get out of here. Genis and the Professor are being taken to Meltokio right now to be executed."

"What?!" Lloyd all but shouted, his eyes wide with dismay. Zelos was giving me a similar look.

"Whoa, whoa, hold on! Those two were half-elves?!"

That shut Lloyd up. He turned to look at the redheaded Chosen, shocked. "What do you mean, half-elves...?"

"I don't know what it's like over in Sylvarant, but half-elves are at the bottom of the caste system here," Zelos explained, frowning. "All half-elves guilty of a crime are executed without exception. If Professor Sage and the kid are being taken to Meltokio, that means..."

"Yeah, they're half-elves. The Professor admitted it after they were found out," I said quietly.

"Who cares what race they are?!" Lloyd said, shaking with anger. "Executing them when they didn't do anything wrong...that's crazy!"

"Say what you want, but that's how it is here," Zelos sighed. "Just ask one of these guys." He gestured to Kate and a few other half- elves in the room, who had been watching the whole thing in complete silence.

Kate, who was standing closest to us, simply straightened her glasses and looked away. That was enough of an answer, though.

I couldn't help but examine her thoroughly now that I was meeting her for the first time. She had looked pretty in the game, and she was surprisingly pretty in real life, too. I mean, her hair was a bit oily looking and she looked a little underfed, but she had a kind of natural beauty that showed through all that.

"Anyway," Zelos said, "speaking of half-elf treatment. The half-elves who work at the Imperial Research Academy never leave their labs...ever. How is it that you know Presea, then?"

Lloyd was even more upset by Zelos' comment, but he kept his mouth shut and glanced over at Kate. Then he moved closer to me, leaning in to murmur quietly to me.

"This person seems to know Presea, but Presea's afraid of her. Look," he muttered, nodding his head in the direction of where the emotionless girl was standing. I nodded, as though I hadn't already known all of this.

Kate finally relented, letting out a sigh. "...This child is my team's research sample."

I had a sudden sense of deja vu. I wanted to reach up and touch my Exsphere the way I did every now and then, but my hands weren't bound in the front like the others'. I was remembering my first experience in the Asgard ranch. When they had first put the Exsphere on me, I had compared my situation to Presea's, remembering Kate's words from the game. This part had seemed so far off to me back then...I had never dreamed I'd make it this far. And here I was.

"Research?" Lloyd asked, already looking alarmed. "What kind of research?"

The other half-elves in the lab looked uncomfortable. I doubted they liked the work, but they probably didn't have a choice.

Speaking of which, the basement was a lot larger than I remembered...in fact, it looked like there were several rooms to this place. How many people were imprisoned down here? A lot more than four or five, that was for sure. Christ...now I really hated this damned town.

Kate's reply came quickly. Her voice was flat, emotionless. "Research to manufacture Cruxis Crystals inside the human body."

Lloyd visibly faltered, his eyes widening with shock. He involuntarily looked at me, and I forgot to feign surprise. Since it was too late, I just avoided his gaze. Why the hell did he have to look at me like that? No one else was supposed to know about me!

Now Lloyd had turned to look at Presea, who had her head hung but was otherwise unmoving. He returned his attention to Kate, his shaking hands clenched into fists.

"...You can do that?" He asked, but there was no curiosity in his tone.

"Yes," Kate said, and her voice reminded me of Raine's when she was giving a lecture. "Theoretically, they are no different from Exspheres. By allowing them to slowly feed on a human body--"

"Stop," Lloyd snapped, staring at the floor. "I've heard enough!"

"What...?" The woman paused, frowning.

"That's the same way Desians make Exspheres. It's...it's inhumane! How can you treat people that way?!" The brunette demanded angrily.

Kate seemed to recoil, but then stared at Lloyd with quiet indignation. "...I could ask you the same thing. You humans don't treat us any differently."

"I treat half-elves the same as everyone else!" Lloyd shot back. "And you have no excuse to--"

"Lloyd," I said, elbowing him. Well, my elbow was kind of unusable right now, so it was really more of a shoulder nudge.

He turned his head to look at me, hesitating. "Brittany, what--"

"We don't have any right to judge," I said, suddenly feeling exhausted. Not just physically, either. "We don't know what they've been through. Not that I'm saying what they did to Presea is right...but acting all self-righteous isn't going to help, either. We have our own problems. We've all fucked up in the past, haven't we?"

"But still..." Lloyd had calmed down a bit, but he was still upset. "No one has the right to treat anyone like that. Humans, elves, half-elves...we're all alive! We're all the same!"

Kate's eyes had widened with surprise. She probably wasn't used to people who said things like that...hell, I doubted she was used to people defending her, either.

"He's not from Tethe'alla."

That voice! Could it be...?!

"He's a strange one, I'll admit," Sheena said, appearing in a burst of smoke and looking awesome as ever. "He was raised in Sylvarant with half-elves and a dwarf."

"Sheena!" I said happily, feeling less like shit for once.

"Sheena?!" Lloyd said, shocked. "How'd you know we were here? I thought you had to go back to Mizu--"

"I'll explain later," she said, waving it off. "Right now, Genis and Raine are being taken to Meltokio. If we move fast, we might be able to catch up to them."

"Let's go, then!" Lloyd said eagerly, but then Kate spoke up.

"Are you planning on running away?"

"He's going to save his half-elf best friend. What are you gonna do, Miss Half-elf?" Zelos asked, stepping forward.

She hesitated, taking a step back in response. "I...I won't let you trick me. There's no way..."

"You saw the shape I was in when I was first brought down here," I said quietly, feeling very tired. "Would they have beaten me up so readily if I hadn't been defending half-elves? Look at how Lloyd reacted to the news just a few minutes ago. Do you think that was all really an act? Please, for their sakes...see the truth."

"Kate..." One of her assistants inched forward tentatively. "I did hear that two half-elves were arrested just outside."

The woman fell silent, staring at the floor in silent contemplation. Lloyd didn't have the patience to deal with that, though. He fidgeted uncomfortably, then shook his head.

"We don't have time to stand around like this! We're going. And if you're gonna get in our way, then...we'll just have to fight you!"

Kate made up her mind relatively quickly when she saw that Lloyd was actually reaching for his swords. She frowned at us, and then crossed her arms. "All right. If you promise me you'll come back here once you've saved your friends, then I'll let you go. If you prove that you've been telling the truth...I'll release Presea from her experiment."

"You promise?" Lloyd asked.

"I swear upon the name of the Goddess Martel."

A brief look of distaste showed on his face for a moment, but then he seemed to shrug it off. "Okay. You have our word, too."

Kate closed her eyes, letting out a sigh. "There is a hidden passage behind those two machines on the wall to your left." She gestured to them. "Count five bricks up from the floor. The fifth one is a switch."

"Thank you," I said with a nod. After releasing us from our bonds, Sheena ran over to the machines. We followed her, gathering around them. She found the brick and pushed, watching as it sunk into the wall slightly.

"Whoa!" Lloyd exclaimed in surprise as the machines suddenly shifted to the right, revealing a dark passageway. I shuddered, suddenly reminded of the hidden entrance to Kvar's ranch. At least this time we were leaving the hellhole...

"We need to head for the bridge. Let's hurry!" Sheena said, and we all plunged into the darkness.

* * *

There was one thing I hadn't anticipated when I had thought about how this moment would go. I had completely lost track of time, and justifiably so; it had been a really long day, and we had done a lot. Unfortunately, that meant that right now, we were running around outside just as the stars began coming into view. At least there was a full moon tonight, so we had some light to run by.

I did not want to be running right now. Every part of my body practically screamed in protest every time I took a step. After walking all day, doing all that crap in Sybak, and trying to fight off a couple of Papal Knights, I was exhausted. At least Sheena had remembered to take back our weapons before rescuing us. That was one less thing we had to worry about.

Alas, despite my hatred of running, there were lives at stake. So I ran. I couldn't fathom how we were going to run upwards of ten miles over the bridge and then fight a bunch of knights, but hey, apparently we were gonna give it a shot.

Not long after I had that thought, the outline of the cursed bridge became visible against the night sky. It was illuminated with what must have been thousands of tiny lights, running along the framework of the thing. As we drew closer, the lights grew brighter. Although it was still dim, it did finally get to the point where we weren't tripping over our own feet like we had been before.

The bridge was easier to run on, but the hard surface jarred my knees every time I put a foot down. I was honestly starting to feel like I was going to fall over. No one was talking; we were all putting our full effort into this run. I could tell, though, that everyone was starting to get tired. We had run at least six miles by now, by my estimate. Or maybe it just felt like six miles. I couldn't be sure, because time seemed to slow down under this kind of physical exertion.

Okay, I really was going to fall over. My heart was pounding in my ears, the blood had rushed to my face, and I felt like my lungs couldn't get enough oxygen no matter how many breaths I took. My stamina had increased significantly in the months since I came here, but this was seriously pushing it. The most I had been able to run without stopping back home before wanting to keel over was two miles. And that was only if I really, really tried.

"Christ...how far ahead...are they?" I managed to say, my voice sounding strange since I was speaking as I exhaled.

"I...I don't know..." Sheena replied, but she didn't sound like she was going to die. Stupid ninja.

"We can't...afford to stop," Lloyd puffed out. He sounded almost as bad as me. Almost.

We ran for another agonizing ten minutes, until I saw something that made me want to cry with relief.

"Torches!" I exclaimed, forgetting how to breathe for a moment, and nearly breaking down into a fit of coughing.

The small lights in the distance suddenly winked out, though, as the sound of moving machine parts drowned out our breathing. The drawbridge had started to rise. Oh Jesus, that's right...they didn't actually intend to jump over the damn thing, did they?!

"They're...trying to cut us off!" Lloyd panted as we ran, attempting to yell over the sound of the moving bridge. "We've gotta jump it!"

Well, he'd just confirmed my fears. Zelos, who apparently had some common sense, grabbed Lloyd by the sleeve and caused us all to halt. He stared at the brunette incredulously.

"Whoa, hold on! If we fall from there, we'll die! You get that, right?!"

"And if we abandon them, they'll die, too!" Lloyd insisted, shifting on his feet impatiently. We were all still panting heavily, and even though we had stopped, my legs were still burning like hell. Even standing still was taking too much effort now.

When we hesitated, Lloyd huffed angrily and turned to go. This time, I was the one to grab his sleeve. When he rounded on me, I shook my head.

"Lloyd, cut it out. If we fall and die, we still won't be able to save them. We have to do this right!"

"What should we do, then?" Sheena asked.

"We don't have time to stand around and discuss it! Hurry up and think of something, or I'm going!" Lloyd all but yelled. He was glancing rapidly back and forth between the rising bridge and me, most likely counting the seconds until it would be too late to jump.

"Undine," I said instantly, not bothering to pretend to think it over. I didn't care about playing my part right now. As always, they could be suspicious later. "Sheena, can't Undine carry us to land?"

"It's too far," she said, dismayed. "We're still at least five miles out to sea!"

"Then get her to take us to the other side of the drawbridge! She can do that, right?!" I said desperately.

Sheena hesitated, then seemed to gather her resolve. "I'll try!" She straightened out her stance, taking a deep breath so she could speak clearly.

"I call upon the Maiden of the Mist. I summon thee...Come, Undine!"

In a burst of blue light, the summon spirit appeared before us. I was glad that I hadn't had to fight her, so I could actually see the spirit in a good light instead of shuddering with memories of being beaten up. Lloyd didn't seem too preoccupied with her breasts this time around, but I did see Zelos raise his eyebrows.

"...I am at your service, Summoner Sheena," Undine said, staring down at Sheena with a relatively neutral expression.

"Undine! Please take us to the other side of the drawbridge!" Sheena said immediately.

Undine paused to look over at the rising bridge, and then nodded to us. "As you wish."

She raised one hand, calling forth her magic. I briefly wondered what she was going to do, when suddenly I heard the roaring of rushing water. We all ran to the side of the bridge, leaning over the rails to see what was going on.

A thick curtain of water was rising up, and I realized that it was forming a bridge next to the bridge itself. It looked like an oddly shaped geyser, and I felt my stomach twist uncomfortably. Sure, you could ride and jump on water columns in video games. But this wasn't a video game, not anymore. Even if the force of the water was strong enough to support our weight, how the hell were we supposed to balance on that thing?

Sheena looked a trifle uneasy as well, but she was the first to climb over the rail and step on to the water bridge. To my surprise, her feet settled neatly on the rushing water as if it were a solid structure. It reminded me of that time at Lake Umacy, when she and Colette had walked on the lake's surface to get to the unicorn.

"It's fine," Sheena said, looking over her shoulder at us. "Let's go!"

Lloyd nodded and practically vaulted himself over the railing, and he and Sheena took off ahead without losing their balance at all. I hesitated, looking down at the ocean water below before I could stop myself. I saw Presea climb over and follow the others, while Colette simply flew over without any trouble. I envied those wings sometimes.

Zelos climbed on to the bridge as well, and then looked over his shoulder at me with a satisfied smile. "Feels solid. What's up, spitfire? Afraid of heights?"

I took a deep and shuddering breath, and then climbed over the railing as quickly as I could. We were being left behind, and I was sure that in such a tired state, Lloyd and the others would need as much help as they could get fighting the knights.

"A little bit," I said, immediately feeling nauseous. "B-But we're gonna be--" I took a step forward, nearly stumbled, and uttered a few expletives that I'd rather not repeat.

"Hmm," Zelos uttered from behind me, and I felt him grab my arm firmly. "Not a problem! I've got you, hunny. Let's get moving!"

I let out a terrified little squeak as Zelos started to run, practically dragging me behind him. But since he was leading with me trailing behind, I was forced to run the same path as him. Although I felt like I was going to throw up, I was far safer following him like this than I was dealing with it alone.

The dash across the water-bridge went by far more quickly than I had expected it to. One minute I was doing everything I could not to look down at my potential watery death, and the next minute Zelos' hands were on my waist and were lifting me over the railing and back on to the solid bridge.

"Th-Thank you," I breathed, my heart still hammering away. Zelos just flashed a quick grin, and then jabbed a thumb in the direction of the disappearing figures that were our friends.

That was all it took to jolt my body back into action, and we both sprinted as quickly as we could to catch up with the others. In the back of my mind, I could feel my opinion of Zelos skyrocketing, but right now I was more concerned about Genis and Raine. The water-bridge ordeal was forgotten in a matter of seconds, the unpleasant memory stored away to be recalled with a grimace later on.

By some miracle we were able to catch up, even though the others were probably sprinting too. Unfortunately, we caught up just as the Papal Knights came into view. That meant we were about to go from running like hell to fighting like hell. Oh God, when was the last time I had actually fought for my life? We had run into monsters here once in a while, but they were far less common than in Sylvarant. I hadn't even seen Zelos draw his sword until now. Part of me wondered just how strong he was in real life.

The Papal Knights had taken notice, and there were Ten of them. Ten. Ten heavily armored knights versus six exhausted humans and two restrained half-elves. We were so fucked.

"You!" The leader said in a snarl, pointing his halberd at us threateningly. "You escaped?! Stop where you are!"

"No chance!" Lloyd yelled angrily, drawing his swords. "Give us back our friends!"

The knight seemed to see Zelos walking forward with his own blade drawn. "You intend to fight, Chosen One? Hmph...very well. You will receive a fitting punishment for your treacherous plots against the throne!"

Zelos only sneered at that, and it was strange seeing that kind of look on his face. I didn't have much time to examine his expression, though, because he was rushing forward to attack. Lloyd took that as his cue, running to meet the knights head on as well. Presea and Colette followed, but I grabbed Sheena's arm before she could do so as well.

"What is it?" Sheena asked, looking tense.

"Genis and Raine," I said, motioning to the two, who were standing behind the knights and looking surprised.

Her eyes widened, and she nodded, understanding. Those two were originally planned to be executed, and probably without a fair trial. The knights might decide to kill them here and now if we gave them a second to think about it. We had to free the both of them now or form some sort of defense around them before it was too late.

As the four others attacked the knights, Sheena threw explosive cards at two of them to break open the line so we could slip through. We dashed up to Genis and Raine, and I was relieved to see that their hands were bound with ropes and not legitimate handcuffs. Sheena immediately took out one of her cards, using it to cut right through each half-elf's restraints. Whoa, I hadn't known she could do that. She could probably kill someone with a papercut...

Anyway, Genis and Raine were free. I had been carrying Genis' kendama for him, and now I pulled it out of my bag and handed it to the boy. Sheena gave the Professor her staff back. They stared at us for a moment; the surprised look hadn't left their faces.

Then the Papal Knights noticed that we had broken their defense, and all hell broke loose. Some of them turned around and started running at us, while some continued to battle the others.

Sword drawn, I took a deep breath before running at the two knights that were headed in my general direction. Time to fight again...oh Christ, I was beginning to see these weird black dots at the corners of my vision. That couldn't be good.

"Hunting Beast!" I yelled, and was satisfied when both of the oncoming knights stumbled backwards at the blow.

Sheena was spamming Pyre Seals, just barely managing to push back the three that were harrassing her. We were going to run out of energy at this rate...I already felt myself grow a little dizzy just from using that one tech. I was too drained to fight a battle like this. Even under normal circumstances, this kind of fight would've been difficult.

"Spread!" A voice suddenly yelled, and I realized with relief that Genis had jumped in to help. A geyser of water erupted seemingly out of nowhere, throwing several of the knights into the air with it. They fell to the ground, giving Zelos and Lloyd the chance to take them out.

Raine stepped forward next, casting Ray. This one took another three knights off guard, but they managed to survive the magic. The group's leader began to yell.

"Kill the half-elves! They can use magic!" He commanded, and suddenly the remaining seven knights had turned around to advance on us.

"Light Spear!" I heard Zelos yell, and there was the screech of sword on metal. I saw a piece of metal fly; he had pulled a part off of the knight's armor.

I didn't really see what became of that knight, because in the next second I was far too preoccupied fighting off the ones that continued to advance. I saw flashes of light and knew Genis and Raine were still helping, but I didn't have time to look. There were two knights attempting to push right past me to attack the half-elves, and I was losing ground fast.

One of the knights swung the blade of his halberd at me, and I narrowly avoided being beheaded. I jabbed my sword forward, attempting to find some weak spots between the plates of armor, but to no avail. My arms were on fire. My grip on Loki was beginning to slacken.

"Fierce Demon Fang!" I cried, desperate to throw them off. I was dismayed to see that the attack was much weaker than normal. I abruptly felt dizzy, and for a moment I started seeing double. Then the world righted itself again and I went right on fighting.

Suddenly Sheena was beside me, and the fighting got a little easier. We were both exhausted, though, and we knew this couldn't go on for much longer. I could see that Lloyd had been forced to go on the defensive, and the hands that were holding his swords up were shaking.

As I attempted to hold off the knight attacking me, I saw Presea knock down her own. Damn, she was still kind of scary, no matter how useful she was...

That train of thought had caused me to drop my guard for a split second. The oncoming knight swept his halberd at my feet. I jumped to avoid it a second too late, and the pole caught one of my feet and tripped me up. I tumbled to the ground and thankfully managed not to fall on my sword. Unfortunately, now there were more pressing matters at hand. Like the knight that now had the perfect chance to kill me.

"Air Thrust!" Genis' voice came from behind me, and then the two knights that Sheena and I had been fighting were forced to stop in their tracks.

The blades of wind found the cracks between their armor plates, cutting into the knights' skin and ripping off some of their armor at the same time. Zelos and Presea ran forward, killing both of them now that they had the chance. That was when I noticed that there was no one left to fight. Lloyd and Colette had managed to take out the last knight that had been standing.

I decided to stay on the ground after that. Letting out a quiet groan, I fell on to my back, into a spot that thankfully wasn't bloody.

For a moment, nothing was said. All I could hear was the sound of everyone catching their breath or shuffling to put away their weapons. I stared up at the sky, and the stars seemed to glare back down at me. Today just sucked. At least I had gotten through the battle without killing anyone...not that that meant I was innocent or anything. I had still helped.

"Everyone..." Genis' voice finally cut through the silence. I turned my head, trying to find every excuse just to keep lying there.

"You came to rescue us," Raine said quietly. After a moment, I forced myself to sit up, and instantly felt dizzy.

"Why wouldn't we?" Lloyd demanded. "You're our friends!"

"But..." Genis murmured, his eyes wide. "But we're half-elves."

"I don't care what race you are, stupid," Lloyd said, frowning. "Genis, you've been my best friend for as long as I can remember. Did you really think I'd just abandon you after learning you're a half-elf?"

Genis and Raine were both silent, so Lloyd continued.

"And Professor Sage, you too! You've been there for us from the very beginning. We would never have made it this far without you," Lloyd insisted. "It doesn't matter if you're half-elves, elves, humans or whatever! You're still the same people I've always known."

"Lloyd..." Genis said quietly, his head down. His voice sounded choked up...was he crying? "...Th-Thank you."

The Professor stepped slightly in front of her brother, giving him some privacy so that he could wipe away his tears and compose himself. She had a solemn look on her face, but that look had wavered when Lloyd had been speaking. I knew what he'd said had moved her. They had honestly been expecting to die; I realized that now. That thought coupled with the memory of those hateful students at Sybak caused my insides to churn uncomfortably. It was so infuriating that such horrible things were going on, and no one was stopping it. If we had been back on Earth...

...No, thinking like that wasn't going to help anyone. Earth wasn't exactly perfect, either. America had made a great deal of progress in discouraging racism, but it most definitely still existed there. And that wasn't even taking any of the world's less developed countries into account.

"...What about the rest of you?" Raine asked hesitantly. "Do you have any objections to us coming along?"

"I agree with Lloyd completely," I said, finally speaking up. My voice sounded raspy, and I paused to clear my throat. "You guys can't exactly help what race you're born into, and I'm not about to blame you for something you can't control. Besides, I don't see what the hell's wrong with being part human and part elf," I finished, shrugging.

Sheena was the next to speak. "The people of Mizuho have been ostracized for hundreds of years. Our culture's completely different from the rest of Tethe'alla's, and our relations with the Church are shaky at best. We look different, we speak our own language, and our village is completely hidden from the rest of the world." The ninja smiled sympathetically. "You see, we're not all that different."

The Professor and Genis sent us both grateful looks, and then looked over to Zelos and Presea for their input. Zelos was the first to speak, since Presea was just kind of...staring. Big surprise there.

"...To tell you the truth, I can't say I'm really cool with this," the redhead said, frowning. That prompted the rest of the group to turn and look at him, and I sensed that he had just lost some serious brownie points. Well, at least he was honest.

When the looks he was getting obviously demanded an explanation, Zelos just let out a sigh and raked a hand through his hair. "It's just the way we're brought up here in Tethe'alla. 'Half-elves are bad people,' that's what everyone tells us."

"But it's not true!" Lloyd pointed out immediately.

"Look, man, knowing that is one thing. Overcoming an idea that's been beaten into you since childhood is an entirely different story," Zelos said with a somewhat bitter edge. Of course, he had another reason to despise half-elves besides the fact that they were generally hated in this world. His mom...then again, I kind of hated her too, since she had said those horrible words to him just before dying. Goddammit, why the hell would you say something like that to your--oh, right, off topic.

After a moment, Zelos just crossed his arms, seeming to relax a little. "But hey, don't pay any attention to me. I'm just tagging along; it's ultimately your decision. Besides, people have always treated me differently, too...so I guess in a way we're a lot alike."

The others seemed to understand that that was the best response they were going to get out of him. Now Genis turned to Presea, seeming almost frightened. He was probably hoping against hope that his crush didn't think negatively of him.

"P-Presea...? What about you?"

The pink haired girl turned her blank eyes on him. After a short pause, she spoke.

"I...just want to go home."

Genis' face fell, but he didn't seem totally devastated. It wasn't like Presea was going to jump up and give some long-winded speech when she was in this emotionless state, anyway.

Ugh. The bright colors of everyone's clothing was making me nauseous, particularly Lloyd's coat. I opted to stare down at a spot between my feet, at the grey cement that covered this part of the bridge.

"I see..." Raine said quietly, and then sighed. Was that relief I heard? "All right, then."

"Welcome back to the group, you two," Lloyd said cheerfully, clearly putting it all behind him.

"Th-Thanks..." Genis sounded like he was trying to hold back tears again.

"Now that all of that's over with, shouldn't we get going?" Sheena spoke up. "We shouldn't stick around here. If reinforcements arrive, we'll be cornered. And I don't know about you guys, but I don't think I can do any more fighting..."

"Yeah, I'm beat," Lloyd agreed.

"...Yes," Raine said, hesitantly taking up her old role as leader. When no one objected, she seemed to gain confidence. "We can't go back the way we came. For the time being, we should focus on getting off this bridge and finding somewhere to camp out for the night."

"Camp out again?" Zelos asked, clearly against the idea. I was still looking down, but I could imagine almost everyone in the group rolling their eyes right about now. Last time we'd camped out, Zelos had been very opinionated on how much it sucked. I had stayed quiet then since I could kind of sympathize, but right now I rolled my eyes too. I wanted to sleep somewhere--I no longer cared if it was in a comfy bed or right here on the goddamn bridge.

"We don't really have a choice," Sheena said, too tired to argue with the Chosen. Come to think of it, she'd been in his presence for at least a couple hours now, and hadn't even smacked him once. That had to be a new record.

"Shall we get moving, then?" Raine spoke up, and I saw her turning to leave from the corner of my eye.

"Yeah, let's go," Lloyd agreed. "You coming, Brit?"

I took a deep breath, releasing it slowly. "I...Yeah," I mumbled, struggling to push myself to my feet. My effort caused the world to spin once more, and I gripped Lloyd's shoulder before I could fall over.

The others were moving on ahead. As always, I was the one lagging behind, whether it was voluntary or not. Lloyd seemed satisfied when he saw that I could stand on my own, and gestured for me to follow as he began to walk ahead as well. I took a few steps forward, and white-hot pain jolted all the way from my feet to the topmost part of my legs. My calves were on fire.

I took another shaky breath, moving faster to catch up to Lloyd. After a moment, I felt like I had gotten a second wind, and the going got a little easier. My legs still hurt like hell and throbbed painfully with every step, but after walking for a little bit, I got used to the pain. The dim lighting on the bridge was making me a little sleepy, though. I wondered briefly how we were going to see once we got off the bridge, but that thought was cut off by the pain again. I just had to keep moving...I had to concentrate solely on that.

A few minutes passed, and my second wind faded. The pain was getting worse. Those black dots were showing up again, and I started counting them since I couldn't really think about anything else.

One...two...three...dammit, they kept scurrying away whenever I tried to look at them.

"So, Sheena, why are you here?" I heard Genis say as I counted. "I thought you went back to Mizuho."

"I did," she said. "The Chief ordered me to keep an eye on you guys, so I guess we're traveling together again...for the time being, at least."

"Typical of Mizuho," Zelos remarked. "They're trying to decide whether to side with the King or you guys."

"So now we've got two people keeping tabs on us," Genis said.

"But I'm not going to try to do anything or...or get in your way or anything!" Sheena insisted, sounding uncomfortable. "So I..."

"It's all right, we're aware of that already," Raine said calmly. "We know that you're an honest person, Sheena."

Ten black dots. Or was it twenty? Should I double the number since I had two eyes? My head was starting to hurt...wait, why the hell were there two Lloyds staring at me?

"Brit?" Oh wait, it was just one Lloyd. Nngh... "Hey, Brit, are you okay?"

"M'fine," I mumbled, pressing onward. "Stop talking so loud."

"I'm not..." I knew he was speaking quietly, but it still caused my head to throb. He frowned. "Hey, you're really pale."

"Is everything all right back there?" I heard Raine's voice echo from some faraway place.

"Uh-oh. This doesn't look good." That one was definitely Zelos. "Hey, how are you doing, my little spitfire?"

"I..." My voice sounded incredibly small and insignificant.

I looked up slightly and noticed that the whole group had stopped, and was now staring at me. I attempted to stop as well, but found that my feet no longer wanted to obey me. I vaguely noticed that I was falling forward, and realized that I had tripped. Something stopped my fall. Suddenly the color red dominated my vision, and that was the last straw.

I felt my head throb one final time, and then I fell into the cool embrace of total darkness.

* * *

The time I spent lost in the haze of unconsciousness didn't feel short, but it didn't feel long, either. All I knew was that I had been totally out of it for a while, and then I had slowly started to find my way back to reality. The darkness seeped away, and I slowly became capable of coherent thought.

My first thought was that I was being carried, and I had crashed my car. The person carrying me was taking me to the hospital. It was going to be a hassle, I was going to miss the Red Sox game--

Wait, wait. That wasn't right. What had really happened was that we had killed Kvar, my leg had been badly injured, and now Kratos was carrying me. I felt my cheek leaning against his shoulder, and my whole body throbbed with his every step. I wanted to just lay down somewhere, but I knew Kratos would give me a lecture if I tried moving.

I didn't want to open my eyes and see the ranch. Instead, I opted to feign unconsciousness for a little longer. I took a deep breath to soothe myself. As usual, Kratos smelled like--

Huh? Wait a minute. Kratos didn't wear cologne. And now that I thought about it, the hands holding my legs had inched a little too far up. Kratos wasn't a pervert, either. But then, who the hell was--

Oh.

OH.

All at once, I understood. My eyes snapped open and my fears were confirmed. Red hair...why did it have to be him? Why? This wasn't supposed to happen now that Sheena was here!

"Ugh..." I groaned before I could stop myself, catching the attention of everyone in the group.

"Brittany!" Lloyd exclaimed, instantly falling in step with Zelos. "Hey, are you feeling better?"

"I feel like shit," I said honestly. I felt like I had been dropped from an airplane only to land facedown on a slab of concrete.

Zelos laughed at my blunt remark, looking over one shoulder at me. "You looked a lot worse earlier, my little spitfire."

My brow furrowed as I strained to remember. There had been the bridge, the fight, and then...this big hole in my memory, and here I was, being carried by Zelos and feeling increasingly uncomfortable at the close proximity. This was different than the time Kratos had carried me; at least I hadn't had the hots for him.

Finally, I just gave up and asked, "What the hell happened?"

"You don't remember?" Genis asked incredulously. Well, he seemed to be feeling better, at least. "You collapsed!"

I paused to absorb that for a moment. "...I guess I sorta remember..." I mumbled, but it was really a blur in my mind. I just remembered being really, really, really exhausted. And now my self-esteem had taken a hit, considering I was the only one in the group to have such an extreme reaction to the exercise.

"In any case, you probably shouldn't walk again until tomorrow. We'll be setting up camp soon," the Professor said, gesturing to the forest ahead of us. Ah, so we were going to use the trees for cover instead of camping out in the open.

"Don't worry, hunny. I'll carry you as long as you need me to," Zelos said to me cheerfully. "Just don't mess up my hair, mmkay?"

"...You're not tired at all?" I asked abruptly, frowning. Sheena let out a frustrated sigh.

"Yes, he is. He was just complaining about it until five minutes ago."

"Aww, Sheena!" Zelos whined. "You make me look like such a bad guy!"

"That's because you are, idiot Chosen! And why the hell are your hands so close to her butt?! Carry her like a normal person!" Sheena growled, and I wanted to hug her. Yay, it was like having a protective big sister!

"Just out of curiosity...why does Zelos have to carry me?" I asked tentatively, resisting the urge to frown at Lloyd. Dammit, he knew how awkward I was around Zelos. I wanted Lloyd to carry me! I was already used to clinging to him at random moments anyway.

"You too, spitfire?" Zelos looked over at me, pouting. Then he had this gleam in his eye, and his lips slowly turned up in a smirk. "Oh, wait...I get it. You wanted Lloyd to carry you?"

"I was going to, but then I think I would've collapsed, too," Lloyd said sheepishly.

"It's all adding up, Britbrit..." Zelos said happily, and I scowled at him.

"W-Would you cut that out? I don't--ugh!"

"Don't what?" Lloyd asked, confused.

"What the hell are you talking about, Zelos?" Sheena asked, giving the Chosen an annoyed look.

"Sheena, I'm shocked," the redhead remarked in mock surprise. "You've been traveling with these guys longer than I have. Haven't you noticed the young love that's started to bloom?"

"Zelos, I swear to God." I pressed my forehead to his shoulder, feeling my face heat up yet again. "Another word, and I neuter you with the heel of my boot." I raised one sore leg up, knowing I could muster up enough energy to kick him hard if I really wanted to.

The Chosen tensed up. "All right, all right! I surrender!"

"You should probably do it anyway," Sheena said in a matter-of-fact tone. "Maybe he'd be a half-tolerable person without his libido."

"Sheenaaa!" Zelos whined.

"...What's a libido?" Genis asked after a moment, and from the look on Lloyd's face, the term was unfamiliar to him as well. Oh dear God, that poor boy was never gonna get laid.

"I'll tell you when you're older," Raine quipped, sending a warning glare in our direction. Everyone fell silent for a while after that.

After a little while, the blood that had rushed to my face gradually drained out and went back to wherever it came from. I was able to concentrate a little better, but I still couldn't get over the fact that my legs were wrapped around Zelos' waist. And his hands had inched up my legs again.

Nnnghhh. This was too embarrassing. Must...distract...self...

"Um..." I started, and no one really acknowledged me, but I knew they had heard. "...What's the plan after today, anyway?"

"We're heading back to those Fuju Mountains," Lloyd started. "And--"

"Fooji, Lloyd," Sheena cut in, rolling her eyes.

"Uh, I knew that. So we're going to the Fooji Mountains to pick up the Rheairds. Then we can go have Sheena make a pact with Volt," he explained. I saw Sheena wince at the mention of the summon spirit, but I was pretty sure I was the only one who noticed.

"So we can head back to Sylvarant after that," I remarked. Lloyd nodded, looking wistful, so I changed the subject. "How are we picking up those Rheairds?"

"Zelos says we should leave it to him," Genis spoke up, looking dubiously over at the redhead. The Chosen only laughed.

"Yep, yep! I've got it all taken care of. Don't you worry, my little spitfire."

"Would you quit calling her that?" Sheena said, rolling her eyes. "She's got a name, you know."

"Aw, but my little spitfire doesn't mind, does she?" Zelos asked, looking over at me with pleading eyes. I felt my face heat up again, but before I could attempt to form a coherent sentence, Raine's voice cut us off.

"We're stopping here for the night. Let's set up camp," she said, and I sent her a grateful look, even though she probably hadn't even been listening to the conversation.

"...I will gather firewood," Presea said, and I nearly jumped. I had forgotten she was there again.

Genis' head snapped up. "I...I'll help too!"

The girl didn't agree or disagree with this, so when she trudged off into the woods, he followed her like a lost puppy. Hopefully Genis would grow a pair sometime soon, or he was going to be seriously whipped in any future relationships.

Everyone set down their stuff, and I immediately took the chance to request that Zelos put me down. Thankfully he didn't find some excuse to refuse and tease me more, and soon I found myself seated upon a patch of soft grass. I stretched out my legs, and a little shudder of satisfaction ran through me. Man, it felt good to sit down and stretch after all this time.

"Hmm..." Raine murmured once we were all situated. "I suppose there's no point in eating dinner now. We should get some rest and eat in the morning."

"We're running low on supplies, aren't we..." Lloyd groaned.

"We'll have to stock up when we..." The Professor suddenly trailed off, frowning.

"We're fugitives. So we're going to have a hell of a time buying anything from anyone," Zelos said, and heaved a dramatic sigh. "Man, to think I let myself become a criminal just for you guys..."

"I'm going for a walk," Sheena said out of nowhere, standing up with a very irritated look on her face. "I'll be back in a little bit."

We watched as she stormed off, Lloyd looking relatively perplexed.

"...What was that all about?"

Zelos just grinned. "Oh, Sheena? She's fine, don't worry about her." Part of me wondered if he secretly enjoyed ticking her off, or if it was unintentional. Both scenarios seemed believable to me.

"Yeah? You guys seem to have known each other for a while," Lloyd remarked, curious.

"Me and Sheena? Oh yeah, we go way back," Zelos said casually, as if they were the best of friends. "She always worked as an emissary for Mizuho, so she used to come to Meltokio pretty often...before all this stuff started, that is."

I started to zone out, losing interest. My exhaustion was catching up to me again. I might've been unconscious for a little while, but what I needed now was some real sleep.

Sheena returned around five minutes later, looking like she had gotten her irritation under control. Then came Presea and a red-faced Genis, carrying bundles of firewood and twigs to use as kindling. Why Genis was blushing, I would never know. It was pretty safe to assume that he'd embarrassed himself again, though. Not that Presea had noticed.

Genis started the fire with some of his nifty magic, and suddenly we could see each other clearly and everything was warm. I sank down on to my side, pulling off my coat and using it as a pillow. As everyone else held a murmured conversation, I closed my eyes and instantly started to relax.

Fooji Mountains...Rheairds...trap...Yuan...Kratos.

No. I'd worry about that in the morning...

I was honestly too tired to care about anything right now. Within a few minutes, I fell into a deep and dreamless sleep.

* * *

**A/N: So! I still don't know what to say. I really should go to bed since I've gotta get up in like four hours, so yeah....XD**

**Review, review, review! And Zelos will give you a piggyback ride free of charge! Or if you're a dude, uh...Sheena will...do something! :D**

**Next time: Yuan and Pronyma and Kratos, oh my!**


	36. Welcome Back, Colette

**A/N: Whew, that one took forever. I don't know why, but it was just really hard to write. XD Anyway, I don't even know what else to say. It's past my bedtime.**

**Enjooooy~!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

It was a long walk to the Fooji Mountains. Though I guess it wasn't that surprising, since everything around here took forever. The worst part was that we weren't actually going to be able to use the Rheairds yet...when would we be getting them, then? I strained to remember.

First came the Fooji Mountains and the confrontation with all those Cruxis people. Then we would head into Meltokio through the sewers-hey, wasn't that when we would meet Regal? Sweet! And after that, we'd get the Elemental Cargo and go to...Sybak? Yeah, we would have to go see Kate. Then came the Gaoracchia Forest, the fight with Regal, Mizuho, Altessa, Ozette, the Temple of Lightning...Christ, we still had a ways to go before we'd get those damn Rheairds. I hated walking all the time.

...Then again, I wasn't sure I'd have the courage to get on a Rheaird again after our little crash landing last time. I was afraid of heights already, and now I would have that lovely little memory in the back of my mind.

"Hey, Brit."

Oh, Lloyd was talking to me. We had been silent for a while, since we had already been walking for a day and had exhausted what little topics there were to talk about. I looked over at him as he fell back from the group.

"Yeah, what is it?" I recognized that look on his face. He intended to talk about something private. It was a good thing we were already lagging behind, out of earshot.

"...I've been thinking," he said after a moment.

"Really?" I said, acting interested at this rare occurence. He rolled his eyes.

"Let me finish," Lloyd said, shoving me lightly. "I was thinking about what happened back in Sybak."

"Hm? What about it?" I asked, wondering where he was going with this. When Lloyd started conversations like this, it usually meant he was going to pry another secret out of me. Which one would it be this time? I had a treasure trove of them.

"I don't know. Everything," he said, frowning. "About Presea..."

"Mm," I let out a sigh. "She's just like me."

"Exactly. They have that Angelus Project over here, too." Lloyd was staring at the Exsphere embedded in his hand. "You said it made Exspheres into Cruxis Crystals with a special Key Crest, right?"

I nodded. "Remember? My Key Crest didn't look right to you when we met up after that Desian attack on Luin."

"Yeah, I remember now..." He murmured thoughtfully. "I never really took a close look at Presea's Key Crest, so I didn't notice anything weird about it."

After a moment, Lloyd spoke up again. "Hey...Colette's like this because of her Cruxis Crystal, right? And Presea's Exsphere is supposedly going to turn into a Cruxis Crystal. D'you think that's why Presea acts so much like Colette? Maybe she wasn't always so emotionless like that."

Well, Lloyd was catching on. I guess it wasn't too much of a shock, though...after all, I had supplied him with some information ahead of time. He wasn't supposed to know all this about the Angelus Project right now. I couldn't see anything wrong with telling him this now, though.

"I think you're right," I said. "When you made me that new Key Crest to place over my old one, I remember feeling like everything had...I don't know, intensified. It was strange, but...maybe I was just in the early stages at the time."

The brunette suddenly looked interested. "A Key Crest...maybe we could give Presea one, too?"

I fingered my Exsphere nervously. "Maybe. But we should probably get Dirk to make it. Your handiwork was okay for mine, but I think it was only because we stopped the parasitic process early."

Lloyd's face fell. "...You're probably right. That means we can't really do anything until we get the Rheairds back."

"And we're back to square one," I said helpfully. "On the bright side, as soon as we get back to Sylvarant, this means we can help Presea and Colette."

He looked over at me. "...Shouldn't we tell the others?"

I fell silent for a moment, staring at their backs. No one seemed to have taken notice of our private conversation. As Presea and Colette walked along quietly, Genis and Raine seemed to be talking to each other. Zelos had tried talking to Sheena, only to receive a swift smack.

...Though they were my friends and I cared about them, I really didn't want to tell that whole story right now. We already had enough to worry about.

"We'll have time after we get the Rheairds back, won't we?" I asked after a moment.

Lloyd heaved a sigh. "You always put it off. We were supposed to tell them in Sybak. We can't save Presea on our own, you know. We've gotta tell them all the stuff you found out from Yuan."

"But it doesn't really matter if we tell them after, right?" I stared at the ground, unable to meet his gaze. "...Please, Lloyd."

"All right, all right," he said, rolling his eyes. "Just promise me. Once we're done getting the Rheairds back, we'll tell them everything. Okay?"

"...I promise," I said reluctantly. I wasn't looking forward to retelling everything. Not to mention, Zelos hadn't been with us for that long, so he'd probably think I was batshit. Unless he'd heard about my background from the Renegades or Cruxis. I guess that was possible, too.

We fell silent for a little while after that. The Fooji Mountains loomed off in the distance; despite how close they looked, I knew we still had two or three days of traveling to go. Oh man, and we'd have to hike up the mountain this time instead of down...that was gonna suck. Maybe I would pass out again, and then I wouldn't have to tell my long-winded story. That would be good.

Raine...I was worried enough about Zelos, but I had a feeling Raine wouldn't believe me. Hadn't she been skeptical when Sheena had told her story? And Sheena had had proof; she was a summoner. What proof did I have? Absolutely none. I had a few scraps of clothes left from Earth, a navel ring, and an earring. That was it. And those didn't really prove anything at all.

Maybe I could show them that pocky box...agh, but I had a feeling it was long gone. I had lost track of that thing ages ago. It was impossible to carry something like that around for weeks and not have it get all crushed in my bag.

Either way, all I had with me were memories of Earth. And my knowledge of this place, but I wasn't going to reveal that to them. That story was even more outrageous.

"Hunny~!"

No, Zelos. Not answering you. Too deep in thought.

I pretended to fiddle with something on my coat, acting as if I hadn't heard him at all. Only a few seconds passed before I saw something pink out of the corner of my eye, and Zelos leaned over to put his face very close to mine.

"Are you listening?" He asked abruptly, and I instantly flinched and stumbled backwards.

"Gah!" I regained my footing, nearly bumping into Lloyd. "Don't do that!"

"Hey, don't get mad!" He said, grinning. "I didn't mean to scare you, my little spitfire."

"You...nngh," I rubbed my forehead, finally looking up to meet his gaze. "What is it, Zelos?"

He sobered a little, which piqued my interest. Was he actually about to ask a serious question? I couldn't imagine what it would be.

"I've been wondering about something," he said, looking up at the sky for a moment.

The others looked over curiously as well; I had stopped lagging behind so much, so I was now walking near the middle of the group rather than in the back. I was surprised Sheena hadn't interrupted him yet; I could tell she was waiting for him to say something stupid.

"Yeah?" I said, staring over at him. He met my gaze, and I realized that this was one of those rare moments where Zelos was completely serious.

"Back in Sybak..."

Oh, God.

"...you knew what was going to happen, didn't you?"

That got the whole group's attention. Lloyd was giving me a very intense stare, and I shifted uncomfortably. Dammit...and I had been getting a little sloppy with my acting lately, too.

I raised my eyebrows at him. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You took Raine and Genis out of the room right before the Papal Knights came along," Zelos elaborated. I frowned at him.

"Yeah, but that didn't save them. I..." I paused, frantically trying to think about what my explanation for it was. Crap! I should have been thinking about this when I had time!

"I wanted to tell them that I thought we were being watched," I finally said. "It would've looked weird if I took all of you guys out of the room at once."

"What tipped you off?" Zelos asked.

I shook my head uneasily. "I didn't know for sure if we were or not. It was just a hunch...and I didn't want to just stay quiet and kick myself for it later."

"Why did the knights come after us, anyway?" Genis spoke up. "They didn't know that we were half-elves when they first approached us. They just said something about us being traitors..."

"It was because we were talking about going back to Sylvarant," Lloyd said. "I got Zelos to agree to come with us, and then they just came out of nowhere..."

I let out a quiet sigh, relieved at the new turn the conversation had taken. I really didn't like being put on the spot like that.

But Zelos wasn't done yet. "...So you really had no idea they were half-elves," he said in a lower voice now, staring at me with his eyebrows slightly raised. Dammit...I had underestimated Zelos. I had really thought it would be Raine who would question me like this afterwards.

"No, I was just as surprised as you guys were," I replied, trying to keep my expression neutral.

"Hmm." Zelos stared at me for a moment, and didn't say anything more on the subject. That troubled me; he hadn't confirmed if he even believed my story or not. I had a feeling it was the latter.

"What are you even getting at?" Sheena asked, frowning at him. He immediately perked up, smiling over at her.

"Eh? I was just making conversation, Sheena. My poor little spitfire was looking so neglected!" He said in mock sorrow, grabbing my arm and pulling me close to him. Blushing, I immediately squirmed away as Sheena started bitching at him again.

I couldn't help but notice that the Professor had begun to stare at me. She had been listening to Zelos' remarks, and was now regarding me with her stern blue eyes. I looked away, uncomfortable. First Kratos, then Lloyd, Zelos, and Raine...I felt like the protective shroud of lies I had created was slowly being torn apart piece by piece. Maybe Lloyd was right about telling everyone the truth...at this rate, they might make their own guesses and get the wrong idea.

As always, I'd put off worrying about it till the last minute...

* * *

Two days passed. We were currently setting up camp at the base of Mount Fooji, which we had finally reached. I was glad we wouldn't have to hike up the mountain after a long day of walking, but I also didn't exactly like the idea of starting the trek first thing in the morning. And then once we finally made it to the top...ugh. Yuan. Maybe I'd like him more if he didn't always seek to cause trouble at the worst possible moments.

For now, though, I was content to just think of the fact that now I could finally wind down and relax for a bit.

"Brittany," I heard Raine murmur, and felt a hand on my shoulder. "Could I speak with you for a moment?"

Scratch that. No relaxation time tonight.

Almost as a reflex, I glanced around the campsite. Genis hadn't heard; he was too concentrated on the meal he was preparing. Lloyd and Zelos had gone off to gather firewood, meaning the only two people who honestly could have heard us were Presea and Colette. Raine wanted a private conversation, and she was going to get one. Lloyd wasn't around to save my ass. I could only hope what she was going to talk to me about was relatively innocent.

"Sure, Professor," I said as casually as I could. I allowed her to lead me a little ways away from the campsite, attempting to somehow relax.

We paused under the cover of a large maple tree, facing each other. Professor Sage was giving me the same look from a few days ago, and I resisted the urge to avoid her gaze. That'd just make me seem more suspicious.

"...So what is it, Professor?" I asked after a moment.

She lowered her eyes for a second, frowning. Then she looked up at me again. "You were lying to Zelos the other day."

"About what?" I asked hesitantly, feeling as if my insides had shriveled up and died.

"I just want to hear the truth, Brittany," Raine said sternly. "You...you knew that Genis and I were half-elves, didn't you?"

"Wh-What makes you think that?" I was pretty sure I looked surprised, but it was only because I was so damn nervous.

She let out a sigh, looking up at the night sky. "You're smarter than you let on. The day before we flew to the Tower of Salvation, you revealed to me that you knew the truth about Colette, something I had suspected for quite a while based on your behavior. I'm getting the same feeling from you now." Raine's eyes narrowed slightly. "You've only explained that day in Sybak in vague terms. Elaborate for me...if only for my peace of mind."

I could only stare at the ground, resisting the urge to fidget. "I don't know how else you want me to say it..."

"If you wanted to inform us about your hunch, then I alone would have sufficed," Raine said. "Why was my brother necessary? Why not Lloyd? It all seems too convenient that you chose the two of us."

"But I..."

"Separating us from the group wasn't necessary either, despite Zelos' presence. Had Zelos intended for us to be captured and imprisoned, he wouldn't have offered to help us back in Meltokio. Though I'll admit I do not fully trust that man, I don't believe it's plausible that he would have had anyone else keeping watch over us," the Professor continued, making me more uneasy with every word.

"Professor, I...I guess I know where you're coming from, but really...if I'm lying to you, what do you think I was trying to do?" I asked, crossing my arms. "There's no way I could've found out that you two were half-elves just like that...neither of you gave me any reason to suspect it, either." I paused for a moment, abruptly having a horrifying thought. "...You don't think I led you two out there to be captured, do you?"

Raine shook her head. "...No. I don't believe you would do something like that. If you truly hated half-elves, you wouldn't have fought the Papal Knights like that as we were being taken away."

I frowned. "...What do you think, then, Professor? I don't understand...why don't you believe me?"

"I don't know," she admitted after a moment. "There's something...strange about your story. If I'm wrong, forgive me."

Placing a hand to her chin, she looked thoughtful. Then she turned away. "However, if I'm not...I would prefer for you to tell me the truth before I attempt to find out for myself. Good night, Brittany."

I blinked. "...Night, Professor."

With that, she vanished into the shadows, walking back to camp. I stared at her disappearing orange back.

Tell the truth, huh...it was too bad I could only tell part of the truth. She might learn of my background, but she would never learn the real reason why I pulled them aside on that day in Sybak.

I didn't think she'd be able to handle the full truth. How would you feel if someone told you that they had known everything about you from the day you met? No, I didn't think any of them could bear hearing the truth...

* * *

It was a long walk to the mountain's summit. Not that I had expected it to be short or anything, but still...ugh. Even after all this time, I still wasn't much of a hiker. I had gone hiking in the White Mountains back home before, but I had always been the person who needed to stop for a break every five seconds. Possibly because I had always gone with my dad, and my dad was more in shape than most twenty-year-olds.

Dad...how long had it been? More than three months, now. If I remembered correctly, today was September nineteenth. Today was the birthday of one of my childhood friends...but she had gone off to college, and I hadn't seen her since spring break. We used to be neighbors...we had gone from chasing after the ice cream truck together at ten years old to driving to the movies together at sixteen. We'd buy too much popcorn, get lost on the way to the bathrooms, and laugh far too loudly during the movie.

I let out a sigh, reminiscing. I had taken all that for granted...I couldn't believe that I might never get to do that sort of thing again. I had adapted to living in this world, but I really missed Earth.

Ah, well. It wasn't doing me any good just thinking about it like this. I needed to find something else to occupy my mind with until we made it to the summit.

The path we walked on grew narrow again, and I did my best to stay away from the edge. No one was behind me, so they didn't notice me slow down; once the path widened again, I jogged to catch up with the others. It had been going this way for a while. I liked my spot at the back of the group, though I guess sometimes it could be inconvenient; I doubted anyone would notice right away if I fell and cracked my head or something. At least I had time to think without getting any unwanted attention.

Of course, I had been avoiding Raine and Zelos all day. I knew I would have to talk to them sooner or later or they'd just get more suspicious, but I really didn't want to. I was afraid I would say the wrong thing and put myself in an even worse position. In a way, Zelos scared me more because he was better at figuring these things out. I mean, he was the only one in the game who had suspected Regal's true identity. All of the others had just accepted his strange civility and knowledge without question, despite the fact that most convicts wouldn't be so articulate.

What would I do if Zelos confronted me? No, he wouldn't...would he? I had a feeling he might point out my suspicious remarks and activities at some point, though. Damn, I would really have to be careful from now on. I hadn't expected to have to worry about Zelos.

Even the way he'd been acting the other day...if the others thought about it enough, they might take notice the way Raine had. I had a feeling that Zelos had put me on the spot like that on purpose. He knew something was off about me; who better to recognize that besides a triple agent?

Ugh...I had a feeling that I was going to grow old very fast with all this worrying.

Up ahead, everyone seemed to be having their own conversation. Sheena was uneasily explaining where Volt's temple was, and Lloyd kept firing away questions, too excited to notice her obvious discomfort. Well, I'd leave them to their own devices for a while. I still had a lot of pesky thoughts to sort out.

Frowning, I ran the upcoming scene through my head. Even though I had beaten the game multiple times, after several months away from home and everything familiar, the memories had grown a bit fuzzy. We would make it to the summit...ah, and then Zelos would spring the trap. Everyone would be caught except, conveniently, Colette. Then...

Ah, crap. We were gonna meet Pronyma for the first time. Well, at least she wasn't as creepy as Rodyle...but they both had some pretty strange getup. So we were gonna have to fight her, weren't we? Great, I had forgotten all of the moves she used. I could hear her annoying voice shouting "Leonazium!" over and over in my head, but I couldn't figure out for the life of me what that attack looked like. It was probably something that hurt. A lot.

Okay, so I'd just run like hell whenever I heard her yell that. Or maybe I'd use Zelos as a human shield. What? Magic swordsmen in the group automatically took on the role of meat shield to me. Zelos was filling in the empty slot left by Kratos, therefore he was my new shield. It was all part of the package.

That thought made me smile slightly, but I had never been able to keep up with Kratos, and I had a feeling Zelos would be the same. Magic swordsmen were too moble to be good shields. I'd just have to wait and see if I could use Regal later on, then. God forbid I actually learn how to effectively defend myself. Heh.

Ahead of me, the others had quieted down a bit. I noticed Sheena slinking to the back of the group where I was walking, and quickly dropped my train of thought in favor of talking to her. She fell in step with me, letting out a sigh.

"'Sup?" I asked, smiling over at her. "...Something wrong?"

She looked over at me, before shaking her head. "Ah, no. It's just been a long couple of days."

"You're telling me," I said, sighing as well. The worst part was, they were about to get longer.

"Are you feeling okay?" she asked me.

"Huh? Yeah, I'm not about to collapse or anything, if that's what you mean," I replied, shrugging. "Just the usual amount of exhaustion."

"I guess that'll change once we get the Rheairds," she remarked, smiling with a slightly bitter edge. I just frowned.

"Yep, I'll just be terrified and clinging to Lloyd all the time," I said.

"What about me?" Lloyd called suddenly from further up, looking over his shoulder.

"Nothing, nothing at all!" I called back. "Talk to Genis or something, Lloydo."

He rolled his eyes, but didn't press any further. He returned to whatever he'd been doing previously. Sheena gave me a look, and then seemed to let my strangeness slide. She looked out ahead of us.

"Oh, right...I forgot you were afraid of heights."

I snorted. "The whole crash landing from last time didn't exactly help."

"It won't happen again, so don't worry!" she insisted. "Besides, maybe riding on the Rheairds will help you get over your fear."

"Hmm...I hope so," I said doubtfully. "I guess if we've got the pact with Volt, then we won't have to worry about another incident like before..."

"Right...Volt," she murmured, staring at the ground. I watched her for a moment, frowning slightly.

Volt...that pact wasn't gonna be fun. I was sure I'd have a panic attack beforehand while trying to think of a way to save Corrine. Oh, and there was Sheena, too. Naturally the first person I thought of was myself when it came to stuff like this...ugh. Sheena had it worse than I did. I didn't want to send her into a brooding mood...maybe I'd just change the subject.

"So, how was your time in Mizuho?" I asked suddenly. "Did you get chewed out or anything?"

"Hm?" She faltered, looking surprised at the completely off-topic question. I did notice that she seemed a little relieved, though. "Oh...I accepted the necessary punishment, but it was a lot better than I expected. You guys didn't complete the regeneration ritual, which means I technically accomplished at least part of what I was sent out to do."

"Even if it wasn't intentional," I added with a wry smile, and she smiled back.

"By the way, I forgot to ask...things went okay in Meltokio, right?"

I blinked. "Wellll...not exactly. The king was sick, so we snuck into the castle and knocked out a knight and-"

"You WHAT?" She cut me off, staring at me wide-eyed.

"They wouldn't have let us get an audience otherwise!" I whined.

"I can't leave you guys alone for five minutes..." she murmured, facepalming. Zelos, meanwhile, had overheard our conversation. He was grinning back at us.

"Yep, it was a good thing the Great Zelos was there, wasn't it?"

"Oh, please," Sheena grumbled.

"No, he did save our asses," I admitted. "The Pope wanted to kill us or imprison us, or something along those lines. Speaking of which, that guy's a real dick. Shouldn't religious leaders be teaching tolerance and compassion and all that stuff? All that dude's got going for him is a creepy mustache and a hilarious hat."

"Y'know, you could get into some serious trouble if someone overheard you saying that," Zelos remarked, looking very amused nonetheless.

"What the hell, we're already fugitives," I said, waving one hand in a dismissive gesture.

"True, true," he confirmed, and Sheena sighed.

"Hey, Zelos!" Lloyd called from the front of the group. "We're here."

I noticed then that the path had started to level out, and there was just one more short slope to walk up before we would reach the top of the mountain. Crap.

"So what's your big plan?" Lloyd asked as we all clustered together on the path, stopping temporarily. Everyone turned to look at Zelos, and I felt nervousness begin to creep into my system. I always worried a lot, but the real fear didn't come till a minute or so before the shit hit the fan.

"Oh, right," Zelos said, smiling confidently. "C'mere for a sec. I'll show you."

He started walking out into the clearing ahead, and we followed him like a bunch of mindless cattle. Fighting Pronyma on the top of a mountain...oh God, now I was really nervous.

We had just reached the center of the clearing when I heard a low click; that was probably the sound of the trap being triggered. Everyone looked around, wondering what it was, when suddenly a cage of diamond shaped I-don't-know-whats surrounded us. Seriously, I had no idea what the hell they were. I wasn't about to touch them to find out, though. For all I knew, they would cut my fingers off.

"Wh-What's going on?" Sheena was looking around wildly, fumbling for her cards. I noticed that Colette had been conveniently lagging behind a little bit, and as a result was now trapped on the other side of the prison. That could be a very good or very bad thing for us, depending on if her klutziness would save us like it was supposed to.

"You've walked right into my trap, fools!" Ah, it was Yuan. I half expected him to cackle evilly to fit the mood, but he was obviously too cool for that.

Lloyd swore, instantly drawing out his swords and slashing at the cage surrounding us. They scraped against it with a loud screech, but didn't so much as make a dent.

"Genis," he said, "can't you use your magic-"

"It's useless," Yuan said, cutting him off. "You'll only kill yourselves if you use magic in such an enclosed space."

He then turned away, leaving us with our frustration for a moment. It looked like he was giving orders to a few of his men, presumably to collect the Rheairds.

"What now?" Genis hissed, looking around at all of us.

"We wait till they he takes this damn cage down, and then we kick the crap out of him," I said instantly.

"I dunno if it's gonna be that easy, hunny," Zelos said helpfully, and I didn't even spare him a glance. I felt like if he saw my expression, he'd realize that I knew he had led us into this.

Yuan had turned back to us, and he was smirking. That probably wasn't a good sign.

"This time, you're mine, Lloyd."

Oh dear God, the images. That was such a creepy thing to say. Did he even realize how many different ways that statement could be interpreted?

"Damn!" Lloyd growled, gripping his drawn swords tightly.

Suddenly a bright light appeared to the left of us, though it was kind of hard to see with the spinning diamond-things blocking our view. Those things were starting to make me dizzy, and I really hoped they'd disappear soon before I threw up.

The light faded, leaving behind the daunting figure of Pronyma. And holy crap, she was actually kind of hot. In a scary way. Not that I was into chicks or anything, but I recognized a good looking woman when I saw one. Now if she could only get rid of that weird Desian getup in favor of something normal, she might have a chance at not frightening men off. Not that that had anything to do with what was happening now, but the random thoughts helped distract me from the building tension.

Yuan didn't look too happy at Pronyma's appearance, since he was kind of up to Renegade business right now. Either way, it was bad news for us.

"Oh?" She arched a delicate eyebrow at the sight of the seraph. "Lord Yuan, what brings you to this place?"

"I should ask you the same, Pronyma," Yuan said, not bothering to hide his irritation. "Tethe'alla is not under your jurisdiction. Why have you left the declining world?"

In playing the part of the angry superior, he had effectively avoided answering the question. It might make him seem suspicious nonetheless, but thankfully Pronyma seemed rather disinterested right now.

"I have come here on Lord Yggdrasill's order to retrieve the Chosen," Pronyma replied, casually glancing over in the direction of the blonde. "Please turn her over to me."

"Fine," Yuan said, frowning. "But in exchange for handing over the Chosen, I will be taking custody of the host body. I trust you have no objections?"

Wait, what? He was supposed to mention Lloyd at this point...though I guess randomly saying "Lloyd's mine btw" when the guy had nothing to do with Yggdrasill's plans might seem kind of suspicious. Still...host body? Was he referring to Presea?

Oh, right, that was stupid. Of course he'd be referring to me, because that's who Pronyma was now looking at. Ugh! What did Yuan want with me all of a sudden? This had to be some sort of coverup, so that Pronyma wouldn't know the real reason why Yuan was here.

"Hm..." Pronyma frowned slightly at that. "Very well, my lord. I have received no orders in regards to her; please take care to remove that Key Crest if you intend to continue the process."

Yuan simply gave her a look that said he didn't need her instructing him on how to "continue the process", which I suspected was the same sort of process Presea was going through. This little conversation was making me highly uncomfortable, as many of our group members had sent several glances in my direction in the past minute or so. But then Pronyma was approaching Colette, and everyone's attention instantly focused on our favorite blonde haired Chosen.

"Colette!" Lloyd cried, "Don't go!"

Pronyma paused just long enough to smirk derisively at the brunette. "It's futile. Your words cannot reach a Chosen who has lost her soul."

She turned to move closer to Colette, and we all watched helplessly. Sheena tried using a few of her cards on the prison surrounding us, but they simply desintigrated upon touching the diamond-things. I didn't bother trying to escape; if Lloyd's swords hadn't been able to do the trick, I highly doubted anything I tried would work.

"...What is this?" Pronyma sneered. "Why is there such a crude Key Crest upon the Cruxis Crystal? ...How pathetic. I shall remove this ugly thing at once."

She reached out one gloved hand, and we all tensed as her fingers inched toward the gift Lloyd had given Colette just days before. Suddenly Pronyma's hand was swatted away, however, as Colette abruptly threw up her arms.

"No!" she cried, her eyes squeezed shut.

I was pretty sure everyone in the group gasped at that, staring at Colette with complete shock. Pronyma's eyes had widened as well, and she had paused to watch the Chosen with surprise. Colette took that opportunity to back away a few steps, opening her eyes again. I felt immense relief when I saw that they had reverted to their normal shade of blue. She was finally back...

"This is a birthday present from Lloyd! I won't let you have it!" Colette said defiantly, glaring at Pronyma. Wow, I had never seen her glare at anyone like that before.

"Colette!" Lloyd called. "Are you back to normal?"

She looked over at us, and her eyebrows flew up. It was almost as if she hadn't even realized we were there. "...What? Everyone..."

"Impossible..." I heard Yuan murmur, but he didn't sound altogether upset. If Colette wasn't a soulless puppet, then she couldn't be used by Cruxis.

"How could this happen?" Pronyma scowled. "Still...it makes no difference in the end. I'll simply remove it. Now, come with me!"

The Desian leader moved forward, reaching out once more for Colette. The blonde stepped backwards again, pulling out her chakrams.

"Stay away from me!" she yelled, spinning in a circle to gain momentum for one of her chakrams, before sending it flying at Pronyma. The Desian was forced to dodge, but the spin had caused Colette to lose her balance; the Chosen stumbled backwards, caught her foot on a small metal box on the ground, and fell on her butt. The box she had hit was kicked out of position, causing one of the wires connected to it to tear. It started sparking and making altogether not-good sounds.

"Oh, no, I think I broke it..." Colette murmured, dismayed.

"...You can't be serious..." I heard another voice mumble, and turned my head to see Yuan facepalming. Despite the circumstances, I very nearly broke down into a fit of laughter right then. Poor Yuan...the Renegades were like the Team Rocket of Symphonia. They had all these clever plans, and they failed epically every time.

Right on cue, the barrier around us dissipated and we were free. Everyone instantly drew out their weapons, no longer restricted by floating diamonds of death.

"That's our Colette!" Genis said, grinning.

"Good job, my little Colette!" Zelos sang happily. "I think I'm falling in love!"

Raine and Sheena sighed, probably for completely different reasons, while I just opted to smile at Colette. I really was glad to see those blue eyes of hers again. Though she couldn't have been in that condition for much more than two weeks, it had still felt like an eternity since she had been her normal self. Hell, I knew I hadn't heard her voice in a very long time. Since the Tower of Mana...man, that seemed like forever ago.

Lloyd had approached Colette, and she was currently thanking him profusely for the birthday present. He just mumbled back a reply or two, probably too awed by the fact that she was really back to think clearly. I was happy she was back, but this wasn't exactly the time to have a welcome back party. Pronyma was slowly approaching with an icy look in her eyes, and I saw Yuan heave a sigh as he reached one arm out to his side. His swallow materialized in his hand, and he fell into a battle stance. I seemed to be the only one noticing this.

"Uh, guys..." I said tentatively, trying to hint at the fact that we were about to get our asses handed to us.

Pronyma was one thing, but Yuan? Yuan wasn't supposed to be in this fight! He was supposed to just stand to the side and wait his turn! Okay, I guess that didn't make sense, but still...the last thing I wanted was to fight yet another insanely overpowered seraph.

"Impudent fools..." Pronyma sneered. "Prepare to die!"

That caught everyone's attention, and we all readied ourselves. Yuan was moving calmly toward us, and I started moving so that I could put Pronyma between me and him. I did not want to clash weapons with Yuan. We were on the top of a freaking mountain, and I wasn't in the mood to get tossed over the edge.

Rather than get mauled by the seraph, the first person I went to attack was Pronyma. Unfortunately, that weird metal...thing surrounding her actually did pretty well at deflecting sword attacks, and left me very frustrated. She immediately dodged away when she saw Colette's chakrams flying in her direction, swinging her staff to deflect them. I covered Colette while she ran to retrieve her weapons, and Sheena ran up to help me out.

Genis and Raine, meanwhile, were hanging back with Zelos to cast. Lloyd and Presea bravely tackled Yuan and were knocked back with relative ease. I winced, more worried about Presea than I was about Lloyd, since Yuan really didn't give a damn what happened to her.

"Leonazium!" Eh? She was using that tech I had been thinking about earlier.

Pulled out of my distraction, I suddenly found myself being attacked by a lion's head made out of mana, and the impact sent me sprawling on to my back. That was what it was, a cheap ripoff of Beast? Agh...but it hurt. It just wasn't fair.

Pronyma had knocked Sheena back, and was now glaring down at me. She lifted her staff.

"Agarazium!" What? Why did she have so many weirdly named techs?

This time a weird force pummeled me from below, preventing me from regaining my footing. I attempted to at least get to my knees, but the world was spinning and I was completely disoriented. I was vaguely aware of the Desian's approach, but I couldn't do anything about it.

"Devastation!" I heard Presea yell, and suddenly a pink blur appeared in front of me. Pronyma let out an angry grunt as she was forced to dodge the swing of the girl's axe.

The world gradually stopped spinning as Presea and Sheena held off Pronyma, and I stumbled to my feet as I attempted to figure out what was going on. Genis raised his kendama, casting Eruption on Yuan, since Lloyd was currently going it alone and losing horribly. Raine cast Acuteness, and I saw my weapon flash for a brief moment.

Oh crap...I knew who needed help the most. Why did I always end up getting pulled in to stuff like this? I really was going to end up being a pancake on the mountainside.

As Yuan recovered from being hit with Eruption and went in for another go at Lloyd, I made my way over there with no further hesitation. Lloyd was looking absolutely exhausted; his swords were basically held in a permanent defending X as Yuan pummeled away at them.

Running up behind the blue haired seraph, I jumped up into the air and spun. I hadn't had such good luck with this attack before, but...hey, second time's the charm.

"Hell Pyre!" I yelled, sending a ball of fiery mana in Yuan's general direction. He saw it coming at the last minute and dodged, but was still hit with the aftershock. Lloyd then took this chance to send a Demon Fang his way, causing the seraph to go on the defensive.

"Super Sonic Thrust!" I jabbed my sword forward, only to have it knocked off course by Yuan's swallow. I managed to evade a swipe from the sharp weapon, as Lloyd attacked once more.

"Dark Sphere!" Pronyma's voice came from our right, calling out the name of a spell that I vaguely remembered. I looked around, wondering who it had been directed at. When a huge glob of darkness suddenly manifested itself right around Lloyd, I figured it out.

The darkness contracted in on itself, enveloping the swordsman, before exploding out into the air. All I could hear was Lloyd crying out in pain. When the darkness faded, he crumpled to the ground, defenseless. Raine immediately cast Barrier to prevent him from being attacked in that state, while Zelos started casting a First Aid spell. Which left me to deal with Yuan, basically. Awesome.

"Hunting Be-"

"Thunder Blade!" Oh crap, that wasn't Genis. While I had been distracted with Lloyd, a certain blue haired seraph had been casting.

I immediately abandoned the tech I had been starting to use, throwing up Guardian and attempting to move out of the way. That was when the enormous blade crashed down next to me, and the world around me was suddenly electrified. This spell was far, far more powerful than the one Kvar had attacked me with. Guardian only dulled the effects a little; it was a struggle to keep the shield up while I was still being hit with electric shocks.

I grimaced in pain, doing everything I could to keep control of my body and not fall to my knees. When the spell ran its course and the sword vanished, I saw Yuan running straight at me.

"Guardian!" I threw up the barrier a second time, preparing for the worst. I managed to deflect a swipe from his weapon, but I noted that I was being steadily pushed back towards the summit's edge. Yuan wouldn't kill me, right? Right?

"Heavy Tiger Blade!" Lloyd cried, coming to my rescue. He was still looking a little worse for wear, but I was extremely grateful nonetheless. Allowing him to be the distraction for a moment, I used that opportunity to skirt my way around Yuan until I was safely away from the edge. That was when the two of us began attacking together again. Hopefully Pronyma wouldn't interrupt this time.

As we fought, I couldn't help but notice how Zelos was mostly hanging around and casting magic, as opposed to his usual role as a melee fighter. Not that he could exactly fight much in his position, when all of the parties present considered him an ally. I wondered, though, if anyone else would look back on this battle and find it a little suspicious. Probably not; no one had caught on to Zelos despite the way he'd just led us into a trap. As far as I knew in the game, no one remembered to ask him what his 'secret weapon' had been after the whole thing was over, either.

At one point Colette cast Judgment, which came as both a shock and a relief to me. I had forgotten she'd be able to cast it at this point in the game. The spell in general brought back some bad memories, but it succeeded in weakening Yuan and Pronyma at least a little.

"Ice Tornado!" That was Pronyma again, and this time almost half of the group was forced to send up their respective barriers. Yuan followed this up with a couple of his own attacks, and once again we were getting our asses kicked.

As Lloyd and I tried not to get our heads lopped off, we abruptly paused as I saw a flash of light from the corner of my vision. Yuan, thankfully, paused as well; otherwise we probably would've been seriously hurt in our moment of distraction. Then I noticed that everyone else had paused, including Pronyma; we were all regarding the new arrival with varying degrees of surprise.

The flash of light had faded, and in its place stood Kratos, clad in elegant shades of white and looking especially intimidating. His Judgment outfit really drove the reality of this home; he was really our enemy now. He wore the usual disinterested expression on his face, only there was a new quality of coldness to it. This was a man I had once trusted and confided in. Only two weeks had passed...and now he looked at me as if I was a bothersome fly that needed swatting.

"Kratos..." Lloyd whispered, shocked.

I missed the old Kratos now more than ever.

* * *

**A/N: Bawww. I do miss Kratty and all the amusing interactions with him. D:**

**Uh...I'm pretty much brain-dead right now. So...review! And...Kratos will love you? Okay, probably not...I'll just chuck Lloyd in your general direction, then. Do what you want with him. XD**

**Next time: We're going to SAAAAVE THE WORRRLDS! Onward to Meltokio!**


	37. True Origins

**A/N: Argh...this chapter hated me, too. D: Not to mention I had a bunch of distractions getting in the way. I just got through some horrible final exams, which involved writing six essays in three days, so I kind of felt all written out. XD This chapter's a little shorter than usual, but I figured I'd post it instead of taking like three weeks just to get that extra thousand words. :P**

**Anyway! Time for moar Kratters. At least the beginning of this chapter was fun to write. :D**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia or any of its awesome characters.**

* * *

The auburn haired seraph seemed to take no real interest in us, instead turning to Yuan. His lips turned down in a slight frown, as Yuan crossed his arms with clear annoyance.

"What are you doing here?" the Renegade leader asked immediately.

"Lord Yggdrasill has summoned you, Yuan," Kratos replied, and then looked over to Pronyma. "Leave, both of you. There has been a change in plans."

"What about the Chosen, my lord?" Pronyma asked, sending a cold glance in our group's direction.

"Leave her for now," the seraph answered.

"Hmph...very well," Yuan said, swiftly concealing his irritation. He sent one final glance at Lloyd, before walking over to Pronyma and revealing his wings.

Holy crap...it just never got old, did it? Yuan and Kratos' wings were amazing. As Yuan stood there, a bright spot of light began to glow beneath him, and then he and Pronyma disappeared in a flash. I assumed that they had warped back to Derris-Kharlan. If Colette could learn that angelic warping ability at some point, it would be very useful. As I was busy mulling over that prospect, I saw the others exchange surprised looks at Yuan being an angel as well.

And so, it was down to just us and Kratos. To say that the atmosphere was tense would have been a severe understatement; what made it even worse was the fact that it all seemed to be one-sided. I wasn't sure if it was just acting, but Kratos was looking completely unfazed.

My stomach curled in on itself, and I clenched my fists. Why? Why did it have to be this way? I had known it was going to happen, but...but that didn't make it hurt any less! Kratos was supposed to be back on our side in the end; that was kind of hard to believe, though, when he was standing right there and giving us such an indifferent look despite what he had done to us. It was like telling a high schooler that none of their present problems would matter once they grew older. It made sense, but as human beings we only saw what was currently right in front of us. The future was never a certainty, so it was hard to place so much faith in it.

We wouldn't be getting Kratos back on our side until very far in the future...I hated this. If this was all a charade to keep Cruxis fooled, couldn't there be some sort of sign to reassure me that it was so? I saw that Cruxis uniform, and everything within me boiled with anger. It was the symbol of everything that stood between us, and Kratos knew it. That was why he was wearing it. He wanted us to hate him, didn't he?

Finally, the silence became too much. Lloyd stepped forward from his spot beside me, and I could tell he was trying not to tremble with rage.

"Kratos," he spat. Although he looked angry, I could see the bitterness behind it.

After a moment of thought, I understood that Lloyd felt exactly the same way I did. We were upset...but no matter what Kratos did, we were never going to hate him. Lloyd probably despised himself for that fact. It was just too hard, though. The image of the mercenary we had spent our days with was too ingrained in our heads. We hadn't known each other for that long, but Kratos had helped me through some of the most difficult times of my life. I was sure Lloyd could say the same.

He was a bastard...but at least back then, he had been our bastard. Now we couldn't even say that much.

"Hmph," was Kratos' grunted reply. "Lloyd. Why have you come to Tethe'alla?"

"I came here to save Colette," Lloyd replied defiantly. "Why else?"

"And what good do you believe saving the Chosen will do?" Kratos challenged. "The relation of the two worlds vying for each other's mana will not change."

"But leaving Colette as she was would have just made her a target for you and the asshole brigade," I said, speaking up.

A glare from Kratos suggested that he didn't appreciate my creative use of language, but I no longer cared. The wound he had given me in the Tower had left a permanent scar, one that I would carry with me back home to Earth; a scar that I would never, ever be able to explain even to my family. That scar was going to haunt me for the rest of my life. I had a feeling Kratos would live if I could no longer be silenced with his infamous glares.

"Besides," I continued, "just because we're here for Colette doesn't mean we've forgotten about everything else. We're not planning on just waltzing on home after this, you know. Something has to change or history will just repeat itself."

"Is that so?" Kratos watched me, his gaze scrutinizing as ever. "Changing a system that has been in place for thousands of years is no easy task. You may think that the Journey of Regeneration has prepared you for hardship, but I assure you, that was nothing compared to the difficulties that surely lie ahead."

I grimaced. Thanks a lot for telling me what I already know, Kratos. That nasty truth never got any easier to hear. Things only ever got worse on this goddamn journey.

"I don't care," Lloyd spoke up. "Brittany's right; something has to change. We'll do whatever it takes...even if it means we'll have to fight you again." He looked down, his face darkening at that thought. Then he met Kratos' eyes once more.

"I swear," he said, "we're going to change this twisted system!"

Kratos watched us for a moment, and I thought I saw the shadow of a smirk pass across his face. It was there, and then it was gone. He turned away from us, his wings bursting out from his back in a brilliant flare of sapphire.

"Heh...well, do your best."

Just as he was about to leave, Raine stepped forward.

"Kratos, one more thing."

He at least had the courtesy to pause, and looked over his shoulder at the Professor. Her stern blue eyes were calculating for a moment, and she watched him carefully.

"What does Cruxis want with Brittany?"

I jerked a little at that unexpected question, looking over at Raine in surprise. Then I looked over at Kratos, and saw with dismay that he had been watching my reaction more than he had been watching the Professor herself. What did he see in my expression? I remembered him telling me that my acting sucked, so I suspected that he could probably read me like a book by now.

The auburn haired seraph considered us for another moment, before turning to face us once more. Was he actually going to answer that question? I already had an idea of what was going on from Yuan, but I was curious to see what Kratos had to say on the subject. I was pretty sure he had been kept in the dark during the regeneration journey, but he was clearly educated on the topic now.

"I think that is something you should be able to piece together on your own, Miss Sage," he replied, his eyes moving over our group as he spoke. "I suggest you start your investigation at the source of the issue. Unless you truly believe that Brittany has not yet recovered from her amnesia?"

I saw Lloyd stiffen at that, but I was pretty sure I went paper white. This was bad...now I no longer had the option. I had to tell everyone the truth. Despite my exhaustion, I felt a fresh adrenaline rush, brought on by my sudden feeling of panic.

"What are you talking about?" Sheena's eyes narrowed. Zelos and Raine were both giving me similar looks, probably yelling "Ha! I was right!" in their heads right about now. Only Raine looked more disappointed in me than upset.

Kratos raised an eyebrow at that. "Hmph...I have nothing more to say. If you wish to know the truth...then you will have to sift through the lies beforehand."

And then, before we could say anything further, he took to the air. We watched in complete silence as he flew off, vanishing out of sight. I had a very distinct sinking feeling in my stomach. Sift through the lies...from the way Kratos spoke, I had a feeling he knew far more about me than I wanted him to know. I sincerely hoped he had kept that information to himself.

As for now...

"That guy..." Genis scowled, breaking the silence. "He was just trying to turn us against Brittany, wasn't he?"

I stared at the ground, silent. I could feel Lloyd's eyes on me; he knew that if I didn't come clean now, I never would.

"But what did he mean?" Colette wondered aloud, looking over at me. "Brittany, you haven't recovered from your amnesia, right?"

My uneasiness was actually starting to give me a sense of vertigo, reminiscent of that evening right before the fateful trip to the Tower. They had all helped me then, each offering their own comfort without prying too much. Even Colette had come to talk to me, even though she had been the one suffering most of all.

"...Ugh," I finally said. "Lloyd, help."

"Now?" he questioned me quietly, and I nodded.

"Kratos pretty much just blew my cover," I replied in a quiet groan. "I'd might as well tell the truth before everyone starts speculating." Even though a few of them had probably been speculating for a while now.

"Brittany?" Sheena watched me with wide eyes. "Hold on, what are you saying? You've been lying to us?"

I smiled thinly. They weren't going to be happy with me either way. "Oh, yeah. Big time."

Raine's eyes narrowed, as Genis looked at me with sudden suspicion. "Explain," she said.

"Well, make yourselves comfortable," I said with a sigh, taking a seat on the rocky mountaintop. "This might take a little while. Plus, you're going to want to either put me in a straitjacket or throw me off the mountain by the time I'm finished, so you might want to brace yourselves."

"They're going to believe you," Lloyd assured me in a quiet voice, gripping my shoulder.

"What part are you playing in this, Lloyd?" the Professor asked, frowning.

Lloyd winced for a moment, hearing her tone; that was the tone she used when he was about to get kicked. Then he seemed to gather his resolve, and looked around at everyone.

"Look, guys, I'm sorry...but I promised I wouldn't say anything until she was ready. We were going to tell you everything right after we got the Rheairds..."

"Like I said, get comfortable," I repeated myself. "I'm about to explain what I remembered when I recovered from my amnesia."

Everyone either took a seat or found a more comfortable position in some manner, all of them glancing between me and Lloyd with some form of curiosity or suspicion. They trusted Lloyd, but I guess some of them were kinda pissed at him for keeping my secret. Man...I hadn't meant to get everyone angry at him.

"When did this happen?" Raine asked me. Well, here we go again...

"Right after I became a prisoner at the Asgard Ranch," I replied. "Everything came back to me then."

"You've known all this time? That was months ago!" Genis exclaimed.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Colette asked, and I shook my head.

"Who I am and where I'm from...it's one hell of a story, and it's not exactly a believable one. I was scared you guys wouldn't believe me...no, I'm still scared."

"Brittany..." Lloyd murmured.

"I'm okay," I lied to him, and then turned to the others. "Look, just let me explain without interruption, all right? You can save all your questions and comments for afterwards."

"All right," the Professor said, "we're listening."

When I determined that everyone was in fact doing just that, I began. Though I still felt rather uneasy with Zelos there, I just made a point of not looking at him as I spoke.

And so I told them, with Lloyd filling in for me whenever I faltered or hesitated. I told them about how I was from Earth, a technologically advanced world that existed without mana or magitechnology. I explained what had happened the day I had been taken to Sylvarant, how I had fallen unconscious after nearly crashing my car. Then I recited everything that Yuan had told me about Cruxis' plans, about my Exsphere, and about the Angelus Project.

When I finished, it was uncomfortably silent. Everyone watched me with mostly unreadable expressions, which caused Lloyd and I to start fidgeting. Soon the quietness became too much for me to handle; I heaved a sigh.

"Well? If you don't believe me, you'd might as well break the bad news to me so we can move on with our lives," I said.

"You mentioned that this world of yours has no mana. How is such a thing possible?" Raine voiced the same question that Lloyd had, when I had first told him.

I shrugged. "Things just work a lot differently there. There's no magic, or summon spirits, or elves, or any of that."

"It's all humans?" Genis asked, his eyes widening.

"Mmhmm," I confirmed. "Over six billion of us."

Everyone visibly faltered at that, even Lloyd; that was information I hadn't told him before.

"Yup, Earth's kind of big," I said. "And a tad overpopulated in some places. We've pretty much dominated the environment."

"I'm still finding this difficult to believe," the Professor said, as I had expected her to.

"Then don't believe me," I replied. "Just don't expect me to give you another explanation, because I can't. I've told the truth, and you'll find that all the evidence supports it, no matter how crazy it all is."

"Professor..." Lloyd murmured.

"We believed Sheena because she had proof of her origins," Raine said. "Can you say the same for yourself?"

I shook my head. "No...I don't have anything convincing, anyway. I guess I could use my knowledge of computers and technology as proof, but then you guys could just say that I'm from Tethe'alla or something." I paused for a moment, thinking, and then let out a sigh. "Both the Renegades and Cruxis know about me, but we're not exactly on speaking terms with either of them, so I don't think we could waltz up to them and ask them to back up my story."

"Look, guys..." Lloyd spoke up, frowning. "Who cares if she has proof? She's been with us for long enough that we know we can trust her, right? Why would she lie about something like this?"

"You say we can trust her, and yet she has lied to all of us about her origins from the very beginning," Raine pointed out. Lloyd winced.

"I did the same thing," Sheena said. "I didn't tell you guys anything about my origins for a while, either. I know what it's like...I wasn't sure if you guys would believe me, either."

I sent Sheena a grateful look, but I still wasn't sure if she even bought my story. I still couldn't tell how everyone felt about what had been said; the only person I knew was on my side was Lloyd.

"Well, you said your world is different because it doesn't have mana, right?" Colette spoke up, looking thoughtful. "And you're different because you don't need mana. So all you'd have to do to prove it is release all of the mana in your body!"

"Colette..." Genis sighed. "I don't know if that's such a good idea. If she's lying, she'll die."

"I'm not lying, and I wouldn't die," I said. "But...Yuan said I'd live if I lost all the mana in my body, but he didn't say that I'd be perfectly fine, either. For all I know, I could get really sick or something."

"I know!" Colette brightened again. "We could get the Rheairds back, and-"

"No, apparently that doesn't work," Lloyd said glumly. "Something about mana links..."

"That's right," Sheena said. "The two worlds are connected by mana links, and the Rheairds use that connection to break through the dimensional fissure. If the mana links disappeared, we wouldn't be able to go between the worlds."

"Yeah," I added. "Earth's not connected the way Sylvarant and Tethe'alla are. It's a separate world entirely."

"How did Yggdrasill manage to get over to your world, then?" Genis brought up the question that had been asked before, and I shook my head.

"I asked Yuan, but he said it wasn't important. Even though it kind of was," I said, rolling my eyes. "He's still hiding some stuff from me, I think."

"Hmm...and we can't ask him, either. He's obviously not on our side," Sheena remarked. She looked thoughtful for a moment, and then shrugged. "Well...whatever. It doesn't really add up, but I trust you, Brit. If you say you're telling the truth, then I believe you."

I hesitated at that, my eyes widening a little. There it was again...that almost blind faith. What had I ever done to deserve such good friends? Sheena...actually trusted me. She trusted me enough to believe a story that my own parents would have laughed at, had they been in her position.

"Well..." Zelos spoke up for the first time, and everyone looked over at him. "There is one thing we could do."

"And what would that be?" Raine asked.

"My little spitfire here has knowledge of technology that doesn't even exist in Sylvarant, right?" Zelos said, giving me a sidelong glance. "If she's lying, then she's gotta be from Tethe'alla. Her birth records should be in the Meltokio Archives."

"The Meltokio what?" Lloyd asked, looking confused. I was wondering the same thing. Unless I had missed something in the game, I was pretty sure whatever Zelos was talking about had never been mentioned.

"The Meltokio Archives," Sheena said, her eyebrows raised. "That's not a bad idea, Zelos." She turned to us. "The Archives keep a copy of the birth certificate of every person in Tethe'alla, with the exception of Mizuho. It's for the census they do every ten years."

"What if she's from Mizuho?" Colette asked, tilting her head.

"No, I know for a fact that she's not," Sheena replied. "We're kind of a tight-knit community. Anyway, everyone in Tethe'alla has several copies of their birth certificate scattered around, and the Archives are heavily guarded; it's virtually impossible to completely erase the evidence of your existence. If Brittany's telling the truth, then we won't find her birth certificate anywhere."

"What if she was born in Sylvarant, but has been to Tethe'alla?" Genis spoke up.

Oh, man...this was starting to make my head hurt. Why couldn't they be like Lloyd and Sheena and just believe me? Well...okay, maybe after the whole Kratos thing, they were a little wary. Still...ugh.

"...I don't think that's the case," Raine said after a brief hesitation.

"Why not, Raine?" her brother asked.

The Professor frowned. "...Before I decided to take Brittany on as a student, I administered a quiz to test her general knowledge."

"Oh, I remember seeing her take that," Lloyd said. "But what does that have to do with anything?"

"She failed," Raine replied. "She did well on every section except for history. She couldn't answer questions about Sylvaranti history that even Lloyd would have known. I suspect that before she met us, she had never been to our world before."

"Nngh..." I let out a quiet groan, rubbing my forehead. "Can we just check the Archives, then, guys? All this discussion is giving me a headache..."

"Yeah," Lloyd added. "We should get off this mountain before it gets dark, anyway."

"Current time: 4:15 pm. Approximately four hours and thirty minutes until sundown," Presea suddenly spoke, startling me. "Descent will be hazardous in darkness."

"P-Presea's right," Genis agreed. "We sh-should worry about all of this later, right Presea?"

"...Yes."

"Very well," the Professor said. "Let's get moving, then."

We all stood up, and after a quick check to make sure no one was wounded from the fight we'd just been in, we started back down the mountain. I felt kind of awkward, because I wasn't sure who really believed my story or not, and it still looked like most of the group was mulling over it. Rather than walk in silence, I decided to bring up a new subject.

"Colette," I said, catching up with the blonde Chosen. "How are you feeling? Is everything back to normal?"

"That's right," Lloyd spoke up, remembering. He immediately moved to walk alongside us as well. "You've got your voice back, too. Does that mean you can feel again?"

Colette smiled, looking honestly happy for the first time in I don't know how long. "Uh huh! The wind's kind of chilly up here, isn't it? Hehe...I think I'm even hungry!"

"That's great!" Lloyd said, his eyes lighting up.

"What a relief..." Genis let out a contented sigh.

"Ooh, I was right," Zelos murmured, looking over his shoulder at us. "Colette really is cuter when she smiles~!"

"Zelos, right?" Colette said, her blue eyes meeting his. "It's nice to finally be able to talk to you!"

"You remembered my name!" The redhead grinned. "Us Chosen have to stick together, you know what I mean?"

Colette nodded cheerfully. "Okay!"

"Hey, Colette. Since you can finally eat again, why don't you pick what we have for dinner tonight?" Lloyd asked, but Raine immediately shook her head.

"I'm afraid that kind of luxury will have to wait...we're very low on rations."

"Oh, it's okay," Colette said. "I'm just happy I can finally eat."

"We'll have to buy some more supplies somehow," I said, frowning. "If we're gonna check the Archives, we'd might as well get some stuff while we're in Meltokio."

"We're fugitives, though," Genis reminded us. "Is it really a good idea to be sneaking into the city just to check something? Besides, this isn't fair to Presea! We said we'd bring her home, and we're still dragging her along!"

"Oh, that's right!" Zelos said. "We've gotta bring Presea to that Kate chick, too."

"Unfortunately, the Grand Tethe'alla bridge is most likely still unusable," Raine remarked.

"Hmm...I've got contacts in Meltokio," Sheena told us. "We can try asking them for help."

"Well, that's convenient," Zelos said with a smirk. "We can check the Archives and get supplies at the same time."

"But that doesn't change the fact that we're wanted traitors," Genis pointed out.

"Relax, brat," the redhead said happily. "I know Meltokio like the back of my hand. Trust me, I'll find us a way in."

"Okay," Lloyd said, smiling. "We're counting on you, Zelos."

"You got it! You can always count on me, bud!" Zelos said, ruffling Lloyd's hair and causing me to snort. "Now, my hunnies, we're off to Meltokio!" He pumped one fist in the air, taking the lead and marching on down the path. I knew he'd probably slink back to the middle of the group in about five minutes.

"Heh." I grinned. "It's good to be making some progress. And now we've got Colette back!"

"Welcome back, Colette," Lloyd added, grinning along with me.

She smiled happily. "I'm glad to be back!"

* * *

We managed to make it to the base of the mountain by nightfall, and set up camp in the same spot we had camped out at the night before. All in all, I'd say we had accomplished a good amount today. Still, I found myself remaining quiet through many of the others' conversations; I couldn't help but brood over what had transpired.

Now that we had gotten that unpleasant incident over with, we were heading to get the EC...and then we'd cross the ocean and head over to Sybak. Well, at least we wouldn't have to cross that stupid bridge again. Though I had a feeling I'd be getting seasick right along with Raine once we got on that stupid thing...I had never really crossed a large body of water before on a ship, so I wasn't too sure how well I'd deal with it. Especially when the vehicle in question was never meant to be used in that way.

Oh, but before all that, we'd get to stay in Zelos' house again! No more camping out, awesome!

...But I'd be in a house full of people who were probably questioning their trust in me. They apparently didn't think I was a lunatic, at least...but I didn't really want them thinking of me as a liar, either. Oh, man...what was I going to do? Even though these Archives or whatever wouldn't have records of me, that still wasn't exactly solid proof. I had a feeling Raine wouldn't fully believe me either way. And then she'd start asking more of those prying questions and trying to figure out what my secret was, which would suck because I was still hiding something, and it'd all just be one big disaster...

I heaved a sigh, rubbing my forehead. I was overthinking things again...and I had absolutely no control over the situation, anyway. Kratos had effectively screwed me over and now I had to deal with it. If I managed to stay with the group until we bumped into Yuan again, maybe he could give me a hand. He probably wouldn't, though, because he was a jerk.

"...So you were aware of everything, the whole time?" Lloyd's surprised voice derailed my train of thought, and I decided to listen in on the coversation rather than brood.

Colette nodded. "Well, mostly. It was a little strange..."

"I'm assuming that means we don't have to fill you in on what's happened, correct?" Raine spoke up, shifting a little from her spot near the campfire.

"Yes, Professor," Colette confirmed. She was eating some of Genis' cooking; though tonight's meal was relatively simple, she still seemed to be enjoying it a lot. I couldn't imagine what it must've been like to be incapable of eating.

"I mean, I think I remember everything," the blonde said, looking thoughtful. Then her face fell. "I kicked that poor doggie..."

"Don't go blaming yourself for that, Colette!" Genis quickly said. "You weren't really in control at that point, either."

"I guess you're right..." Colette murmured, sighing. "I can always apologize to him when we go back there."

"I don't know if we'll have time to search the city for a stray dog..." Raine remarked, as Sheena just looked confused. The matter wasn't terribly important, so I didn't bother to offer an explanation.

"So, my little angel!" Zelos interrupted the conversation, grinning. "You remember how valiantly I defended you from those Papal Knights back at the Academy, right?"

The blonde paused, honestly stopping to think about it. "Um..."

Lloyd and Presea both gave Zelos a deadpan stare, and the redhead pouted.

"Well, it was worth a shot..." he muttered. Sheena rolled her eyes.

After a few moments, Lloyd spoke up with a frown. "...Hey, guys, I was thinking about something."

"Hm? What is it, Lloyd?" Colette asked.

"It's that Yuan guy," he explained. "He said he was the leader of the Renegades, right? But now suddenly we find out he's an angel, too? It doesn't make sense...who is he really working for?"

"My first guess would be that he's a double agent," Raine remarked. "From the way that Pronyma woman spoke to him, he seems to be someone of high rank. Working for Cruxis would be an easy way for him to keep an eye on Yggdrasill."

"Not only that," Sheena added, "but if Cruxis did all the research on Brittany and brought her here, it would make sense that Yuan knew so much about it."

Some of the others frowned at that, but I didn't offer any input. I just pretended to think hard about the matter at hand.

"We still don't know why he's after Lloyd," Genis pointed out. Raine shook her head.

"That still puzzles me as well..."

"Maybe he just really likes Lloyd, if you know what I mean-agh! Sheenaaaa!" That was Zelos, whose own comments were apparently not appreciated by the majority of the group. I was attempting to hide a grin as Lloyd looked disturbed.

"Uh..." The brunette looked like he wanted to ask, but was afraid to.

"Ignore him!" Sheena ordered.

"What?" Zelos whimpered. "He said 'You're mine, Lloyd.' Am I the only one here who finds that just a little sketchy?"

I snorted, and my shoulders started to shake with barely suppressed laughter. Oh, God, Zelos was so awesome for pointing that out. It was like he had read my mind.

"Don't encourage him!" Sheena said to me, glaring.

"Ew..." Lloyd facepalmed, probably trying to ignore Zelos' words.

Raine let out a sigh, looking a bit exasperated. "There are still many things we don't know about the situation. Regardless, all we can do now is push forward. Let's just focus on getting to Meltokio."

"Sounds good to me," I said, sobering. Then I stood up, stretching.

"Where are you going?" Genis asked me, noticing how I had turned in the direction of the trees.

I shrugged. "Just for a walk. Be back in a minute or two."

Raine nodded, not bothering to question me. By now, most of them knew my code; whenever I said I was going on a walk, I was most likely about to run off and dunk my head in a stream or something. I didn't like attempting to bathe in freezing cold rivers and streams, but I didn't like feeling disgusting all the time, either.

Zelos looked a little puzzled, but he'd probably understand when he saw me come back with my hair wet...oh dear God. It occurred to me that I might have to be a lot more secretive about bathing from today onward, or I might end up getting some unwanted company. Hopefully Sheena would force the guy to stay put.

Trying to shake off the thought of how mortifying it would be to have a certain pervert spy on me, I headed away from the campsite and in the direction of the nearest mountain stream. I would stay close to the base of the mountain, where there were lots of trees...at least that would provide some cover.

Of course, half the time I went on walks, cleaning myself up wasn't the real reason behind it. Lloyd could always tell when I was brooding and he'd harrass me about it as a result. So, lately, I had been using bathing as an excuse; as long as I came back looking like I had gotten wet, no one would realize that I had actually run off to wallow in my own angst.

I frowned, continuing onward. Maybe Lloyd was right to get so pissed at me; all I ever did was brood, after all. Hey, it wasn't my fault so much horrible shit happened to this group.

After a few minutes, I emerged from the trees and found the place I had been looking for. It was dark, but there was just enough light from the stars for me to find my way. I paused and took a seat on the bank of the stream, pulling off my boots.

A rustling sound came from behind me, and I stopped as I heard a twig snap. When I looked over my shoulder, I was glad to see the color white instead of pink emerging from the trees. It was only Colette.

"Brittany?" She hesitated where she was, though I knew she could see me very clearly through the darkness.

I smiled, patting the ground next to me. The Chosen relaxed, smiling back as she trotted over and sat down.

"What's up, Colette?" I asked, staring out at the water. It was weird...we hadn't spoken like this since that night before we went to the Tower of Mana. It was still so strange hearing her voice.

"I just wanted to tell you something," she replied, and then stared at her lap as she fell silent for a moment. I waited patiently, wondering what she had to say.

"When I...wasn't myself," she continued, "it was really lonely. Thank you for always talking to me so much, even when I couldn't say anything back. I know it didn't look like it, but it made me so happy."

I blinked, watching her for a second, and then looked away. I wanted to reply, but it was suddenly difficult to form words. In this crazy reality, sometimes it felt like I could never make a difference no matter how much I tried...but hearing Colette tell me this made all my efforts worthwhile. At least something good came out of all this bullshit...

"I...I'm glad," I said quietly.

"You're a really good friend," she told me. "And I trust you. So...I believe you're telling the truth about Earth, too."

That caused me to falter again. I bit my lip, staring at my hands, which were clasped in my lap. "You...honestly do?"

"Uh huh!" She confirmed, becoming cheery again. "Besides...Lloyd and Sheena believe you, and I trust them, too."

"Thanks, Colette..." I murmured, smiling weakly. "But what about the others?"

"I'm sure Professor Sage and Genis will come around once they see that your records aren't in the archives," Colette said. "And Zelos, too! He seems to really like you."

I felt my face starting to turn pink. "...No, I think the only thing Zelos really likes about me is how easily he can make me blush..."

More rustling from the trees behind us. We both turned to look over one shoulder, and now a figure in red emerged.

"Hi, Lloyd!" Colette said, raising a hand in greeting. He smiled.

"Mind if I join you guys?"

The blonde looked over to me, and I just shrugged. "Be my guest." In any case, I highly doubted I'd be getting any bathing time in tonight.

Lloyd came over and sat down on the other side of me, forming some sort of Symphonia-wich. Or was it an Earthwich? You described sandwiches based on the meat and not the bread, so I guess it'd be an Earthwich...why was I thinking about this again?

"...So, what's up?" Lloyd said after a moment, looking over at the two of us.

"I wonder what an Earthwich would taste like..."

Lloyd gave me a deadpan stare; he was used to me making weird comments. "...What is it now?"

My head snapped up. "Uh, did I say that aloud?"

He smacked his forehead as Colette giggled. "You are such a weirdo."

"...Moving on," I said loudly, rubbing the back of my neck. "What brings you to this neck of the woods, Lloydie?"

Lloyd rolled his eyes. "I dunno, I figured you'd be out here brooding or something."

That nearly caused me to flinch. Ah, crap. He'd figured me out yet again. But I really had intended to bathe this time!

As Lloyd and I were bickering, Colette had removed her shoes and dipped her feet into the water. I reached out and mussed Lloyd's hair before pushing my boots aside, intending to copy the blonde.

Lloyd paused just long enough to grin at Colette. "Is the water cold?"

"Yeah! It's really cold," she confimed, smiling back at him.

"Why don't you test it out, Lloydie?" I asked, sticking my legs in the water and soaking my pants up to the knees. I tugged on one of his ribbons. "Go on, just fall right in, like you did at Lake Umacy."

Colette giggled. "We need a better spot, so he can make a big splash."

"Ha-ha," Lloyd said, poking me. "You fell in that day too, Brit. Why don't you go in first?"

"Oh, I'd love to," I said, and sighed. "But you fell in first last time, so we'd better keep up with that tradition."

Lloyd continued to grin for a moment, but then the look faltered. His shoulders slumped and he stared down at the water, his eyes downcast.

"What's wrong, Lloyd?" Colette asked, concerned.

He shook his head. "It's just...I can't look back on that day without remembering him."

That caused me to pause as well, and I stared at my lap. "Ah...sorry for bringing it up."

Now that I was thinking about it, I really missed those days...sometimes you never really learn to appreciate something until it's gone. Life back then didn't seem so bad now, in comparison to how things were now. There was less fighting, yeah, but there were more uncertainties and more things at stake...not to mention, we now lacked someone who had made up a very important part of our old group.

"Don't apologize," he said, sighing. "It's not your fault."

"I wonder why Kratos stopped Yuan and that lady earlier," Colette said, leaning back on her palms and looking up at the sky.

"Yeah...they probably could have beaten us, and you would've been captured," Lloyd said, clenching his fists. "That Pronyma lady is one thing, but Yuan is really tough..."

"Kratos mentioned a change in plans," I remarked. "So...for some reason, they don't need Colette for the time being."

"That means we have more time to travel around without worrying about Cruxis, right?" Colette spoke up, smiling.

"...I guess so," Lloyd muttered, looking troubled. "It still seems weird to me, though. And Kratos...what was he trying to pull? Sifting through the lies or whatever...he made Brittany sound a lot worse than she really is."

I shifted uncomfortably at that, mainly because I still was still keeping quite a few secrets from the group. Kratos' words had actually been spot on-but I wasn't about to tell them that.

"Well, if you think about it, it's kind of a good thing that Kratos told us," Colette said. "I mean, I'm really glad that Brittany told us the truth."

"We were going to tell everyone even before that, though," Lloyd said.

I didn't make any comment on that, though I knew I would have avoided telling the truth unless Lloyd had flat-out forced me to do it. In some ways, that kick in the ass from Kratos was a good thing; I wasn't about to thank him for it, though. There were still four members of the group that hadn't said whether they really believed me or not. I guess Presea's vote wouldn't count, though, since she couldn't really form an opinion until she regained her suppressed emotions.

The brunette heaved a sigh. "Either way...even if we can't convince the Professor, I'll still stick by you, Brit."

"Me, too," Colette added.

"Ah...thanks, guys," I said awkwardly, rubbing the back of my neck.

We fell silent for a few minutes after that, and the silence wasn't broken until Colette shifted to pull her feet out of the water. We both gave her a questioning look as she put on her shoes, and received a radiant smile in return.

"You know what? I can't remember the last time I felt this sleepy! I'm going to go to bed now, okay? Goodnight!"

The two of us couldn't help but grin back at her. "Goodnight, Colette!" we chorused.

I watched her form disappear into the shadows, and hoped that her sleep would be a peaceful one. After all she had been through, it would really suck if she started having crazy nightmares like I did every now and then. Hell, I hoped the Professor let her sleep in, though I doubted that would really happen.

"Dammit..." Lloyd murmured after a few seconds. I looked over at him.

"What is it now?"

"...I don't know," he said, shaking his head. "I just feel like something's still wrong."

Maybe it was the fact that Colette was still far from being cured? Or that Kratos was still a bastard, Presea was soulless, I was a liar, and Zelos was a triple agent?

"You shouldn't worry about things you can't control," I finally said, patting him on the shoulder and knowing I was a complete hypocrite.

"It's just...so frustrating!" he burst out all of a sudden, startling me. I drew my hand back, turning to face him.

"...What is?"

He ran a gloved hand through his hair, restless. "You saw Kratos today. He knows what he did to us, and yet he just looked at us like...like...!"

I turned my gaze back to the water, biting my lip. "I know...it's like he doesn't even remember who we are. It's almost as if the Kratos we knew never existed..."

"But he still exists!" Lloyd insisted. "The way he talks...and the way he acts, too...it's still him. He's on a different side, but he's still our Kratos! And I still feel like I have to prove myself to him!" He clutched his head in his hands, squeezing his eyes shut.

"He's our enemy...I know I shouldn't care what he thinks, but...what's wrong with me?"

"Lloyd..." I murmured, and then fell silent, watching him.

It hurt...it was all just one big mess. It hurt knowing Kratos wasn't on our side anymore, it hurt seeing that cold gaze turned on us, and it hurt seeing Lloyd look so tormented and being unable to do anything to help. More than anything, I wanted to tell him the truth...that Kratos would be doing his best to help us from behind the scenes. But I knew I couldn't. Even if I managed to explain the whole thing to Lloyd, and even if he managed to keep it to himself, I still had a feeling it wouldn't make a difference. I knew what was really supposed to happen, and Kratos' betrayal had still upset me a great deal. How would knowledge of the future do anything but torment Lloyd further?

"...There's nothing wrong with you, stupid," I finally said, putting an arm around him in a half-hug. It wasn't much for comfort, but it was the best I could do. "I know exactly how you feel, so...so don't hate yourself, okay? You're doing the best you can."

I felt Lloyd relax a little, but he still didn't look too happy. "...Thanks," he said in a distracted tone. "I guess I just need time to think."

Getting the hint, I pulled away from him and got to my feet. "...Well, I'm gonna go get some rest, then," I said, pulling on my boots. "We've got a lot of walking to do tomorrow, anyway. Goodnight, Lloyd."

"Night," came his reply, and then he fell silent once more.

I stood there for a second, frowning at his back, before turning towards the woods. There was no sense in sticking around when I really couldn't say anything to comfort him. So I headed back to camp, leaving a sullen Lloyd sitting quietly on the riverbank.

* * *

**A/N: ...Bleh. Not a lot even happened in this chapter. Or maybe that's just me. Umm...now that I got all those random conversations over with, maybe I'll actually...I don't know, move on with the plot. XD**

**Review, and...uh...I'll probably update faster? Maybe? XD**

**Next time: A wild Regal appears! The wild Regal uses Stomp! It's super effective! Zelos fainted!**


	38. Suspicion

**A/N: Finally finished! I know this took so freaking long, sorry. First I had final exams, then I had my high school graduation, and then I went to Maine and my laptop got a virus, and then I went to Europe for 11 days...I've been really busy. XD Now that I finally have some free time, I managed to get this finished. And look, it's almost ten thousand words! At least it's a decent length to make up for how long it took me to update. :P**

**Oh, and by the way. Regal's badassery _makes _Stomp super effective, so ha-ha to you, logical people! XD**

**Anyway, I'm just gonna shut up and let you read now. I'm too mentally exhausted to say much more.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own it!**

The next morning, thankfully, Lloyd seemed to be back to his normal self. He was probably hiding his real thoughts the way I often did, but the fact that he was capable of doing so was a step, at least. If he had still been in the same dark mood from last night, the others would've noticed.

At this point, we had left our campsite at the base of the mountain and started our trek. I wasn't too sure in my estimate, but I thought that by now we had traveled at least a few miles. It had only been around an hour and a half; we still had a full day's walk ahead of us. Fun.

"Man, this is boring," Zelos said, breaking the silence all of a sudden. He heaved an overly dramatic sigh. "Don't you guys ever talk? I'm losing it over here!"

"What're we supposed to talk about?" Genis asked, rolling his eyes.

"I don't know! Think of something!" Zelos whined.

"Ugh..." Sheena rubbed her forehead.

"Brit, tell a story or something," Lloyd said, poking me. "Before Zelos goes off the deep end."

Dammit, Lloyd. I really was not in the mood to think. Uh...where had I left off with that Zelda story? Ah, forget it.

"Once, there was an ugly barnacle," I said, causing everyone to look over at me. "He was so ugly that everyone died. The end."

"That's it?" Zelos snorted.

"That wasn't a very nice story..." Colette mumbled.

"Now, everyone, think about the conflict that took place between the barnacle and society," I said in a dull, sarcastic voice, fighting a grin. "What did the barnacle symbolize? What is the relationship between ugliness and society today? If the barnacle hadn't been ugly, would everyone still have died?"

"Agh! I feel like I'm in school!" Lloyd protested, as the Professor facepalmed.

"Oh, this is easy," Zelos said with a smirk. "The barnacle has it made, y'know? Now he can have all the chicks to himself."

"She said that everyone died, Zelos," Sheena said. "That includes the women."

"Besides, a barnacle's an animal," Genis pointed out. "I don't think they really care about looks."

"What does a barnacle even look like?" Lloyd asked, frowning.

"Barnacle, a type of arthropod," Presea spoke up in her usual monotone. "Permanently attaches itself to a hard substrate. Uses cirri to gather microorganisms from the surrounding water."

"Now I'm more confused..." Lloyd groaned hopelessly.

"I think they sound cute," Colette commented happily.

"I love how you guys are actually discussing this," I said, grinning.

"You've elicited more discussion from Lloyd with three sentences than I've gotten from him in five years of literature courses..." Raine muttered, heaving a mournful sigh.

"I hate reading," Lloyd grumbled. "All stories should be three sentences long."

I snickered. "Oh, Lloydie. Where's the fun in that?"

* * *

The days passed rather uneventfully after that. I grew accustomed to hearing Colette's cheerful voice again; it was almost as if she had never been gone. Well, technically, she hadn't, but...you know.

Zelos seemed to rejoice now that Colette was conscious, and constantly hit on her and laced sexual innuendos into his remarks to her. It was actually pretty hilarious watching how put out the Chosen got when he realized how naive and oblivious she was. At least he wasn't embarrassing me for once. Yay!

It was now the morning of our fourth day of walking; we'd only just packed up camp a half hour ago. I almost jumped for joy when we reached the top of a hill and immediately spotted Meltokio off in the distance. It was about time! We'd have to go through the sewers, but then I could go straight to Zelos's house and take a shower!

"Ahh, finally," the redhead spoke up, voicing my thoughts. "I was getting sick of all that walking."

"We know," Sheena remarked dryly. Zelos did have a habit of...well, whining. He was kind of like me in that he usually complained to fill the silence.

"So how are we going to get in, Zelos?" Colette asked.

Zelos grinned. "Oh, don't you worry about that, my little angel. I've got the perfect idea."

"This isn't going to involve us falling into another trap, is it?" Lloyd spoke up.

The Chosen looked over at Lloyd when he heard that; I saw a hint of surprise on Zelos' face, but it vanished instantly when he realized that Lloyd was only poking fun. There was no suspicion whatsoever in the brunet's eyes. It kind of surprised me that no one had connected the dots regarding that little incident...

"Buuud!" he whined, after a split second of hesitation. "I totally know what I'm doing here! Besides, Colette can bail us out like she did before, right?"

"Yup!" Colette chirped.

"Regardless," Raine interrupted, "I'm curious as to what this plan of yours entails."

Zelos waved one hand casually. "There are plenty of secret entrances into Meltokio, Professor. Stop worrying so much!"

Raine frowned slightly, but didn't pursue it further. My lip twitched; Zelos was intentionally avoiding the details of his plan. The sewers weren't exactly the most inviting of places, were they?

We continued to walk, and Meltokio loomed closer. I really hoped there were elevated pathways like in the game...I didn't really want to walk through sewage. Ugh. And the smell...oh man, that smell wasn't going to be pleasant...

"Huh...speaking of Meltokio, I just remembered something," Lloyd mumbled. He looked up. "Sheena, Colette, you're teenage girls, right?"

"Uh...yeah," Sheena replied, giving Lloyd a strange look. "Why do you ask?"

"Back when we were walking through Castle Tethe'alla, I asked Brittany why she always freaks out around Zelos. She said it was something only teenage girls could understand-ow!"

The dual swordsman rubbed his sore shoulder while I pulled back my fist, red-faced. Sheena and Raine, meanwhile, were giving me identical deadpan stares. I sneaked a peek at Zelos, and his smirk probably couldn't get any bigger.

"That kinda hurt..." Lloyd grumbled. I resisted the urge to rub my own aching hand; his shoulder had been more muscular than I anticipated. When the hell had Lloyd gotten muscles?

"Oh, I know!" Colette piped up, clapping her hands together. "Brittany wants to get hair tips from Zelos!"

"...What?" Lloyd and Zelos spoke up in unison, incredulous.

"Well, Zelos has really nice hair," Colette explained. "And teenage girls like having pretty hair! And since Brittany has curly hair like Zelos, I bet she's always staring at him because she's trying to figure out how he does his hair."

There was a heavy silence for a few seconds, until Zelos broke it with a loud snort. That set me off; and the two of us started laughing rather loudly as Lloyd looked helplessly confused. It was funny because I had actually wanted to ask Zelos for hair care tips at one point...and it was horribly embarrassing, because I had never realized my occasional glances at Zelos were so obvious.

I calmed down after a few seconds, and Zelos continued to snicker quietly in the background as Lloyd frowned at me.

"So...that's not it?" he asked.

"No, no, that's exactly it," I replied, patting him on the back. "Colette's right, it's all about hair care." Hey, I was cool with Lloyd not thinking it was a crush.

He stared at me, looking a little disappointed. "Girls are so weird..."

"No, I'm pretty sure it's just Brittany."

"Thanks, Genis," I said cheerfully.

"Anyway," Sheena said, "this has been interesting and all, but we're practically here. Zelos, whatever plan you've got, you'd better spring it now before the guards see us."

"Right, right," Zelos agreed, still smirking. "This way!"

Instead of taking the main pathway to the city gates, he abruptly took a left turn through some bushes. I noticed that there was actually a worn dirt path weaving between the shrubbery, hinting that this route had been used rather often. Zelos probably wasn't the only one who had used the sewers to sneak in and out of the city.

"Where are we going?" Lloyd wondered aloud, and didn't receive an answer; within the next few seconds, the Chosen had stopped in front of a large metal grate embedded in the city wall. There was water emptying out of the grate and forming a small stream, which led away from the city.

I noticed a large, person-sized gap between the right edge of the grate and the wall surrounding it. Ah, now that was probably where we would get in.

"Huh? What's this place?" Genis asked.

"It's the underground sewer," Zelos explains. "Waste water from the city flows out from here."

"Oh, I get it," Lloyd said. "This isn't a bad way of sneaking in."

Sheena stared at the redhead. "Why do you know about an entrance like this?"

"Well, my dear Sheena," Zelos said, grinning, "you know how Meltokio's gate closes after dusk and all. This has always been my little insurance against being locked out at night."

"I should've known," the ninja muttered, rolling her eyes.

"Why don't you go home until night?" Colette asked, tilting her head slightly.

Zelos's shameless grin grew. "You know...there are a lot of hair care tips to give, and so little time. All of my hunnies prefer that I help them out personally, in their bedrooms."

"Oh, right," Colette said, nodding. "I bet that's lots of fun!"

"It is," Zelos assured her, his shoulders shaking with silent laughter. Raine shot him a disapproving look.

Hair care...was that now going to become a sexual innuendo? The corners of my lips twitched; crap, I was actually finding this funny. Don't laugh, don't laugh!

"Sometimes girls like to discuss hair at the table," Zelos continued, "and sometimes in the laundry room, or in the closet. One time we discussed it on a park bench! As you can see, I have a very busy lifestyle."

"Haha!" I couldn't hold it back anymore; watching Sheena's face get redder and redder just put the icing on the cake. I laughed for a few seconds, managing to stop myself before I got smacked. "TMI, Zelos. Seriously."

"That's disgusting," Sheena muttered.

"...I don't get it," Lloyd said, shaking his head.

"It's nothing important," the Professor said in a neutral voice, her glare seeming to suggest that we all shut up now.

"Enemy presence detected. There is danger," Presea said, and that subject change sobered me a bit.

"There are monsters in the sewers?" Colette asked.

Zelos shrugged. "Eh, nothing to be too concerned about. Then again, monsters have been appearing in weird places lately. Can't hurt to be careful."

"Yeah, we should probably keep our guard up," Lloyd agreed. "Let's get this over with, then."

And so, we moved through the gap in the grate and into the sewers. We were plunged into darkness for a moment, but after a few seconds of walking, electric lights started appearing on the walls. They were dim, but it was better than traveling in complete darkness.

There were walkways on either side of the running water, which was a relief. But the further we went, the worse the smell became. It wasn't long before we were all holding our noses with similar expressions of disgust.

"You used to come through this place every night?" Genis asked with disbelief.

"It's not that bad!" Zelos insisted, despite the fact that he looked about as uncomfortable as the rest of us. "The door's right up ahead, anyway. We'll be out of here in like, five seconds."

"Thank God," I muttered, but then I remembered that it probably wouldn't be that easy. Wasn't the door out originally locked or something? Yeah, and there was this big puzzle that involved pushing around blocks of trash, and shrinking and fighting giant rats and...ack.

After coming out into a more open area and going up a set of stairs, we came to a door with a red panel mounted on it. And, as I had anticipated, it was firmly closed.

"What the...?" Zelos stared at the door with dismay. "It was never closed when I came through here before..."

"Hm...perhaps someone expected us to come this way," Raine murmured with a thoughtful frown.

"I guess we'll have to take a look around," Lloyd said, scowling a little. "Maybe we'll find another route...or at least a way to open this door."

"I'm sure we'll find something!" Colette added cheerfully.

We turned our attention away from the door, heading up a metal stairway on to a new platform and looking around. There were pipes all over the place, emptying dirty water into the main channel. None of them looked big enough to climb into, thankfully. I didn't want anyone suggesting we do something nasty like crawl through a sewer pipe.

Fortunately, we didn't run into any monsters as we explored. Granted, there were some pretty enormous rats, but they weren't actually vicious. They usually ran away when we approached, and they were easy enough to stab if they attempted to bite. Our true enemy down here was really just the smell. It was starting to make me dizzy.

There was a hallway that led into another spacious chamber, and it smelled about as inviting as the one before. I couldn't see any sort of pedestal for the Sorcerer's Ring; hopefully that meant we wouldn't be doing that weird shrinking thing here. The rats were big enough when we were normal size, thank you very much.

Actually, we hadn't used the Sorcerer's Ring for much on this journey, now that I thought about it. Maybe it had been of more use when everyone was releasing the seals. I had missed everything but the seal at the Tower of Mana, so I couldn't know for sure.

"Over there," Genis said, pointing. We looked over the edge of the platform to see a raised walkway against the opposite wall. The walkway led to another small platform, and on the wall was a small lever.

"That lever's the same color as the panel on the door we have to get through," Lloyd remarked. "Do you think that's the way to open it?"

"Could be," I said quietly. Problem was, the lever was on the opposite side of the room. In other words, an expanse of sewer water seperated us from the other platform.

Oh! Wait!

"Say, Colette, do you think you could fly over there?" I asked the blonde, and she smiled.

"Okay! Hang on, I'll go look."

In a flash of pink light, she revealed her wings and flew across the room. Although I felt a little paranoid about monsters, no tentacles reached out of the water to grab her. She landed safely on the other platform, turning to wave to us before moving over to where the lever was. We watched as she grabbed the bar and pushed it down, like it was some sort of oversized light switch.

After a few seconds of waiting, we heard a loud grinding noise echoing from somewhere.

"I think that's it," I said, my voice sounding a bit nasally since I had pinched my nose shut. Despite breathing through my mouth, I still felt sick. I could almost taste the bacteria in the air.

Colette flew back over to us, and we began to head back to where we'd seen that door. It was a good thing we'd had an angel in the party...otherwise, there was no way we could've reached that lever. Swimming through that water wasn't an option; we would've caught some crazy disease. And we would've attracted a lot more attention walking into Meltokio, too.

"This almost seems too easy," Genis mused. "Weren't there supposed to be monsters?"

"I don't see anything besides those rats," Lloyd remarked.

Zelos shrugged. "Yep, it's just another average day in the sewers. Nothing unusual here."

It kind of weirded me out that Zelos knew what an "average day" in the sewers was like. He really needed to find another method of getting in at night. Didn't Sebastian ever find it strange that Zelos always came home smelling like he'd spent several hours in an outhouse?

Ugh, outhouse...Hima...bad memories...

"Ohh boy..." I caught Zelos staring at me. "Spitfire here looks like she's about to bow to the porcelain goddess."

"Huh?" Lloyd asked, looking bewildered.

Zelos rolled his eyes. "She's gonna toss her cookies, bud."

"Oh." Lloyd faltered for a moment, confused, and then looked over at Zelos again. "...Wait, what?"

"Lloyd, for the love of god," I muttered, straightening myself up as I stifled a snort.

"If you need a minute to calm your stomach, we can wait," Raine interjected. I shook my head.

"N-No...staying down here any longer will only make it worse. I'm okay, really. Let's get out of here."

"If you say so," Genis said skeptically.

"If you're about to hurl, shout me a warning, okay?" Zelos said to me. "You know, so I've got time to dodge."

"Zelos, you're an ass," Sheena grumbled.

"Your words wound me, Sheena," the Chosen said in an overdramatic voice, pouting.

"Hey, isn't that the door?" Colette called back to us, and our conversation screeched to a halt.

Yes, we had finally reached the door, and this time it was open. Just moments from now, we would be climbing the ladder to sweet freedom!

We moved through the doorway into another chamber, and crossed a small bridge that led over the water. And just like that, the ladder I had been thinking about was suddenly in sight. We just had to walk up those stairs, and-

"Hurk!" I let out a grunt as the Professor grabbed me by the collar and yanked me back. Lloyd made a similar noise, being pulled back by his ribbons.

"Pay attention," she hissed to us, and indicated the shadowy figures that had appeared on the path ahead. Oh...right. The rest of the group had stopped, and the two of us had almost waltzed into the convicts' arms. In my moment of excitement, I had forgotten that we weren't quite done here yet.

One of the figures moved further into the light of an electric lamp, revealing an ugly face with a wretched smirk. He appeared to be missing a few teeth. The man had short, matted hair, along with dirty and torn prisoner's garb. In his hands was a large wooden club with nails driven into it. He looked like the sort of guy who waited in dark alleys for unsuspecting girls.

"We've been waiting for you, travelers from Sylvarant," the man said in a decidedly creepy voice. Yeah, he was definitely that sort of guy.

"What the hell? Who are you?" Lloyd questioned as the other two convicts crept forward. They had clubs of their own.

"It's nothin' personal," one of them chuckled. "Th' Pope promised to lighten our sentences if we took care of you."

"Heh." Zelos grinned, drawing his sword. "Three against eight, eh? Sucks to be them."

"Let's just hurry up and beat them," I grumbled, weakly pulling out my own blade. "Before I lose my breakfast."

The rest of the group pulled out their weapons as well, and I saw the convicts falter a little when they saw that they were indeed outnumbered. I also noticed the way their eyes were drawn to Presea, who had just lifted her enormous axe like it was a child's toy. Yeah, that was a teensy bit threatening.

Zelos was the first to run forward. He dodged an attack from one of the convicts, breaking right through their line and disarming one of them from behind. The convict's club fell into the water, out of reach.

Encouraged by this, I plunged into battle. I could tell just by their stance that these guys weren't accustomed to battle; they had intended to overcome us with brute force and blunt weapons. They could have been murderers before being thrown into prison, but that didn't say anything; it didn't take a great deal of skill or intelligence to kill a person. I would know.

"Demon Fang!" I yelled, catching one convict off guard as he attempted to parry an attack from Zelos.

Lloyd and Presea moved in, engaging the remaining two convicts as Genis began to prepeare a spell.

"Aqua Edge!" the young mage shouted a few seconds later, drenching our three enemies and causing them to pull back.

"Dammit! Run, it's not worth it!" one of them yelled, and they all started backing hastily away in the direction of the water.

Zelos started walking leisurely up to them, smirking, and I followed not far behind. If they made a break for it, what would we do? Let them escape, probably...hopefully that wouldn't mean we'd be attacked when we came through here in the future.

Just as I was worrying over that little detail, a large blur entered my vision.

"Augh!" Zelos let out a cry, and suddenly he had crashed to the floor, lying facedown.

My mouth fell open in a gape as I attempted to register that I was now no more than two feet away from the one and only Regal Bryant. After a second's hesitation, I stumbled backwards and out of range of a kick, trying to grasp the situation.

"Zelos!" Lloyd yelled.

This wasn't right. Zelos wasn't moving. He wasn't supposed to fall unconscious! Had he hit his head on the way down? Shit, this could be bad...Regal had just pounced on him from I don't know how high up. How heavy was Regal? He was over six feet tall, and with all that muscle, he had to be at least two hundred pounds...

"Don't move," Regal warned as Lloyd began to take a step forward. "If you move, the Chosen dies. Understand?"

That caused the brunet to pause. We all froze for a moment, watching the man warily.

Now that everyone had stopped for a moment, I got a chance to examine Regal closely for the first time. There wasn't any time to worry about Zelos; Regal hadn't aimed to kill, so I just had to trust that the redhead was okay.

Here he was, our final party member...it was so strange to finally see him. He was a little more presentable looking than the other convicts, but it looked like he had definitely seen better days. His messy bangs hung in his eyes a bit, giving him a dark and brooding look. His solemn face had strong and noble looking features; I noted that for a guy almost twice my age, he was pretty damn good looking.

His muscles were about as impressive as I remembered, too. With that perfectly sculpted body, he looked like a model from one of those exercise commercials.

While in other circumstances I would've drooled at this, right now it only served to make me even more intimidated. Regal was really tall and really muscular and let's face it, he really didn't look all that friendly at the moment. Those other convicts were a joke, but Regal looked like he could snap each of us like a twig if he wanted to.

"Dammit," Lloyd growled, gripping his swords tightly. "What do you want?"

"I-" Regal started, but suddenly Presea rushed forward, swinging her axe at the man's legs. He jumped away to avoid it, allowing us to run up and protect Zelos.

Presea didn't move, simply staring at Regal as he stared quietly back. After a second, his eyes widened in shock and recognition.

"You're-!"

"Fireball!" Genis yelled, cutting him off. Regal was forced to dodge once more. Then Sheena attacked with Pyre Seal, pushing him back further.

I saw Regal look over his shoulder, and he seemed to take note that the three convicts he had come with had fled. Before anyone else could attack, he abruptly ran down another passageway, vanishing into the shadows.

"Hold on," Raine said when Lloyd moved to follow. "There's no point in pursuing. I doubt he'll be bothering us again anytime soon."

"...Yeah," he agreed after a moment, and turned back to the group.

"Is Zelos okay?" Colette asked, concerned.

"I think he might've hit his head when he went down," I said, kneeling at the redhead's side. I reached out, prodding his shoulder. "Zelos..."

It was quiet for a moment, and then he shifted a little. "Nngh..."

Raine let out a sigh. "It sounds like he's all right. It doesn't look like he's bleeding, in any case."

"I'm still kind of worried," I murmured, biting my lip. "I mean, Reg-uh, that guy looked pretty heavy. Are you sure he's not hurt, Professor?"

"Hm..." the teacher frowned, closing her eyes as her staff glowed. After a moment, she just shook her head. "I don't sense any life-threatening injuries. He should be fine."

Zelos still wasn't moving. Chewing lightly on my lower lip, I gently turned him on to his back so I could check his forehead. The others leaned over us to see as well, and I noticed most of them cringe.

"Ouch," I murmured, reaching out to pull Zelos' headband back a little to see. He had one hell of an ugly bruise on his forehead, and just that was enough to tell that yes, he had definitely hit his head on the way down.

"First Aid," Raine said, and the bruise vanished in a flash of warm green light.

"Oh, man," Lloyd spoke up. "I hope he doesn't have a concession..."

"Concussion, Lloyd," Sheena corrected, facepalming.

"Zelos," I said again, putting a hand between his shoulder blades and lifting him up a little so I could shake him. "Wake up, Zelos..." I would stop worrying when he opened his eyes. It was just so hard to forget the crashing sound of him collapsing, the blur of Regal landing on him from god-knows-where.

"Ugh..." Finally, the redhead seemed to come to. He winced, and I felt him attempting to lean up a bit on his own. His attempt failed, and he collapsed against me, his cheek leaning on one of my shoulders.

"Hey, don't push it," Lloyd said suddenly. The others leaned in, tense.

"...Hurts..." Zelos hissed, his face contorted in pain.

"What? What hurts?" I asked, worried. Raine had healed that bruise! Did he have a broken rib or something? Why hadn't the Professor caught that, though? What if he was bleeding internally? Shit, shit, shit!

There was a heavy silence as we all waited, watching Zelos closely.

"...My heart aches for you, hunny," he abruptly crooned in my ear, and I realized with horror that he had actually managed to get close enough to do such a thing. He had slung one arm around me in my distraction, and his hand was now making its way down my back.

"Agh!" I yelled in surprise, dropping the redhead like a hot coal while everyone in the group let out a loud groan.

"You stupid Chosen!" Sheena shouted as I stumbled away towards the stairs, intending to curl up into the fetal position and remain unnoticed for a while.

"Ow! Sheena, I'm hurt! Don't hit me!"

"It sounds like you're perfectly fine," Lloyd said, rolling his eyes. "Can we just get out of here now?"

"Yes, let's not waste time down here," Raine agreed, and the rest of the group started to walk to where I was.

Zelos looked over at us, hurriedly stumbling to his feet. "H-Hey! Don't just leave without me!"

"You okay, Brit?" Lloyd asked, helping me up and ignoring Zelos.

"I try to be a nice person, and this is what I get..." I grumbled, my face about as red as his coat. "Next time that big guy shows up, he can have Zelos."

"Aw, don't be like that!" Zelos whined from the back of the group. "Hunny, you know I was only playing!"

I had reached the ladder. Rather than face Zelos, I opted to climb up as quickly as I could. Behind me, I heard the others grumbling amongst themselves as they began their ascent as well.

* * *

"Whew, we finally made it..." Lloyd let out a sigh.

We were standing in the middle of Meltokio's park, the same one Lloyd and I had stumbled upon during our first night in this city. Right over there...I could see the bench we had sat on that night. The manhole we had climbed through had thankfully been behind some shrubbery, so no one had seen our arrival. Otherwise we might've attracted attention, and that would've been bad.

Self-conscious, I smelled my glove. It didn't look like the sewer smell had really clung to my clothes...good thing we hadn't been down there for too long.

"Okay," Sheena said, walking to the front of the group and turning back to us. "I'm gonna head to the Elemental Research Labratory."

"Huh? What's that?" Lloyd asked.

"It's where Corrine was born. I learned my summoning arts there, too. My friends there should be able to help us out in one way or another," Sheena explained. "It might take some time, so I think we'd be better off splitting up here."

"Yes, that's fine," Raine said. "Some of us can go buy supplies, while the rest of us head for the Archives. If they're heavily guarded like you said, it would be best if we keep our group small anyway."

Sheena nodded. "Right. I'll leave the rest to you. Let's all meet up at Zelos' house by tonight, okay?"

"Hey, hey! It's not polite to invite yourself to other people's houses, you know," Zelos pointed out.

The ninja rolled her eyes. "Well, I'm going now. See you tonight." With that, she turned and started walking away.

"Oh, come on! How long is everyone gonna give me the silent treatment?"

"Bye, Sheena!" Colette called, waving cheerfully as the ninja vanished into the crowd on the street.

"So, what are our groups gonna be?" Genis spoke up.

"Hm...with Sheena gone, that leaves seven of us," the Professor said.

"All right," Lloyd said, nodding. "So I guess the smaller group would go to the Archives, right? We won't draw as much attention that way."

"Correct. Brittany and I will head to the Archives. Zelos, you'll come along as well; you know the city better than we do. Is that all right?"

"Fine by me," Zelos replied, seeming pleased that someone was finally acknowledging him.

"Aw..." Lloyd sighed. "I was hoping to come. Guess that means the rest of us are going shopping, huh?"

"Here's a list of everything we need, and here's some money," Raine said, and handed said items over to Lloyd. "Don't buy anything unnecessary. Try to blend in with the crowds."

"Okay, okay. See you at Zelos's place," he said. "C'mon, everyone."

"Shopping in Meltokio! I'm so excited!" Colette giggled, and then looked over her shoulder at us as she followed after Lloyd. "Good luck in the Archives!"

I waved feebly to her, watching Genis and Presea walk off as well. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I realized I hadn't said anything since this whole exchange began, and part of me felt a little nauseous. I hadn't anticipated getting stuck in a group with the two people who were most suspicious of me. This might not end well...

"Uh..." I faltered, suddenly nervous. "...Where is this place, then?"

"Up by the nobles' quarter," Zelos explained. "It's a little ways past my mansion."

"I see," Raine murmured. "Please lead us there, then."

"Can do," he replied, an easy grin surfacing on his face. As we started to walk, he looked over at me. "Why the long face, hunny? We're about to prove or disprove your legal existence!"

"That's awesome and all, but I really don't want to get caught and arrested," I said, attempting to cover up my actual concerns. "I kind of wish I could be doing something safer, like shopping..."

"We aren't truly safe anywhere in this city," Raine pointed out. "I'd prefer for you to be with us, Brittany. This directly involves you, after all."

"Yeah, I know," I said glumly. "Let's just get it over with."

It was infuriating, knowing that we'd have to sneak into that place for nothing. My record wasn't there, so I knew for a fact that we were going to come up emptyhanded. And I still had a nagging feeling that they wouldn't believe me even then.

The Meltokio Archives was a large building at the edge of the city. With its stone facades and high towers, it looked almost like an extension of the castle. As we drew closer, Zelos rambled on about some of the various other things that were stored in the Archives. It was basically an extension of the royal archives, which were in the castle. That was where we'd find the information on Colette's illness later on...ah, but there was no point in worrying about that right now.

Once we had gotten close enough to the building, Zelos pulled us into an alleyway so we wouldn't be seen.

"How do you propose we sneak in?" Raine inquired, looking over at him.

"There's a side entrance to the left of the building," he explained, gesturing to where it was. "See it?"

"Yes, but that one is guarded as well."

"It's less conspicuous, and those are city guards. It's the Papal Knights that are after us; the city guard won't turn you in as long as I'm with you," he replied. "We should be able to get past."

"Are you sure?" I asked skeptically. I did remember that most of Meltokio had kind of looked the other way when Zelos had been a fugitive in the game, but...this was real life.

"Of course I'm sure, hunny," Zelos said cheerfully. "If I wasn't, we wouldn't be here. Besides, if all else fails, we can always knock the guards out and book it."

"Yeah, that'll work," I said, rolling my eyes.

"Well! Now that that's settled, shall we go?" he asked.

Raine sighed. "Fine, we'll trust you on this. Lead the way."

The guards were very hesitant at first, but they did eventually let us pass. We were, however, warned not to let anyone see us while we were in the building; there could by supporters of the Pope anywhere. That was a comforting thought.

The Archives were pretty big inside, as I had expected them to be. The building was filled with rows and rows of long bookcases. I could see the Professor tense a little, probably trying to control her inner scholar. The last thing we needed was for her to flip out in a place like this. We had to take care so that our footsteps didn't echo, and the building itself was so quiet you could probably hear a pin drop.

"I haven't been in here since I was a kid," Zelos murmured to us, "but I do know that all of the birth records should be over on this side of the building. I'm pretty sure they're in alphabetical order according to last names. So unless Brittany's name is an alias, we should be able to find her under...hey, spitfire, what's your last name?"

I rolled my eyes. "Furness."

"The Desians had records on her as well," Raine whispered back. "We know that it's not an alias."

I tried to ignore the fact that they were even willing to entertain the thought that I could have lied to them about something as big as my name. Instead, I attempted to focus on the issue at hand so we could get out of here as soon as possible. The dead silence in this place was making me uncomfortable.

"All right, so where's the F section?" I asked quietly, slightly impatient. "It'd help if they had signs or something, jeez..."

Zelos pulled a book out from the bookcase to our left, looking at the front cover. "...Well, looks like we're in B right now. I'd say it's further down."

'Further down' ended up being at the opposite end of the building. No wonder they had so many damn bookcases...I hadn't realized there were that many people in Tethe'alla. Not nearly as many people as Earth, but still a pretty hefty amount, I'd say. And that wasn't even counting the people in Mizuho...and now that I thought about it, they probably didn't even count the elves or the half-elves, either.

We were now standing at the end of an aisle. While Zelos and Raine looked through the shelves of books, I stood watch to make sure no guards were about to sneak up on us. I didn't hear any footsteps other than those of my companions, so I quickly became bored once my initial nervousness had faded.

"Ah..." I stopped mid-yawn, hearing the sound of Raine's voice. "...Here it is."

Huh? Wait a minute, had I heard her correctly? Because it sounded to me like she had just found what she was looking for.

"What?" I whispered, confused, and turned back to face her. Zelos had walked up as well, and was now leaning over her shoulder.

"Yeah, looks like you've found it," he murmured, his eyebrows raised. "Well, spitfire, your whole family's here."

"Hold on, back up," I said, almost forgetting to be quiet. My heart hammered in my chest. "That's impossible. Let me see."

Raine handed the papers to me, which were bound together in a booklet. On the cover page, a single word was printed in all capital letters: my last name. It seemed to mock me.

I flipped to the first page. My full name was printed at the top, as well as my date of birth. Below that was my place of birth.

"Altamira," Zelos said from behind me, amused. "You must've had a fun time growing up, my little spitfire."

"Brittany..." Raine murmured, but I couldn't bring myself to look at her. I was still staring down at the paper in shock.

"...This is complete and utter bullshit," I finally said, my hands shaking slightly. "Altamira? I'm an American, goddammit! I've never even been to Altamira!"

"Keep your voice down," the Professor hissed, placing a hand on my arm.

"You don't believe this, do you?" I asked hopelessly, finally looking at her. "I can tell you my country's history, for God's sake!"

When she just stared at me in return, I bit my lip and looked back down at the fake papers. It was so infuriating...I had held my real birth certificate in my hand plenty of times! If only I had the damn thing with me now...

I flipped to the next page of the booklet, and saw my father's name printed at the top. My eyes scanned down the page, as I slowly shook my head. Apparently he was from Altamira, too.

"This is so..." I murmured, and then trailed off when my eyes saw what was stamped in red at the bottom of the page.

DECEASED.

"...What?" My mouth fell open as the others watched in silence. "What is this?"

I flipped to the next page, saw my mother's name. Deceased. On the next page was my brother's name. Deceased. And finally, my sister...who was apparently deceased as well.

I had seen enough. I shut the booklet, shoving it back on to the bookcase and turning away.

"This is insane," I said, my voice shaking. "My family's alive..."

"Let's go," Raine said. "We've seen what we needed to see. It would be safest if we discussed this back at Zelos's home."

"Yeah, I'm not too keen on hanging around here much longer, either," Zelos said. "C'mon, spitfire."

The two of them started walking back down the aisle, towards the door. I followed them with a cold feeling in my stomach. They didn't believe me. What the hell was going on? What was I supposed to do if nobody believed me now?

"Guys, listen to me," I said, feeling panicked and helpless. I had to say something, anything before I lost them! "I'm serious! Those certificates are fakes."

They just kept walking, so I continued, fumbling for some way to prove I was from Earth. "My dad was born in Wakefield, Massachusetts. He took me there once when we were on our way to a Red Sox game. I got this tattoo at a place called Venom Ink in Sanford, Maine. My sister knows the artist there. I grew up in Sanford. Last summer, I went on a trip to Europe and visited France and England. I picked up a rock off Omaha Beach, that's one of the D-Day beaches near the American Cemetery, I still have it in my roo-"

"That's enough," the Professor suddenly snapped, swinging around to face me. "We're fully aware of your sentiments on the issue, but now is hardly the time. Unless you want us all to be arrested, I'm going to have to ask you to keep quiet, Brittany."

I stared at her like a deer caught in headlights, and she gave me an icy look before turning away. Zelos raised his eyebrows, looking back and forth between us for a moment. Raine started walking again, and we both followed her.

My panicked feeling subsided, replaced with a terrible numbness. I was doing the best I could to stay sane in this place, but once again my best wasn't nearly enough...I was so goddamn sick of all this. I was sick of risking my life, sick of doubting myself all the time, sick of this stupid game. There was nothing I could do now to make them believe me, so why should I bother caring? I couldn't win. No matter how much I tried, I just couldn't...

The next few minutes were a bit of a blur. We exited the Archives without much trouble, which I guess was a bit of a blessing; had we been attacked right then, I probably would've just let myself get stabbed. Before I knew it, we were in Zelos's mansion, and I was slumped over in a chair in a corner of the living room. Nobody else was there yet.

I was too busy staring at the floor, so I couldn't see the Professor's expression. I just knew that she was very quiet. After what she said back in the Archives, though, I wasn't about to speak voluntarily for a while. I'd let them arrive at their own conclusions; that's what they were going to do anyway, no matter how much I tried to defend myself.

"Well, this is awkward," Zelos said, suddenly, standing up. "So, I guess I'll go ahead and point out the elephant in the room. Spitfire, you're from Tethe'alla."

"Okay," I said quietly.

Zelos faltered. "So now you're agreeing to it?"

"No," I replied. "But I don't have any proof that I'm not, so there's no point in arguing."

"I'd rather we leave the discussion for when the others get back," Raine said. "I'd like to go check on Sheena. Zelos, could you show me the way to the Elemental Research Laboratory?"

"Eh? Sure, my cool beauty." Zelos smiled easily. How could he smile at a time like this? "What about you, spitfire?"

"I'd like to stay here," I replied. "Maybe I'll get some rest..."

"Suit yourself," Zelos said with a shrug. After a few seconds, I heard the sound of the front door closing, and let out a heavy sigh.

Well, what next? I really just wanted to curl up and sleep somewhere...maybe this time I would wake up at home in my bed. Or maybe I just wouldn't wake up at all.

Getting up, I headed upstairs in the direction of the bedrooms. Yes, being alone and unnoticed sounded very good right now...

* * *

For a period after that, I drifted in and out of sleep. I woke up at one point when I heard the front door opening, and another point when I heard the muffled sound of a conversation going on downstairs. Both times, I simply buried my head under the pillow and went right on sleeping.

The third time I woke up, it was to a pounding noise. I let out a sigh, realizing it was just knocking on the door, and closed my eyes once more.

The knocking was persistent. After a minute, it was accompanied by Lloyd's voice. "Come on, Brittany, I know you're in there."

I opened my eyes a little, staring blankly at the wall. Maybe if I didn't answer, he would just go away. I bit my lip, feeling my eyes suddenly sting with tears. Problem was, I actually wanted to talk to Lloyd. I wanted him to tell me that everything was okay and that I didn't have to worry anymore. And even if he couldn't say that, I just...

The door opened, but I didn't look up. I saw Lloyd walk in from the corner of my eye; he shut the door behind him, before coming to sit at the foot of the bed.

"...Hey," he said after a second.

I had to take a deep breath so my voice wouldn't choke up. Why did having Lloyd around make me so damn emotional?

"Hey," I repeated back, staring in the corner of the room where I had haphazardly tossed my stuff. My coat was draped over my bag; I could still see a faint bloodstain on it from the Tower.

"You okay?" Lloyd asked.

I shrugged. "Dunno. Who cares?"

"You idiot," he sighed. "Cut it out."

It was quiet for a moment. Lloyd didn't say anything more, but I had a feeling he wasn't about to leave anytime soon. I bit my lip, thinking.

"Lloyd..." I murmured. "Please...please tell me you believe me."

"I believe you," he said.

"Even knowing that-"

"It's just a piece of paper," he cut me off. "If we go to Altamira and people recognize you, that's one thing. But right now, I don't care."

I sat up, staring into my lap. "I..."

"Brittany," he said, and I looked up. He gave me an intent, serious stare. "I trust you."

In other words, he was indirectly begging me not to betray that trust. I looked down for a moment, fighting to gain control over my emotions. I wouldn't betray him...I could never tell him the full truth, but I would never intentionally hurt Lloyd. He really was the only person keeping me sane here.

Blinking back tears, I abruptly leaned forward and wrapped my arms around him.

"Thank you," I said quietly, and pulled away. "I'm sorry I'm such a mess."

"You're not a mess," he murmured.

"So..." I paused for a moment, thinking. "I'm afraid to ask, but...what about everyone else?"

Lloyd just shook his head. "I don't know. No one really knows for sure what to think. Even the Professor seems confused."

"I know those papers were fake, but...they don't know that. What do we do, then? If they come to the conclusion that I lied, then what? I don't have any other story to tell them."

He clenched his fists. "Dammit...does it matter? Everyone's already agreed that we can't just leave you behind."

"Really?" I looked over at him, raising my eyebrows.

"Yeah," Lloyd replied. "It doesn't matter if you're telling the truth or not. Cruxis is still after you, and you've still been with us through a lot of things."

"Kratos was with us through a lot of things, too," I muttered.

"Kratos didn't spend weeks imprisoned in a Desian ranch!" Lloyd said loudly, standing up. "You've done stuff too, you know! You fought to save the people of Luin, even when it was burning around you. You stood up to Kvar alone when I was too hurt to fight! You saved us when we were caught by the Renegades that time, too..."

I stared at the floor. That ambush by the Renegades had been my fault in the first place, though. I appreciated Lloyd's words, but I didn't think I was going to be smiling again anytime soon.

"And..." Lloyd sat back down. "I promised I wouldn't let anything happen to you. I'm not going to leave you, okay? Stop worrying."

"...Okay," I said after a pause. "Okay."

"Everyone's eating dinner. Are you coming down?"

I nodded slowly. "Yeah."

Maybe I wasn't about to get ditched, but I couldn't deny it...things were definitely going to be weird from now on.

* * *

"Man, I'm glad to be done with those sewers," Sheena said as we set up camp.

It was about nine o' clock in the evening, and we had been walking all day. Tomorrow we'd head to the Tethe'alla Bridge to meet with Kuchinawa. Sheena had explained the Elemental Cargo and all that to us over dinner the previous night, so now we just had to get to Sybak. Raine wasn't looking to happy with the idea of going out to sea again.

As for my little...issue, no one had brought it up since I'd spoken to Lloyd last night. Everyone was just kind of pretending nothing had ever happened. I wasn't talking very much, because I was sort of hoping they'd just forget I was there.

"But if we ever have to go back to Meltokio, we'll have to go through there again..." Genis reluctantly pointed out.

"Well, there's no sense in worrying about it," Zelos said cheerfully. "With the way things look now, we won't be going back to Meltokio for a while." Then he seemed to realize mid-sentence what he was saying, and his face fell. "Aww...I'm gonna miss my hunnies..."

"My main concern is how we're going to get back into Sybak again," Raine said. "Not only are we fugitives, but Genis and I will be easily recognized. The entire town witnessed our arrest."

I scowled a little. That was another thing I wasn't looking forward to...after what had happened, I hated Sybak. It was practically a breeding ground for racist, intolerant people.

"Only the half-elves in the lab know about that secret entrance," Sheena said. "If we can just make it there, we should be okay."

"I guess we'll just worry about it when we get there." Lloyd leaned back against a tree, sighing.

I stood up, stretching. Everyone looked over at me, so I felt the need to explain.

"Just going for a walk," I said.

I had gone for walks alone plenty of times before, as they gave me times to think (and on occasion, bathe). Now, though, I really just wanted to get away from everyone. For the first time in a while, I actually felt out of place and unwanted. I couldn't tell if anyone besides Lloyd believed me, but no one was really talking to me, so I was left to draw my own conclusions.

"Wait up, hunny," Zelos called as I turned to leave. "I'll come with you. I was about to head out, too."

His smile was carefree enough, but I almost sent him a reproachful glare. I had a feeling he was just coming with me to supervise, because he didn't trust me or something. I really hoped the others wouldn't start thinking my walks were anything more than they really were...

"Okay, whatever," I said, keeping my voice neutral. I had been hoping to get away from the awkwardness, but being alone with Zelos wasn't exactly going to help.

Zelos got to his feet, and we headed out into the woods...if you could even call them that. We were camped out in an area that couldn't quite be called a field due to the amount of trees, but it couldn't really be called a forest, either. There was a forest with a river not too far away, though, and that was where I intended to head. Zelos didn't seem to mind.

"...So," I said as we walked, wanting to break the silence before he made some sort of perverted comment. "How's life?"

He slung an arm over my shoulders. "Oh, spitfire! It's perfect, now that I'm alone with you."

I rolled my eyes. "That's the cheesiest pickup line I've ever heard."

"Sorry. I think I've exhausted my entire supply on you, hunny," he said, grinning.

"You aren't going to start saying stuff like that all the time, are you?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

His grin grew. "Do you believe in love at first sight, or should I walk by again?"

I snorted. "Zelos, if you were a wedgie, I'd pick you."

"Nice pants, hunny. Can I test the zipper?"

"If I could rearrange the alphabet, I'd but U and I together," I shot back.

"I lost my virginity, can I have yours?"

"My love for you is like diarrhea; I just can't hold it in."

"...What?" Zelos asked incredulously, and we both started laughing. "Where the hell'd you hear that one?"

"I-heh, I read it somewhere," I said, wiping a tear from one of my eyes. Zelos's expression just then...oh, that was great.

It took us a few minutes to calm down after that, but the silence was a lot more comfortable. I had forgotten...Zelos wasn't so bad, after all. He always made me feel better with stupid stuff like this. And hadn't he helped me with my fear of heights that one time, too?

"Hey, uh, Zelos?" I said after a moment, fidgeting a little as we walked.

"Yeah?" He looked over at me.

"Thanks. I probably would've started brooding if you hadn't come with me, so...thanks."

"Hey, hey, no need to thank me," Zelos said happily. "It's all in a day's work, my little spitfire."

"Seriously, though," I said, sobering. "I've been wondering. What're your thoughts on all this?" I paused, sort of wishing I hadn't asked. "Ugh, everyone probably thinks I'm batshit."

"Who ever said anything about you being crazy?" Zelos asked, and I was relieved to see that he was actually serious for once. "Nah, I'd say you've just confused the hell out of everyone."

"What about you?" I asked.

"Me?" He raised his eyebrows, and then looked up at the sky, seeming to think. "I'd say they're being unfair, actually. If you don't want to talk about your past, that's your business. Yeah, that Kratos dude betrayed you guys in the past, but I wouldn't say you're anything like him."

I blinked. "You...really don't care? Even after what we found yesterday?"

He shrugged. "Maybe you lied, maybe you didn't. It's not like that paper proves you're gonna run off and screw us over later- -hey, are you crying?"

"No," I said quickly, hastily wiping at my face. "Allergies." It seemed like the easiest answer to give.

Zelos, at least, was on my side...Zelos and Lloyd. Just hearing that from Zelos made me feel so much better. I wasn't about to start bawling in front of him, though. Those scenes were reserved specifically for Lloyd. Lucky him.

We paused, having gotten pretty deep into the forest. Moonlight filtered through the gaps in the tree leaves, keeping the pathway just illuminated enough for us to see.

The redhead stared at me for a moment, and I was grateful for the dim light. The tears in my eyes were a little less obvious, at least.

"I'm just relieved," I said, smiling. "You're a nice guy, Zelos."

He smiled a little, but it was difficult to read his expression. "No, I'm not."

"Oh, shut up and take the compliment," I scolded him playfully, shoving him a little.

After a few seconds of looking up at the stars, Zelos turned to me.

"Hey, I'm gonna head back. You staying out here?"

I nodded. "Yeah, for a little bit longer. Thanks for talking to me, Zelos. See you at the campsite."

"All right. Later, hunny." With that, he turned and disappeared down the path.

Now that I was alone, I continued the trek a little further, heading slowly down to where the river was. I smiled a little; the sick feeling I'd had all day had now subsided, and I actually felt content. I really hadn't expected Zelos to side with me like that...if only Raine would be the same way. Maybe things wouldn't turn out so bad. Maybe...even if they didn't all completely believe me, we might still get along on the journey.

Standing on the riverbank, I paused to listen to the sound of the water. It was such a quiet and peaceful night...all I could hear was the running water, the rustling of leaves in the wind, and-

-the clinking of armor?

Suddenly alert, I swung around in the direction of the noise. A dark silhouette met my eyes. I couldn't distinguish specific features from here, but the shape was unmistakable. My heart just about leaped into my throat, and I fumbled for my sword in a panic.

Pronyma moved closer, smiling. "Pitiful human. Do you really believe you stand a chance?"

"G-Get away from me," I warned in a not-so-threatening voice, almost shaking. Pointing Loki at her, I demanded, "What the hell do you want?"

"I see no point in explaining myself to you," she said curtly, raising her staff. Two angels appeared behind her, and they began to approach me. I backed away, alarmed. Oh god, this was really bad. This was really, really bad.

"Now, then..." She murmured, moving forward as well. "It's time you returned to Lord Yggdrasill."

"Stay back!" I yelled, and noticed that there was an angel behind me, too.

Feeling like a caged rat, I swung around and slashed at the angel to fend them off. Then I was forced to turn around and face the two angels in front of me. I managed to put a deep gash into one of them, but to my horror, he didn't even react. Like a complete zombie, he continued forward towards me. Was that what Cruxis was going to do to me? Oh, god! I didn't want to be like that!

I let out another yell, praying that someone, anyone would hear me. Where were the others? Didn't Zelos hear this? Why wasn't anyone coming?

I managed to fend off the two angels in front of me. They were knocked backwards and on to the ground, but they simply got right back up as if nothing had hit them. That was when Pronyma moved forward.

"Resistance is futile," she said, and I saw runes begin to glow beneath her feet.

If she cast something like Dark Sphere, I was definitely going to be taken out. Panicked, I ran forward and swiped my sword at her, hoping to distract her from the spell.

She lifted her staff abruptly, swinging it to meet mine. The two weapons hit with a loud clang, and suddenly something flew past my head and I had to stop myself from falling forward into the Desian.

"Pathetic," she sneered as I stared forward in shock.

Loki. The sword that had gotten me through everything...

It had just snapped in two.

I took a second too long attempting to register this fact. A shadow fell over me, I felt a sharp pain, and suddenly everything went dark.

* * *

**A/N: I know, I'm a bitch for ending it there. But hey, this chapter was long enough as it is. XD **

**Oh yes, it's another shit-hits-the-fan moment. What is OC Brit going to do now? Stay tuned!**

**If you review, I'll...do a little dance! :D**

**Next time: Welgaia and Yggdrasill.**


	39. The Lion's Den

**A/N: HOLY FAST UPDATE BATMAN. **

**Aren't you so happy? :'D It's a shorter chapter, but c'mon, it took less than a week! I actually didn't leave you hanging for long!**

**Anyway...I'm gonna let you read now. ;D time to kill that nasty cliffhanger I left you with!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothinggg!**

So cold...

Why...? Why was it so cold?

The darkness enveloping me began to subside, and I suddenly became aware. My eyes were closed, and I felt stiff and uncomfortable. The back of my neck ached...why did this feel so familiar?

...Ah. It was just like the last time I was knocked out...

Knocked out.

My eyes snapped open as everything started coming back to me. The first thing I saw was a dull grey ceiling. Fully awake now due to a fresh adrenaline rush, I immediately sat up and looked around, feeling the urge to get up and run.

Grey ceiling, grey walls. Toilet in the corner. Metal bars forming a fourth wall in front of me. Beyond the bars was a long walkway...and beyond that, a desolate purple sky.

My heart was pounding. So it had really happened...I had been captured by Pronyma and brought here. Oh my god, I was on Derris-Kharlan...

I leaned forward to put my head in my hands, trying not to cry. I had really screwed up this time. What the hell had happened? I had just been walking in the woods...how had Pronyma known where we would be camping out? How had she known I would be in that spot at that time?

Lowering my hands, I paused to stare at them. The answer should have been obvious, but I didn't want to accept it. Zelos...why? Just when I began to think I could trust him, he...

No. I didn't want to think about that right now. What I needed to be thinking about was how I was going to get myself out of this predicament.

...Escape from Welgaia? That was a laugh. Who was I kidding? I had finally gotten myself in too deep. I had taken for granted that Cruxis had never attempted to capture me until now, and now I was paying for it. What could I even do? Even if I managed to get out of this cell, I was in a city full of angels, and the warp leading to the surface would undoubtedly be guarded.

Clenching my fists, I pushed myself off of the bed I had been laying on. It was basically a slab of metal covered with a thin sheet; that explained why I felt so stiff and uncomfortable. This place was cold, too...and it wasn't just the temperature. It just felt...empty. Just seeing that sky gave me chills.

Now that I was up, I fought to contain my growing panic as I did a thorough search of the room. After a few minutes, I was able to confirm what I'd feared: I was trapped. This was real life, and in real life, there wasn't a convenient ventilation shaft to climb through or a secret passageway to use. This was a standard prison cell. The floor was made of cold metal, and the walls of stone. There would be no escaping from here.

I was still wearing the clothes I had been captured in, so I quickly patted myself down. I had been carrying a few lemon gels in one pocket; they were gone now. Normally I'd be pissed since they were expensive, but I really had bigger problems at the moment. It would've been nice if they hadn't found those, since I was probably going to get severely hurt if I ever managed an escape attempt...

Standing in the middle of my cell, I stopped. That's right, Loki was gone too...I knew I shouldn't be sad, that sword had been nearing the end of its days anyway, but...I still felt a sense of loss. Just like that, my companion for the past few months was gone. It had been a tool of killing, sure, but it had saved my life so many times. Now I was unarmed and helpless, with Loki's pieces sitting somewhere in the middle of the woods near Meltokio.

"Ah...so it seems you're finally awake."

A silky, masculine voice met my ears, and my blood ran cold. It took all of my self-control to stop myself from freezing up with terror. Forcing myself to move, I slowly turned around to face the seraph that was now standing on the other side of the prison bars.

He was just as I remembered him. Long blond hair, cold blue eyes...his wings weren't visible, but that didn't make him any less intimidating. Kratos stood at his right side.

I felt myself sinking deeper into a pit of despair, and I had to wrench my gaze away from the former mercenary. Following the other seraph around like this...what was he, Yggdrasill's lapdog? Dammit...why, Kratos?

"Yggdrasill..." I tried to put some degree of scorn into my voice, but it just came out as a horrified murmur. Part of me wished I wasn't standing; my legs suddenly felt incapable of supporting my weight.

"I see you remember me," he said with a condescending smirk; he knew as well as I did that there was no conceivable way I could forget him, after what he had put us all through.

"Wh-What do you want?" I demanded, cursing myself for letting my voice slip. It was growing difficult to contain my trembling. "Is this about the Angelus Project?"

"Hmm, so the Renegades did tell you," Yggdrasill observed, raising his eyebrows slightly. "How very thoughtful of them. It saves me the trouble of explaining. Actually, I'm here with a proposal."

"...A proposal?" I asked, wary. He threw me into a jail cell, and now he expected me to listen to him?

Still, maybe it would be better to listen...as things were now, I really wasn't in a very good position. It wasn't like I had much to lose. But what could he possibly mean? I sneaked a glance at Kratos, but the auburn haired man seemed determined to stare at a spot directly above my head. If hadn't known better, I could've easily confused him for one of those zombie-angels I'd encountered before being brought here. His face was completely devoid of emotion.

"That's correct," the blond replied, watching me. "Should you comply, I will give you your freedom and send you home."

My eyes widened at that. "You mean..."

"Earth," he elaborated, seeming satisfied with my reaction.

It was overwhelming. Suddenly I was presented with the option to forget about everything that had happened and get the hell out of here. I would've done anything to have had that option back in the first few weeks I was here. Things were different now, though...I knew it would be wrong to just leave everything behind. Still...home. If I could just get back to Earth, maybe everything would be okay. I mean, nothing like this had ever happened before on Earth! Mana didn't exist there. Yggdrasill probably couldn't even use magic or do anything even remotely harmful in my world.

"...What do I have to do?" I asked hesitantly. I could at least hear him out, right?

"Your friends will be stopping next in Sybak," he explained. "It should be simple for you to lure the summoner away from the group."

"Lure Sheena away..." My brow furrowed. What did he want with Sheena?

"We won't kill her, I assure you," Yggdrasill said. "I simply want to take her out of the picture for a while. If you do this, then I will release you from the Angelus Project and remove your Exsphere. You will be able to live the life you once had."

I tensed a little as my mind fought to absorb this new information. Take Sheena out of the picture? Sheena was the summoner...we needed her for the Rheairds. Without Sheena, the group wouldn't be able to make all of the pacts and the Great Seed wouldn't go out of control. Everyone would be stuck in Tethe'alla...that would mean skipping right to healing Colette, wouldn't it? And then everyone would end up right back here, in Welgaia. No pact with Origin, no Eternal Sword, no...

But what about my life? What about Earth? Goddammit, I wanted to go home!

I stared at the floor for a second. No matter what I thought, though...no matter how much I wanted to go back to living my old life...that didn't change the fact that Yggdrasill was the one who had stolen it from me in the first place. I couldn't trust him...and there was no way I could let Sheena take my place in this jail cell.

"...What about the project?" I finally asked, forcing myself to meet his icy gaze. "I doubt you'll just abandon it."

"So long as you accomplish your end of the bargain, I will leave you and your family unharmed," Yggdrasill said.

He wasn't going to give up on producing that special Crystal. That meant that some unfortunate stranger was going to go through the same bullshit I had. Even if it wasn't my sister, I just couldn't do something like that to another person!

"And if I refuse this proposal?" I asked.

He smiled slowly. "If you refuse, then you will undergo painful experiments in order to produce an enhanced Cruxis Crystal. Refusal will inevitably result in your death. Are you prepared to accept such a thing?"

I tore my eyes away from him, clenching my fists. So that was how it was...betray everyone, or die.

"Face reality," Yggdrasill said. "Do you honestly believe you can return to that group for long? They no longer trust you."

"You had those birth records fabricated, didn't you?" I asked suddenly, looking up to glare at him.

"Between the false documents and your sudden disappearance, I'm sure they will believe that you have returned to Cruxis...that you are no different from Kratos." He spared a glance at the former mercenary, who remained silent as ever.

I knew he was right. Lloyd would be resistant at first, but...but he had been betrayed like this before. He might come to accept the thought that I was with Cruxis to begin with. It wouldn't make complete sense, but then again, what about me did make sense? I was always hiding things from him.

There was a bright flash, and I suddenly felt hands gripping my shoulders. I gasped, realizing that Yggdrasill was standing right behind me. When my head snapped up, however, I saw that we were not in my prison cell anymore. In fact, we weren't on Derris-Kharlan at all. We were...

"...Home," the seraph murmured. I felt my insides churn.

Pale blue walls, plush carpet, a single window overlooking the street...we were standing in the middle of my room. It was unmistakable. Posters on the wall featured my favorite rockstars, and there was a Dunkin' Donuts calendar above my bed. It had come with the monthly newsletter corporate always sent me.

My desk was right below the window, and it looked like my laptop was charging. My TV was on my left side, and my eyes fell on the gaming consoles and the cluster of wires that went with them. There was the Wii, the PS2, the N64, and even my old Gamecube...it was so eerie seeing them now.

Tales of Symphonia was nowhere to be seen. I had actually been halfway through another Twilight Princess game around the time I had been taken, so Symphonia was probably collecting dust somewhere in my closet. That was probably why the seraph standing behind me hadn't found it...

"Oh..." I whispered, completely overcome by these surroundings. My room. My nice, cozy, safe room...but why was it still the way I had left it? Was I still considered missing or something?

Voices. My bedroom door was closed, but I could hear muffled voices coming from the other side. Were there people in my living room?

There was a feminine laugh, and my mouth dropped open in shock. My sister...my father and sister, just in the other room? I just had to open the door, and...

"Not yet," Yggdrasill's voice cut off my thoughts, and I realized with dismay that he still had a firm grip on my shoulders. My attempt to move forward didn't take me very far.

I could still hear those muffled voices. They were voices I hadn't heard in months. I wanted to see them! I had to at least see their faces again!

"Your family is mere steps away from you, Brittany," the seraph said in my ear, and I hated him for using this against me. "Don't you want to go to them? You simply have to agree to my terms..."

Standing here like this was an unbearable agony, almost like a physical pain. They were so close, and yet just out of my reach. The life that had been stolen from me was right here! No more fighting, no more tragedy, no more fear...just a normal, safe, happy life. Why couldn't I just go back? Why couldn't I pretend this had all been a horrible, horrible dream?

"But I..." My voice cracked and I trailed off, trembling.

"You've done well in keeping yourself alive this long," Yggdrasill murmured. "Now...release yourself from this. Don't you believe you deserve it?"

"I can't just abandon everyone..." I said weakly, and I wasn't sure who I was trying to convince. Those voices continually tortured me.

"Abandon them?" He smiled. "You wouldn't be abandoning anyone. They have already abandoned you."

"What?" My eyes widened a little, and I tried to look over at him.

"That's right," he murmured. "I told you they would be stopping next in Sybak. They've moved on without you, Brittany. They've given up on you. Do you understand?"

I swung around to face him, clenching my fists. "That's not-!"

"It's hardly your fault," he said, shaking his head. "You're just a normal girl from Earth. You have no place in Tethe'alla or Sylvarant. Return home...where you belong. No one will blame you."

I looked over my shoulder at the door to my room. My life...I could have my life back. Everyone else had moved on...why couldn't I? I could pretend it had all been a nightmare.

Just a bad dream...everything had just been a bad-

_I'm your friend and I'm here for you, okay? So talk to me already!_

_Do you have any idea how much I worried about you?_

_Don't you think for one second that this is your fault!_

_Let me bear the burden with you. That's what friends do, right?_

_Brittany, I trust you._

But it hadn't all been bad. Lloyd...

What the hell was I doing? He'd kick my ass if he knew I was about to give in to this bastard!

"No," I said forcefully, looking up. "I can't do that. Even if I've been left behind, and even if no one trusts me anymore...I can't. They helped me get this far, and I at least owe them for that much."

Yggdrasill's expression soured, and I abruptly realized we were standing back in the cell. When had that happened? Had any of that been real?

"Besides," I growled, "you're the one who dragged me into this in the first place! Why the hell should I trust you? Screw your stupid proposal!"

He was just trying to divide the group. If I betrayed them too, how paranoid would they get? What if they started to notice Zelos' suspicious behavior? And without Sheena around...dammit, I couldn't do it!

"Very well," Yggdrasill finally relented, his eyes darkening as he smiled wickedly. "Have it your way."

He warped out of the cell, turning to his subordinate. "Kratos, begin preparations for the continuation of the Angelus Project."

"As you wish." Kratos finally spoke, not even sparing me a glance as he turned to leave the area.

"You have three days to change your mind," Yggdrasill said to me. "Enjoy your solitude."

He turned, following after Kratos. They disappeared from sight, and I knew I was once again alone.

I stood in the middle of the cell for a very long time, staring out between the bars. Yggdrasill's words slowly sank in. The Angelus Project was no longer a looming threat; the time had finally come. In three days, Cruxis would proceed to slowly and painfully kill me.

In refusing his proposal, I had chosen to die.

Experiments, and then death...trapped in a city of lifeless angels...

"I did the right thing," I said to myself, gripping the bars until my knuckles turned white. "I did the right thing. I did the right..."

I slid to my knees, my shoulders shaking as I began to sob. My vision blurred and I watched my tears fall to the cold floor, feeling myself sink deeper into despair.

"Mom...Dad...oh, God...I'm so scared..."

* * *

Time passed slowly after my initial breakdown.

I was eventually able to stop the tears from coming; I realized that crying wasn't going to do anything. No matter how much I cried, I was still going to be stuck in this cell. No one was going to come and comfort me. The more I cried, the more I would feel sorry for myself, and the less likely I would be to fight back.

I had to do something. I didn't know what yet, but I couldn't die here. I couldn't accept this! I had survived so much...how could I just let it all end here? There had to be something I could do...

After Yggdrasill left, I lost all sense of time. He said I had three days before they came for me, but there was no night or day on Derris-Kharlan. Everything around me remained constant and unchanging, almost as if the comet itself was as zombified as the angels were. It was eerie...and it threw me off completely. I didn't know when to sleep or when to stay awake, and it was hard to tell if three minutes had passed or three hours.

No one ever came by my cell. Occasionally I saw an angel guard pass by, but I didn't see any sign of anyone I knew. That was probably a blessing, though...it wasn't like I had any friends here.

It took a lot of effort just to keep myself from brooding. With so much time alone, I couldn't help but wonder what those experiments would entail...Presea had been put through that sort of thing, hadn't she? And she had shown an instinctive fear of Kate. Would they experiment on me up here? Would they send me back to a Desian ranch? Would it go slowly, or would I die in a matter of days?

At times, the angels brought me food. It wasn't much better than what I had been given at the Asgard ranch. In fact, it didn't even look like food. It was a miracle I got anything at all; it wasn't like they needed food up here. I considered using the meals to mark time, but I wasn't sure how many meals they were bringing me a day. Hunger became a constant, nagging thing. At least I was used to ignoring it, after what I'd gone through at the ranch.

I finished yet another session of staring intently at the wall, and pushed myself off the bed. Thinking about my circumstances wasn't going to accomplish anything. I had less than three days to get out of here...and it didn't matter how dangerous it was anymore, because I had absolutely nothing to lose.

For what felt like the twentieth time, I explored every nook and cranny of the cell. There was nothing here that could help me. I tested each of the prison bars, and they were each as sturdy as they had been last time. The gap between each bar was far too small for me to fit through, and the lock couldn't be picked because it looked like it was operated with a key card.

Seeing movement from the corner of my eye, I looked up. An angel was floating by the cell. Judging from the weapon they carried, I could guess that they were probably the one assigned to guard my cell today. That would mean they would probably be in possession of the key I needed.

"Hey, you," I called out, not knowing what I intended to do. "Angel."

The angel paused for only a split second. "I am not authorized to speak to prisoners."

"What? H-Hey!" I yelled, but the angel continued on his way. I tried speaking to him just about every single time I saw him after that, but received no response. And despite my persistence, the angel didn't even seem annoyed...it was like he didn't hear me at all.

I saw several angels over the course of the next...day? Two days? And I received the same response from all of them. They all immediately clammed up and went on their way. None of them seemed to have any form of a conscience, either. It didn't look like I was going to get anything out of them.

Once I realized that talking to the angels was useless, I began to lose the feeling of desperation that had motivated me to try escaping. How could I run if I couldn't even get out of the cell? I had only been able to escape from the Renegades that one time because I had somehow managed to trick the guards...but these guards were barely even capable of free thought. They were like robots...I couldn't provoke any sort of emotion from them. I couldn't draw them close enough to the cell for me to grab them through the bars, either...

Was there really nothing I could do...?

After restlessly pacing the cell for a while, I finally determined that it was useless. If I wanted to escape, I would have to wait until they came for me and took me out of this cell...but if I didn't even have a weapon, what would I do?

Not wanting to sit on the uncomfortable bed, I leaned against the wall and slid to the floor. It was useless...all of it was useless.

I stared listlessly at the wall for what felt like an eternity. Eventually, I fell into a fitful sleep.

* * *

"...up."

A cold voice brought me back to my senses, and I opened my eyes, a little dazed. A tall shadow stood at the door to my cell. I rubbed my eyes, and the shadow was brought into focus. Kratos.

"Get up."

The indifferent look in his eyes once again felt like a slap to the face, and I hated him. For the first time, I felt genuine hatred towards the seraph. He didn't even care about anyone. I had been wrong about him.

Kratos glared at me, and I realized that if I didn't get up, he was going to come in and wrench me to my feet. Then the gears in my mind started turning, and I nearly froze up with dread. I had fallen asleep, and now Kratos was here...did that mean the time had finally come?

"Stand. Now." Kratos demanded sharply, his eyes narrowing.

I scrambled to my feet, my heartbeat escalating. Kratos was here. If Kratos was taking me to where they would resume the Project, that erased all chances I had at making a run for it. He was far too strong...I had learned that at the Tower of Salvation. But...there had to be something I could say to him!

"Kratos, I-"

"Come with me," he said, immediately cutting me off. He turned and started walking away, and I had to strain myself just to keep up with him. Why did he have to walk so goddamn fast? He was just rushing me to my death...

We walked past a row of cells, and over a bridge. Buildings loomed off in the distance, and I could see the figures of dozens of angels roaming the city. They moved in completely straight lines, never roaming, never stopping to talk with one another...were they even aware of each other? They had to be.

I could see the ominous shadow of Vinheim against the horizon, as well. I had to suppress a shudder. Was that where we were going to go? What were they going to do to me? I didn't want to die...

"Keep moving," Kratos commanded, and I realized I had been falling behind. He reached back and grabbed me by the arm, pulling me roughly forward. I stayed close to him after that. It was very hard not to cry. I felt like such a child...a powerless, vulnerable child.

As I followed him, I continually glanced around me. I wanted to run, but there was nowhere to go. Any path I took would just lead me to more angels. I could barely overcome one with a weapon, never mind take on an entire city unarmed. There had to be some sort of opening for me to escape...

I remembered the Tower of Salvation, Kratos' inhuman speed. It didn't matter what I told myself; there was no possible way for me to get away from him or catch him off guard. There was nothing I could do now...I just had to follow him like the obedient host body I was.

We continued onward through the outskirts of the city. One last time, I thought about my family and my friends and all of the memories we'd shared. I didn't know when I would have time to think of them again.

After a few minutes, we reached a warp. Kratos stopped in front of it, turning to me.

"Take this," he said, unstrapping a second sword from his belt and shoving it into my hands.

I stared at it in confusion, and looked up at him. "Kratos? What are you-"

"The path should be clear for now," he told me, cutting me off. "It won't remain that way for long. Don't waste time or you'll be recaptured."

My eyes widened in utter disbelief. Recaptured? Did that mean...what the hell was going on?

"You escaped entirely on your own," Kratos said firmly, fixing me with a piercing gaze. "Are we clear?"

I scrambled to find my voice, but I was too shocked to form a coherent sentence. "Wait, I don't-!"

"Hmph. Good luck."

Suddenly he had reached out, shoving me backwards. I was too surprised to react, and all I could do was stare at the seraph as he watched me fall.

Then I was on the other side of the warp, falling to the ground. I hit the floor and barely felt it; I was still too stunned by what had just happened. I sat there for a few seconds, my mouth open in a gape. Then Kratos's words hit me-I had to run. None of this made sense, but there was no time to think about it. I scrambled to my feet, immediately breaking out into a sprint.

It didn't take long for me to realize where I was. Coffins everywhere, surrounded by blue-green clouds...this was the Tower of Salvation. I couldn't help but feel a little sick, but even this place was a step up from Derris-Kharlan. I just wanted to see trees and grass again...

It felt so good to run. My heart pounded in my ears and I felt giddy from the adrenaline rush. I hadn't felt this way since my escape from imprisonment at the Asgard ranch.

The warp up ahead revealed a long corridor; I continued sprinting. There were no angels or monsters anywhere. It was completely empty, like Kratos had said. I eventually lost count of all the warps I went through. It all went by in an extremely fast blur, and suddenly I found myself standing on the altar, and I tripped and fell right off in my hurry.

Somehow managing to land without hurting myself, I stopped for a split second to catch my breath. I was standing on the spot Remiel had died...this was where the Eternal Sword would appear later.

...Agh, it didn't matter! I had to get out of here!

The adrenaline rush was dying off. Exhausted, I continued running. Eventually I made it outside, but I didn't stop. I had to get as far away from the Tower of Salvation and Cruxis as possible. It didn't matter how tired I was...I just had to get away...

* * *

When I woke up, my surroundings were considerably different. First of all, I didn't remember falling asleep or passing out or anything; I must have pushed myself to my limits after escaping from the Tower. Where was I now, then?

It was really dark. Collapsed against a tree, I groggily attempted to look up and move my limbs a little. I was so goddamn sore...

Something heavy was pressing against my back. I looked down, and saw the strap running across my chest...was there a sheath strapped to my back? That was right, I had a sword again...

...Kratos had rescued me. He really had been the same person all along...I had lost faith in him, but he had come through for me when I'd least expected him to.

A tear dripped down my cheek. "You...you stupid ass," I whimpered, wiping it away. "I can't believe it..."

I shook my head abruptly, pushing those thoughts away. Shocking as the whole thing was, I could worry about it all later...I wasn't exactly cozy and safe right now, anyway. So it was dark, and there was a tree behind me...this was a forest? It was really dense, hardly any sunlight filtered through the trees...what was up with this place? It was kind of creepy.

Creepy...oh, fuck.

Just as I started to realize where I was, a loud growl met my ears. Alarmed, I immediately looked over towards the source of the noise, and saw a very large and unfriendly looking wolf monster prowling its way towards me. Its fur matted and patches of it were missing, and its eyes were red...and glowing.

No, no! I did not just escape from death in Welgaia only to be eaten by a deranged wolf!

"Get away! Shoo!" I yelled, reaching for the sword on my back. I was too weak to lift it; the hunger from the past few days had combined with my exhaustion, and I was lucky that I wasn't passing out all over again.

My words only seemed to agitate the wolf more. Its growling intensified, its muscles bunched, and I gasped loudly as it lunged forward.

"Crescent Moon!" A blur entered my vision, and suddenly the wolf was thrown back into a large tree. It hit the trunk with a sickening crunch and slid down to the ground, limp.

I remained where I was, frozen. What...had just happened? That voice...I slowly turned my head to look at my savior.

"Are you all right?" he asked me, and all I could do was gawk at him like an idiot.

Long blue hair, muscular body, hands bound together with shackles...

"Agh!" I let out a cry, scrambling to push myself away from him. He was still our enemy! Why the hell did I have such bad luck?

I didn't get very far; it only took a few seconds before I felt a sharp pain in one of my limbs and collapsed to the ground again.

"Calm down," Regal said, and I heard him approach. "I have no intention of harming you."

"You seemed a lot less friendly when you bashed Zelos's face into the floor," I remarked shakily, watching him.

His brow furrowed. "Ah...I thought I had seen you somewhere before. I can only speak for myself, but I assure you that I was not aiming to kill any of your group...and I won't attack someone when they are defenseless."

I stared at him warily for a moment, before letting out a long sigh. Good...I could trust Regal, then. He didn't look nearly as scary now that he wasn't trying to be threatening.

"...I'm Brittany," I finally said. "Thanks for saving me just then."

"Regal," he replied, nodding. "Are you hurt?"

I shook my head. "Just really, really exhausted. And I haven't really eaten much in the past three days..."

Regal reached down into one pocket, which was a little awkward looking due to the handcuffs. After a second of rifling through his pocket, he pulled out a small yellow gel and held it out to me. Regal had lemon gels? For a convict, he was pretty well-equipped.

"Take this," he told me. "It isn't much, but it should help for now."

"Thank you," I said gratefully, taking the offered gel and swallowing it. A nice warm feeling spread throughout my body, and the soreness faded. The hunger faded as well, but I knew that wouldn't last very long. It was good enough for the time being.

"If you don't mind my asking," Regal said as I let the gel do its work, "what are you doing separated from your group?"

"Uh..." I faltered. After a second, I just offered him a smile. "It's a long and confusing story, actually."

He nodded. "If you don't want to tell me, that's fine. Are you able to walk?"

I attempted to stand up, and was surprised to find that I could actually do so. The lemon gel had helped a great deal. I doubted I could fight right now, but at least I could get around without using the trees for support.

"Looks like it," I replied.

"It's far too dangerous for you to wander alone in that condition," Regal said. "You're welcome to come with me. Your friends are somewhere in this forest; we're sure to run into them at some point. Would that be all right?"

"You don't mean to fight them, do you?" I asked.

He shook his head. "No. I merely wish to speak to the girl, Presea. You have my word."

"Well, okay," I said, smiling. "Lead the way!"

Regal did so willingly enough. After a few seconds of walking, I remembered something.

"Hey, where are we, anyway?"

"Gaoracchia Forest."

"Ah, crap..."

I hated this place, I really did. At least I finally had that awesome meat shield I had dreamed of for so long...in your face, Kratos.

* * *

**A/N: Woooooo Regal! This chapter was fun. :D I really don't know what else to say, but...don't you want to hug our good ol' buddy Kratters? **

**Well, you can! Just review and I'll send you a free Kratos hug! He might try to stab you, though. :D**

**Next time: Traveling with Regal! Meeting up with the group! Other important stuff!**


	40. Second Chance

**A/N: Hi guys! Here I am with chapter 40! :D Not too much happens here plotwise, but there's a hefty plate of character development to keep you busy! **

**Almost 4 am over here, sooo...I'll leave it at that. Oh, and more artwork for you! This one's from my awesome bud, Furude Rika:**

**http: / van-anh. deviantart. com/ art/ Boo- 173503555?q=&qo=**

**And here's one from me~!**

**http: / noa748. deviantart. com /#/ d2vppjs**

**Without the unnecessary spaces, of course. Now then...on with the chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

The next five minutes of walking were relatively silent as I attempted to take in my surroundings, ignore my current problems and think about Kratos all at the same time. Everything had gone all screwy and confusing, and it was making my head hurt.

...Well, okay, the plot was totally on track, but I sure wasn't. Kratos had saved me, which was good. Regal was helping me, which was also good. Or was it? Being seen with Regal wasn't going to make me look too good, but it wasn't like I could do this on my own. If Regal hadn't stepped in, I would've been monster food by now.

It was horrible, but I couldn't help but feel resentment for everything at this point. I had just been hauled off to be held prisoner at Derris-Kharlan, and gone through some of the most terrifying moments of my life. I had been given the choice to screw everyone over for my own sake, but I had chosen to die instead. Someone should've been awarding me a medal for that by now! Instead, no one was ever going to know about it, and they were all going to treat me with mistrust when I got back. Every time I tried to do what was right, every time I tried to be a good person, I just got hit with more bullshit.

No...no. I had to stop feeling sorry for myself. Kratos had saved my life, and that was enough. If he gave a damn about someone like me, someone who had pestered him and acted like a complete idiot the whole journey...well, maybe that meant the others still cared at least a little, too.

"What's up with this place?" I finally groaned, my shoulders slumping. "All this darkness is making me gloomy."

"Yes, it is rather dreary," Regal agreed, looking thoughtful.

"Well, someone should hack down a few of these trees and let some light in," I grumbled. Where was Presea when you needed her?

"I'm not sure if such a rash action would be beneficial," Regal remarked, seeming a little amused by my attitude. "This forest houses a great deal of important medicinal herbs, the majority of which thrive in darkness. Tampering with the ecosystem in this area is illegal."

"Really?" I raised my eyebrows, interested. "How big is this forest, anyway?"

"It's actually much smaller than it seems," he replied thoughtfully. I couldn't help but frown at that; I thought it seemed pretty big. Maybe the darkness was playing tricks on my eyes. I found myself wishing I had a flashlight.

"You ever been through here before, Regal?"

"Once or twice," he said casually, nodding. "I remember the correct way through well enough."

Whew...well, that was one issue I didn't have to worry about. At least we wouldn't get lost. But...why would Regal have come to this place in the past? Hmm...Lezareno was a large company, so maybe they used the herbs here to make medicine. Or something. It'd explain why Regal was so knowledgeable about this forest. Then again, he was pretty intelligent about things in general. Ow, my head.

We continued onward, and it seemed like the forest was getting darker, if that was even possible. It was probably just because we were getting deeper in, but I still didn't like it. Thankfully it didn't get to the point where we couldn't see. I just hoped I wasn't going to trip on a tree root; plenty of them ran right through the path. I couldn't understand how Regal was keeping his balance.

Monsters attacked us a few times, but my blue haired meat shield took care of them for me. I was kind of useless at this point, really. There was nothing in my stomach, but I felt almost like I had to vomit. Needless to say, fending off monsters wasn't an option. Cowering in fear was pretty much all I was good for.

"Hey, Regal," I murmured, trying to distract myself from an oncoming pity party.

"Yes?"

"I know you said you're not gonna try anything, but aren't you supposed to be working for the Pope? I thought he was the one who let you out of prison," I said.

"...You're correct," he said after a pause. "I was sent here as part of a trap, but I'm simply neglecting my orders to attack. I don't care what happens to me afterwards as long as I am able to speak with Presea."

"A trap?" I asked, frowning.

Regal nodded. "I was to intercept your group and distract them long enough for the Papal Knights to arrive."

"We should warn them before doing anything else, then," I remarked.

"Yes," he agreed. "We can talk when we're in a safe place."

I opened my mouth, almost asking about Presea, but I stopped myself. Mentioning her would probably be a good way to get Regal to clam up, and I really didn't want this conversation to die. Talking to him was sort of calming me down and making me feel a little more levelheaded.

Then I had a little crisis when I realized that I couldn't even think of anything to say anyway, and then I went right back to having a pity party in my head. Damn it all.

"Are you related to Presea or something?" I asked, knowing the conversation was going to die either way.

"No," Regal replied. "She...reminds me of someone I used to know. That's all."

"Oh," I said lamely. "Well, you didn't pry too much when we were talking about my separation from the group, so I guess I won't pry, either."

"Thank you," he said.

"Still, though, this might not be so easy," I remarked. "I'll vouch for you when we run into them, but at this point my opinion's not really worth much."

Regal raised his eyebrows, looking over at me. "Do they not trust you?"

I shrugged, dejected. "I guess you could say there's a lot of things about me that don't add up. We were screwed over by a so- called friend pretty recently, so it's not too surprising that they're paranoid about me."

Now that I was thinking about it, I couldn't help but heave an exhausted sigh. "And when they see the two of us walking together, well...it's not going to look good."

He frowned. "The most we can do is show that we bear no hostility towards them."

"Yeah, you're right. Maybe they'll get the picture if I fork over my weapon or something," I said, my mood plummeting.

I was so fucking tired. I didn't want to deal with all this stressful crap anymore. I was sick of having to explain myself and justify my every action just because it seemed the tiniest bit suspicious. This wasn't even my fault, dammit! Maybe life would be easier if I just went to Yuan and begged him to let me join the Renegades...

As the minutes dragged on, this idea started seeming better and better. I was honestly contemplating how I would go about stowing away on a ship to the Flanoir continent when I heard the sound of familiar voices coming from up ahead.

"...much further is it? This place is kind of creepy." I nearly smiled when I heard Lloyd voicing a thought I'd had earlier.

"At this approximate pace, we will exit the forest in thirty-two minutes and fifty seconds," Presea replied in her usual monotone.

"You know, there's actually an old story about these woods," Zelos cut in casually.

"A story? What about?" Lloyd asked curiously.

"Oh, I don't know if I should tell you...it might be a little scary for you kids."

"Tell us!" Genis demanded.

Regal and I slowed in our steps, listening to this conversation as the others came into view. Raine had spotted us and stopped in her tracks, but the three involved in the conversation were clueless. Colette saw us as well, her blue eyes widening with shock.

"Well, I guess I could-" Zelos started, but Sheena immediately elbowed him hard. "Ow! What was that for?"

"Guys," she snapped, nodding in our direction. I hesitated, and then waved awkwardly. Yeah, that gesture would definitely warm them up to me.

Lloyd's mouth fell open, his eyes instantly focusing on me. "Brittany? Is that really you?"

"That's the guy from the Meltokio sewers! Why are you with him?" Genis spoke up, clenching his fists. I saw Sheena bite her lip, hesitantly reaching towards her sash where she kept her cards. The others were reaching for their weapons as well, but Lloyd stubbornly kept his hands at his sides and fixed me with an intense stare instead.

"Whoa, hold on!" I said, throwing my hands up.

"I have no intention of fighting you," Regal said calmly, mirroring my gesture. "I merely wish to speak with that girl...with Presea."

"Are you kidding me?" Genis growled. "You tried to kill us, remember? Why should we trust you?"

"It's okay," I said, stepping forward. "Everyone, he saved me from being attacked from monsters. I don't think he means us any harm."

"B-But what about you?" Sheena asked, shaking her head with confusion. "You were kidnapped by Cruxis, weren't you? We thought...we thought you were..."

"Did Yuan get you out?" Lloyd asked eagerly, stepping forward to the front of the group. "He came by the morning after you were caught, and he seemed pretty mad!"

"What...?" I stared at him, bewildered. Yuan? I hadn't even considered Yuan...

"I'm sorry, but there's no time for this," Regal said firmly, catching the others' attention. "There are Papal Knights pursuing you. I can lead you to an area of the woods that should be safe."

"Papal Knights?" Zelos spoke up, frowning. "Man, one thing after another..."

"How do we know we can trust you?" Raine asked Regal, her eyes calculating. "You could just as easily be leading us into a trap."

"But Professor, Brittany's with him..." Lloyd murmured.

"I'm sure she believes he is telling the truth, but whether he is or not still remains to be seen," she said curtly. I almost scowled. This just couldn't be easy, could it...

Regal, meanwhile, had become distracted the second Presea approached the front of the group. His eyes were wide.

"Is that...an Exsphere?" He immediately took several steps forward, bending over to see it at eye level. "So you are yet another victim!"

"Regal, back off!" I warned a second too late; Presea had instinctively reached for her axe, swinging it at him in a wide arc. He dodged just in time.

"What are you doing?" Genis immediately got out his kendama, glowering threateningly. "Get away from Presea!"

He sent a few fireballs at the convict, forcing Regal to use Bastion to block the attack. Presea reacted to Genis' sudden hostility, running forward to attack again, and Regal raised a foot to kick the axe off course.

"He's attacking!" Sheena said, alert, and that got the others to draw out their weapons.

"Oh, for fuck's sake!" I yelled, looking around at them all in a panic. "Cut it out, guys! We don't need to-"

"Demon Fang!" Lloyd's yell cut me off, and I saw him running headlong at the convict. My palm connected with my forehead with a loud smack. I had been really hoping they wouldn't jump to conclusions and do this.

I hated my life, I really did.

For a minute or two, I stood on the sidelines waving my arms feebly in an attempt to get them to stop, but I quickly realized that that tactic wouldn't work. I knew everyone had been a little on edge since we had become fugitives, but this was ridiculous!

Then I saw Regal receive a large gash on one arm; the convict retaliated by kicking Lloyd in the face. That was when I got so pissed off at everyone that I saw red and jumped into the fray. Trust me, it seemed like a good idea at the time.

I stepped over a fallen Lloyd, who was being healed by Raine, and proceeded to throw up Guardian to block a spell coming right at Regal. I could see the Professor look up from the corner of my eye.

"Brittany," she called out, her voice sharp. "Don't act so rashly!"

"You're one to talk! You know better than this, Professor!" I snapped, regretted it, and then hated myself for regretting it. I deserved to be pissed off after having to put up with...with my stupid life! Augh!

I drew my new sword, which seemed far too sharp and lethal looking at this point in time. Instead of actually attacking, I ran forward and whacked Sheena with the flat end of my blade before she could get to Regal. Apparently that was going to leave a bruise, because her face contorted with pain and she jumped away.

Now that I had entered the battle, Colette had backed off to the sidelines, looking conflicted. That was good...one less person to fight. If I could just get the others to stop too, maybe no one would get majorly hurt.

"Spin Kick!" I heard Regal yell, and saw Zelos getting knocked back.

"Guardian!" I threw up my shield again, running up to Regal to cover him as Genis released a spell. When the ground beneath us glowed red, I realized with dread that it was Eruption.

"Brittany!" I heard Lloyd yell, and then the heat came. Regal seemed to realize what was happening, throwing up his own shield and pulling me inside as my Guardian broke.

After a few scary seconds of seeing nothing but fire, the spell faded and we were left standing in a circle of charred ground.

"Guardian!" I yelled again, blocking Sheena's Pyre Seal.

Then I saw Lloyd running at me, looking rather frustrated and pissed off. The world around me blurred for a second, and I shook my head in an attempt to focus. Lloyd...his swords weren't raised. Was he gonna tackle me or something?

"Guar..." I tried once more, but couldn't get the full word out. The world spun. Oh, shit. Not now!

I heard a clang as Lloyd's swords dropped to the ground, and I realized that I was falling. Dammit...I always passed out at the most inconvenient times...

"Brit," Lloyd was holding me, shaking me hard. His features were blurred, so I couldn't see his expression. "Brittany! Answer me!"

I stared at him for a moment, hearing his words but unable to conprehend them. Finally, I just gave up and let my head loll to the side, deciding to let things work themselves out without me. The world faded into a comforting darkness.

* * *

The sound of faint voices eventually dragged me back into consciousness. For a minute or two, I listened to them, gaining comfort in the sounds as I slowly regained awareness of everything. After a time, I recognized the voices of the different people that were speaking. My friends...

It felt like I had fallen unconscious far too many times now, but this was the first time in a while that I actually felt safe and secure when I woke. I was lying in a bed of some sort, and people I knew well were surrounding me. Whether they trusted me or not, I knew they were at least looking out for me right now.

I let out a quiet sigh, shifting. I felt safe, but physically I felt like crap. At least I was somewhat rested.

"She's waking up!" That was Genis, stating the obvious. Pulling myself into a sitting position, I rubbed my eyes before finally allowing them to open.

It didn't take long for me to recognize the distinct layout and furnishings of the small building we were in. Just the tatami mats gave it away-this was a Japanese-style home, meaning we were most definitely in Mizuho. We were hidden away, where the Papal Knights would never find us. Well, that was one less thing I had to worry about.

I yawned, stretching for a moment before I acknowledged the people sitting around the room. "Um, good morning...or afternoon, or whatever."

Raine's lip twitched. "Evening. You've only been out for a few hours. How are you feeling?"

"Weak," I replied, shrugging. "I think that rest helped...but I haven't really eaten much in the past few days."

As I spoke, I took a better look around the room. It looked like almost everyone was present; even Regal was here, though he was unconscious in the other corner of the room. The others hadn't been so kind to him-he didn't get a bed. Poor Regal. He was probably used to that sort of treatment, though, being a convict and all. I still kind of wanted to chew everyone out for beating him up. He wasn't a good meat shield if he was unconscious! Oh, and I considered him a friend. That too.

Almost everyone was present. Sheena was nowhere to be found. This was her hometown, so I wasn't too concerned, though.

Genis frowned. "Sheena's out talking to the village's vice-chief. We're eating dinner once she gets back."

"That's good," I replied with a smile. "Are you cooking, Genis?"

He gave me a dubious look. "I guess I can, if you want."

"I'm glad you're okay, Brittany!" Colette cut in happily. "I was so worried something bad had happened to you!"

"Me too," Lloyd said, giving me a serious look. "Really."

"I'm sorry we were unable to come to your aid in time," Raine said, but I couldn't read her expression. "We heard Zelos yelling for us and came as fast as we could, but..."

Lloyd shook his head, clenching his fists. "All we found was your sword, broken in half...and a bunch of feathers and blood all over the place."

"Yeah, it looked like someone had slaughtered a chicken," Zelos added helpfully, and I rolled my eyes.

"What happened, anyway?" Genis asked, ignoring the redhead.

"Yes, I'd like to hear the full story from you before we start drawing any conclusions," the Professor agreed. "Were you in fact captured by Cruxis? If you were, how did you manage to escape?"

I bit my lip, remembering Kratos' words. By saving me like that, he had risked blowing his cover, which could have screwed up everything and ruined his only shot at getting the Ring of the Pact. Despite that, he had done it anyway rather than letting me die. I held him in very high regards after all that, and if I wanted to pay him back, then I absolutely had to keep my mouth shut about it like he told me to.

Hell, at this point, if Kratos said "Jump," I would ask "How high?" That was basically how much I respected him right now. Kratos was Kratos. He made mistakes sometimes, but beneath the imperfections was a core of sheer awesomeness.

Okay, okay. Just think up a quick cover story for the Welgaia parts and move on with life. Everyone was waiting.

"Well, first of all," I started, "it was that Pronyma woman that captured me. Her and a couple of angels. Even before my sword broke, I didn't really stand much of a chance. They knocked me out cold in no time."

My eyes wandered when I spoke, and I unintentionally made eye contact with Zelos. I had to look away as casually as possible; I really couldn't stand to look at him right now. It hurt so goddamn much knowing he had sold me out like that. Really, who else could it have been? I didn't want to believe it, but I wasn't naive enough to try to convince myself otherwise.

"When I woke up..." I hesitated. What was I supposed to know right now? Not much. "I was in a jail cell in some weird city. There were angels everywhere. I think...I think it was Derris-Kharlan. It definitely wasn't any place on Sylvarant or Tethe'alla, I know that much."

"Derris-Kharlan..." Colette's eyes widened.

"What happened after that?" Raine asked, watching me carefully. "What was it that Cruxis wanted of you?"

I raised my eyebrows. "I...I already told you guys, didn't I? The Angelus Project...they wanted to use me to create a Cruxis Crystal. I was held prisoner up there for three days while that Yggdrasill guy was making preparations."

There was no point in telling them about that proposal Yggdrasill had made. It'd seem too much like I was seeking a pat on the back or something. Besides, telling all that would mean telling them about the parts where I honestly almost gave in. It wasn't like they would understand. They hadn't been there.

"Damn," Zelos said, looking honestly curious. "How'd you manage to get out of that one?"

"An angel eventually came and took me out of my cell," I explained as calmly as I could. "They were going to take me somewhere, but I didn't really wait to find out where. I saw this warp, so...I don't know, it was just one angel so I jumped him. I managed to take his sword, too...and I escaped through the warp before he could call for reinforcements."

I shook my head. "It was just a blur after that. The warp took me somewhere inside the Tower of Salvation, and I just ran around like a maniac till I found the exit. Then I ran some more, blacked out somewhere, and woke up in Gaoracchia Forest."

Now I looked over at the still form of Regal. "When I woke up, I was too weak to stand. A monster attacked me, but this guy killed it for me. He even gave me a lemon gel, which sustained me long enough to walk with him and meet you guys. I guess all that effort I spent trying to stop that stupid battle pushed me over the edge, though." At this I gave the group a sour look.

Raine let out a sigh. "...I apologize for jumping to conclusions. It seems that man, Regal, was actually telling the truth. We managed to escape from the Papal Knights, but only barely."

"I still don't trust him," Genis grumbled.

"So..." I bit my lip, suddenly uncomfortable. "...I don't know. Are we cool? I'm kind of nervous that we aren't."

Raine raised an eyebrow at that, but Lloyd cut in before she could say anything.

"Don't be stupid!" he growled.

The Professor's lips tugged down in a frown. "I still have a few doubts...but Yuan's appearance only raised more questions. I'm not sure what to believe."

"Oh," I said, blinking. "Hold on, I forgot. What's this about Yuan? Lloyd, you were saying something about it..."

"Yeah," Lloyd confirmed. "Like I said, he showed up the morning after you were captured."

"He was pretty pissed, too," Zelos added. "Kept blaming us for not keeping a good eye on you and all..."

"It seems that his affiliation with Cruxis allowed him to catch wind of your kidnapping," Raine said. "While he was there, I asked him about your background as well."

"That just made him more mad," Genis said, looking pretty annoyed himself.

"But hey, it looks like you've got someone vouching for you, spitfire," Zelos remarked. "He told us those birth certificates we found were fabricated, just like you said."

"'If she's already told you everything, then don't make me waste my time explaining it a second time,'" Lloyd spoke up, clearly mimicking Yuan's impatient tone. "'The evidence is right in front of you. Or are you all too dense to see even that?'"

My hand flew up to my mouth as I tried to conceal a smile. Yuan's words coming out of Lloyd's mouth was pretty entertaining to see.

"He didn't even try to go after Lloyd that time," Genis said.

"Yeah, but he did make sure to tell me that he would the next time we met," Lloyd added, rolling his eyes. "Geez, I don't know what's up with that guy. And he didn't even rescue you like I was hoping he would..."

"Maybe I just escaped before he could," I murmured with a shrug. Not that I could've waited any longer; I was pretty sure my time had been pretty much up once Kratos came to save my ass. Gaaawd, I was so hugging that bastard when I saw him again. Even if he tried to pry me off using Flamberge. I was still totally hugging him.

"It's so nice that Yuan was worried about you, though!" Colette piped up, smiling. "Maybe he really is a kind person after all."

"Uh, I don't know about that, Colette..." The young mage trailed off, just shaking his head.

I couldn't help but snort. Yuan, worried about me? Sometimes I envied Colette's innocence...she didn't even realize that Yuan saw me as nothing but a nuisance. He was probably going to hit me with another lightning spell the next time I saw him and then lecture me on my own stupidity for getting captured. Okay, note to self: don't get caught alone anytime soon.

Speaking of which, those walks I took...I hated to give them up, but it looked like I had no choice. It was too risky for me to go off alone now. If I needed to take a walk, maybe I'd just have to bring someone I trusted with me...that was probably for the best. I knew I wasn't going to take Zelos with me again, that was for sure.

As everyone grew quiet for a moment, I just shrugged.

"Anyway, that's my situation. What'd I miss? You guys went to Sybak, right?"

"Yes, and we spoke to Kate about Presea as well. Lloyd told us what the two of you had spoken of earlier, and Kate confirmed it; Presea is also a part of this Angelus Project," Raine replied. "Her subdued emotional state is due to a parasitic infection, similar to what Colette went through."

I nodded. "And the only reason I'm not the same way is because Lloyd made me a new Key Crest."

"Precisely," the Professor confirmed. "Our next step is to acquire a Key Crest for Presea. We've heard of a dwarf called Altessa who lives on the other side of this forest; that's where we were headed when we ran into you."

"Altessa, huh..." I murmured thoughtfully, as if I hadn't heard the names a billion times before.

Hmm...first Ozette, though. Then Altessa, then...the Exsphere mine, and then...I couldn't remember the rest. Colette was gonna get kidnapped at some point, right? Oh, but we would get the Rheairds before that. Which would mean a pact with Volt...ugh, this not-game was too long. I was about ready to find a save point and take a break.

The corners of my lips twitched. Save point...I could really use one of those right around now. Shut the TV off, leave my room, grab something out of the fridge, maybe text one of my friends...ah, life used to be so easy.

"So what's going on here, anyway? What is this place?" I asked before my mind wandered too far. I needed to make sure I asked all the right questions, so I wouldn't let any of my prior knowledge slip.

"Mizuho," Zelos replied.

"Sheena's home?" I asked, and he nodded.

"They're normally not too fond of outsiders, but Sheena made an exception in our case."

"We even met with the vice-chief and got him on our side," Lloyd said, a proud grin on his face.

"Well, that's good news," I said with a smile. I wasn't really smiling at that, though...I was more happy that they had gotten that long-winded conversation out of the way while I was still out of it. I was getting sick of hearing a bunch of stuff I already knew. Though it was good to know that Lloyd hadn't fucked up or anything, and that everything was still on track.

"More than just good news," a new voice cut in, and we all looked up to see Sheena entering the room. She looked over at me. "Mizuho's information network is pretty extensive. I'm sure we'll be able to find the Rheairds in no time."

"That's great!" Colette said.

"Food time?" Lloyd asked eagerly, and I almost snorted.

Genis rolled his eyes, getting up. "I'll get right on it."

Sheena gave me a cautious look before sitting down next to Colette, and I decided to just stare at the floor in front of me. The others seemed a little more at ease around me after hearing me out, but I wasn't sure if everything would be totally okay right away. As soon as the ninja sat down, Raine began the process of re-explaining everything to her.

"Hey, uh, Sheena," I interrupted before the Professor got too far into her story.

"Yeah?" Sheena looked up, her expression a little softer now.

"I kind of want to get some fresh air...would it be okay for me to head outside? Or do they not want us wandering around?" I asked.

"It should be all right," she replied. "Just don't go outside of the village or anything. And stay near this building; you don't look like you're in any condition to be walking around."

"Yeah, I know," I said with a smile.

"Mind if I come?" Lloyd asked, looking up.

"Please do," I answered sheepishly. "I need someone to lean on." Plus I really wanted to talk to him. It felt like forever since we had last talked, and this was a drastic change from the cold cell in Welgaia.

The two of us stood, walking out of the room as the others took turns explaining the situation to Sheena. Then we slid open the door, exiting the small building.

I felt like I had stepped into feudal Japan or something. The sun was setting, casting the entire village under an orange light. Dozens of other buildings and huts were scattered everywhere, and a river cut the village in half. Everyone was wearing Japanese-style clothing, and I even spotted one of those traditional red torii gates down at the end of the street we were on.

I couldn't help but look around me with complete fascination. I had always wanted to visit Japan, and this was so much like it...and I swear to God I was hearing someone speaking Japanese somewhere. Mizuho was really awesome. It was like I had gone into a different country!

"It's really different, isn't it?" Lloyd said, looking just as interested as I felt.

"In an awesome way," I replied, nodding to myself. "Let's go this way."

I placed a hand on his shoulder, walking forward and using Lloyd to keep my balance in case I tripped. We walked for a few more seconds, finally reaching a low rock wall that we could both sit on. It was a bit out of the way, and there weren't many people around, so it was a peaceful enough spot. Hell, this entire village was pretty peaceful.

"Whew..." I let out a breath, leaning back a little.

"You feeling okay?" Lloyd asked, looking over.

I shrugged. "Just hungry and weak because of the hunger. Didn't we already go over this?"

"I mean, mentally."

"No, Lloyd, I'm insane."

He rolled his eyes. "Seriously, though. Are you still worried about the others not accepting you?"

"Well, yeah," I said, sobering. "I think it might be a little better now that Yuan showed up. Still, though..."

I trailed off when I suddenly found my face buried in red fabric, and a pair of arms crushing me to death.

"Hurk...Lloyd..."

"I'm really glad you're all right," he said, relaxing his arms so I could breathe.

"...Lloyd?" I tried, my voice muffled by his coat.

"I'm sorry I couldn't do anything to rescue you. Dammit...I felt so helpless! I said I wouldn't let anything happen to you, but I screwed up again..."

"Lloyd, it's..." I murmured, my eyes wide. What was he saying? Why was he saying all of this now?

"It's not okay!" he insisted before I could finish. "Letting you get kidnapped, leaving you behind, and then...then fighting you when I met you again...don't you dare say it's okay! Don't lie to me!"

"We never have normal conversations when we're alone, do we?" I said, laughing shakily into his coat. "I always end up crying..."

He was quiet for a long time after that, his arms never loosening their hold on me.

"...I didn't mean to make you cry."

"I'm not crying," I said, even though I was. "I just...I don't know. Lloyd, thanks."

"What?" he asked, pulling away a little to look down at me with confusion. "Why are you thanking me?"

"It's good to know you still care," I said warmly. "I was feeling pretty unloved in angel-land. And I needed that hug, too. I was just too afraid to ask for it."

Lloyd relaxed a little, his shoulders slumping. "But I still..."

"It's not like it's your fault I was captured," I said. "Don't start thinking I blame you. And I know there was no way in hell you could've rescued me, so quit it."

"...Yeah," he let out a sigh.

I hesitated for a moment, biting my lip. "But...Lloyd?"

"What is it?"

"Can you...promise me something?"

"Anything," he replied.

"Promise me...you'll always be there for me," I said, turning away from him a little. I could already feel my cheeks turning a little pink. I had never really spoken to anyone this way before...

"You dork," he said, chuckling. "Why wouldn't I be? I promise."

"Then...then I'll promise the same for you," I said awkwardly. "Sorry I'm being so cheesy. It's been a long couple of days."

All I could think about was Yggdrasill, telling me that everyone had left me behind, that nobody cared anymore...if it hadn't been for my friendship with Lloyd, I might've made a huge mistake back there. I hated to admit that I was so weak on my own, but...but I really needed Lloyd to help me through this. If something ever happened to ruin our friendship, I might just crawl into a hole and die.

But he had just promised to always be there for me...and I was sure Lloyd wouldn't make a promise he knew he couldn't keep.

My face reddened a little more. Had a really just asked that of him? It was kind of embarrassing...

"You're not being cheesy," he said, rolling his eyes again.

"Uh..." I fought to change the subject before he noticed how much I was blushing. "Is...is there anything you wanted to talk about?"

Lloyd tilted his head a little, thinking. "...Actually, I was wondering..." He grew serious. "...You were on Derris-Kharlan, right? You didn't...you didn't see him, did you?"

"No," I lied, shifting a little. "I doubt I could've escaped if he'd been around, anyway..."

That couldn't get further from the truth. I wanted to tell Lloyd what had really happened, so much it almost hurt. I couldn't stop imagining the way his face would brighten, the way he would smile if he knew Kratos really had been a good guy all along...but once again, I just couldn't. It was too big of a risk.

"Yeah..." Lloyd sighed, and I wasn't sure if he was disappointed or not. "...That Regal guy kind of reminds me of him."

"Doesn't he?" I replied. "They do seem a lot alike. Except Regal's actually not a douche."

The brunet snorted a little. "He kicked me in the face."

"I saw," I said, smiling. "Did it hurt?"

"No, it felt great," he said sarcastically.

"Sarcasm doesn't suit you, Lloydie."

"Dork."

I stuck my tongue out at him, but then looked past him to see Genis standing at the door to the building the others were staying in. He was waving to us.

"Lloyd! Brittany!" he called. "Dinner's ready!"

"Oh, great," the brunet said, turning around to grin at his friend. "I'm starving."

"You're telling me," I said under my breath, using him as a support so we could walk back together. I caught the scent of something delicious on the breeze, and nearly fell over.

When we made it back inside, I saw that everyone was sitting around a low table, and Genis was passing out bowls of some kind of soup. Lloyd and I each eagerly took one.

"Sheena helped me make it," Genis explained when the others gave the soup a curious look. "It's a Mizuho dish called-"

"Udon!" I exclaimed happily, grinning. I hadn't had this in years!

"Uh...yeah," the mage said, giving me a confused look as I picked up some chopsticks.

"How do you...?" Sheena trailed off, looking over at me, and I blinked.

"...Oh," I said, realizing why they looked so bewildered. "There's a country on Earth called Japan, and it's basically Mizuho in country form...except more modern and stuff."

"Mizuho...as a country?" Sheena murmured, looking amazed at the thought of it.

"So that's why I know," I explained hastily. "Udon's a Japanese dish too. And I've used chopsticks before, so...yeah."

"Hmm..." Raine stared intently at me as we all sat down, until something else got our attention. A certain prisoner of ours was shifting over in the corner.

"Is he...?" Sheena stopped, watching him.

Regal's brow furrowed, and he opened his eyes slightly. "...Ugh..."

"He's waking up," Colette said, and everyone tensed. I just stared, being the one closest to him.

He sat up a little more, seeming to compose himself. Everyone was quiet as the convict looked around at all of us, his frown deepening.

"...Where...am I?"

"A hidden village," Raine explained vaguely. "I apologize for our rash actions earlier; it seems you were right about the Papal Knights. However, we're going to have to keep you prisoner until we're sure you can be trusted."

"Professor..." I gave her a look, but she only shook her head.

"We can't afford to take any risks at this point."

I let out a sigh. "Sorry, Regal."

"It's all right," he replied, closing his eyes. "I appreciate your efforts."

"Well, while we're at it," Zelos cut in, "why don't we have pops here fight alongside us? We've still gotta go through the forest to get to that Altessa guy's place, and those monsters will be an even bigger pain if we've got a dead weight to drag around."

"But he might betray us!" Genis exclaimed.

"He's got business with Presea, right?" the redhead reasoned. "So he's not gonna try anything till he gets a chance to speak with her."

"That's not a bad idea," Raine mused.

"Raine!" her brother protested.

"I dunno about this, but I won't make a fuss. I also started off as your enemy," Sheena said.

"You guys already know where I stand," I said with a shrug.

Lloyd frowned, turning to look at Regal. "...Well, how about it? Will you fight alongside us for now?"

"Very well," Regal replied. "I swear upon my good name, and these shackles that bind me, I shall not betray you."

"If you do anything even the slightest bit suspicious, I'll burn you to a crisp, got it?" Genis warned, probably trying to look scary. Regal just blinked, unfazed. I nearly snorted.

"Well then, welcome to our group, Regal!" Colette said cheerfully, as if they were the best of friends.

"Now that that's over with..." I lifted up my untouched bowl of udon, holding it out to Regal. "Have some dinner. You're probably hungry."

"Brittany!" Genis voiced his disapproval.

"Can't fight on an empty stomach!" I sang, and then turned to smile at the convict. "This is our initiation ceremony. Use the chopsticks correctly, and you're in."

"You dork," Lloyd laughed.

"Come sit with us, Regal!" Colette said with a smile.

The convict looked a bit flustered for a moment, but eventually relented and sat at the table with everyone else. It was a little awkward at first since Genis was sending so many burning glares, but we quickly settled into our old routines once Lloyd broke the silence with his own whining.

"What's with these things?" he said, holding up the chopsticks. "Why doesn't Mizuho have forks?"

"It's not that difficult." Sheena rolled her eyes, holding up her own chopsticks. "Just hold them like this."

"I can't do it," he grumbled. His face fell when he looked over at Regal, who was using his perfectly fine, even with the handcuffs.

I grinned, having gotten myself another bowl. Even the Professor was struggling with hers, and it was extremely funny to watch everyone fumble over the utensils while I actually knew how to use them. I knew all of those visits to the local Japanese restaurant would pay off someday!

"Oh! I think I've got it!" Colette said, but then dropped one of the wooden sticks into her bowl. "...Oops."

"Dammit." Lloyd was now attempting to stab the thick noodles, hoping they would somehow stick. Meanwhile, I was snickering nearly too hard to eat.

After a few minutes, everyone seemed to have found their own...er, customized way to eat with the chopsticks. Regal, Sheena and I were the only ones doing it correctly, though Genis was actually getting pretty close. Lloyd was still pretty hopeless; he looked so frustrated, I was just waiting for him to shove his face in the bowl and start eating like a dog.

"By the way," I said, "are we staying here tonight?"

"Yeah," Sheena confirmed. "From what I've heard, the Papal Knights are still lurking around the forest. Besides, even if we weren't being pursued, it's still too dangerous to try getting through those woods at night."

"They're creepy enough by day," Lloyd muttered.

"Well, I don't have any complaints," I said with a grin. "More sleep is always good."

"I didn't think you'd be too upset," the ninja remarked wryly.

"Hey," Lloyd said abruptly, looking over at me. "So what's Japan like? Is it really just like this place?"

I blinked, seeing that familiar excited gleam in his eye. I could see it now...as soon this was all over, Lloyd was going to want me to give him a tour of Earth or something. And then five minutes into the tour, he was going to get bored. Heh, good old Lloyd.

"Uh...it's on the other side of the world. I've never been there," I said awkwardly, painfully aware of Regal's presence. He was probably just a little confused...but then again, we had mentioned a bunch of Cruxis stuff around him too. Hopefully someone would get around to explaining everything at some point.

The brunet's face fell. "How do you know so much about it, then?"

I waved a hand vaguely. "I've read about it and seen pictures. Japan used to be pretty isolated like Mizuho, but once it started modernizing, its culture was a lot more out in the open."

"Modernizing..." Sheena frowned. "Just how 'modern' is Earth, anyway?"

"Uh...I don't know what to compare it to," I said with a shrug. "Desian and Renegade technology, I guess. Though there are some things that we haven't come up with yet, like those warp pads. But as for computers and stuff, they're common. I even own one."

"Personal computers?" Raine asked, her eyebrows raised. "It's possible for you to afford such a thing?"

"All of the computers in Tethe'alla are strictly used for research purposes," Zelos remarked, frowning at me. "Those things are insanely expensive to make. Though I guess Cruxis and the Desians wouldn't have too much trouble getting their hands on them."

"How does your world operate magitechnology without mana?" Genis asked, bewildered.

"Different fuel, that's all," I said, finishing off my dinner. "And Earth hasn't run out of it yet, so technology keeps advancing, old technology is innovated, and stuff gets cheaper. Nowadays, everyone's out to get the newest gadget. Like the iPhone! I sure miss mine..."

"The what?" Lloyd gave me a strange look.

"Nothing!" I said, smiling innocently. "Anyway, I'm finished...and I'm gonna get homesick if this keeps up. If you don't mind, I think I'm going to explore the village a little more now that I don't feel like I'm going to keel over."

"Just don't snoop around the Chief's house. That's the large building near the back of the village," Sheena said. "You won't see them, but there are guards. It's better if you just stay near this end of town."

"Will do," I replied, and headed out. Mizuho itself was safe, so I could afford to do a little wandering. After this, though, I wouldn't be able to have much time to myself.

Well, I was gonna take advantage of this last opportunity. Besides, being questioned about Earth by the others really had started to make me homesick. Although...my lifestyle back home had been so simple and easy, despite what I had thought back when it was the only thing I had known.

I frowned, wandering down the street a ways. Back then, I had actually been pretty well off for someone my age; I'd had my own apartment and my own car, and a job that wasn't too bad either. At that particular time, I had been in a financially stable position and leading a normal, routine lifestyle. It was the kind of lifestyle I dreamed of going back to.

The stars were starting to come out; I paused, looking up at them. It was stupid, but I still couldn't help but feel the same disappointment as always. I still couldn't find any constellations from Earth.

If I ever made it back home, it would probably be after all of this was over...when Lloyd had access to the Eternal Sword. Would I really be able to just go back and return to my old life? Even if I got everything about my disappearance sorted out...what would I really do? Even at this point, could I really go back to pouring coffee for eight hours a day and then hanging around at home by night?

It would be peaceful, but...so boring. No more traveling, no more drama, nothing to fight for. It sounded great, but at the same time, the thought kind of scared me. I was actually used to living like this now. I hated it most of the time, but I was used to it.

Tearing my gaze from the night sky, I forced myself to continue walking, not really paying attention to where I was going. I really wished I could get out of this and stop risking my life all the time, and I wanted to see my family so much that it hurt. But I also didn't want to return home and go back to doing the same fucking thing every day, living my life like some sort of drone. I had found comfort in the monotony of it before, but now...

"Ugh..." I sighed, rubbing my forehead. Where the hell did I really belong? If I went back home, I'd act like some sort of war veteran! If a friend tried startling me for kicks, I might accidentally end up killing them. If someone even so much as tugged on my hair, I would remember the Desians and attack reflexively. I was a little too messed up now to live like a normal person.

No, no, no. I needed to stop thinking about it. It wasn't like I could do anything about that right now; I would worry about it when the time to go home actually came. Hell, I didn't even know if I'd make it to that point, anyway.

I smiled a little when I had a new thought. If all else failed, I could just reject both decisions and go with Kratos to Derris- Kharlan. Yeah, he would totally love the idea of me harrassing him up until the day I died. Hehehe.

Turning down another street, I saw that some of the others had gone on their own exploration missions after dinner. Lloyd and Colette were sitting by the river, and I saw Lloyd pointing up at the stars. Did he know some of the constellations, or was he tracing out new ones? Ah, well, I'd leave them be.

In my moment of distraction, I failed to see someone turning the corner in front of me. The next thing I knew, I had bumped right into someone.

"Oh! Sorr-" I stopped when I saw who it was. Tall, red hair, easygoing smile...

"Don't worry about it, spitfire," Zelos said happily. "You can't help it. I take 'chick magnet' to a whole new level."

"Uh...yeah, okay," I said, looking away uncomfortably. Normally I would've snorted at the dumb joke, but seeing Zelos right now just made my insides churn. I wasn't mad, really...just frustrated and hurt. I couldn't stand how he was acting so cool about this, even after seeing me again. He didn't care about me at all, did he?

"Hm? What's up?" Zelos leaned over, putting himself in my line of vision again. "Last I checked, you had a sense of humor."

I bit my lip. What should I do? Give him the cold shoulder? But then he'd realize that I didn't trust him...if the group didn't trust him, then Zelos would end up betraying us for real and fighting us at the Tower! He had sold me out, but I...I didn't want him to die, either.

But what Zelos had done to me...it could have gotten me killed! I wanted him to care whether I died or not, too! All I could think about was that hopelessness I'd felt in the prison cell, that despair. I had felt so trapped...no one could help me, and I had been convinced that none of my friends really trusted me anymore anyway...

Was that how Zelos felt, though? Trapped and alone? He didn't ask for his predicament, either.

"Hellooooo?" My thoughts were interrupted by a soft rapping on my head. "Anyone home?"

I flinched. "U-Um..."

The redhead frowned at me for a moment, and then let out a sigh, throwing an arm around my shoulders. "Come on, let's go sit down before you go completely catatonic on me."

I let him lead me to a random area of the village, copying him when he sat down on a bench. There was an awkward silence as I tried to think of what to say to him. Every time I opened my mouth to say something, though, all I could think about was him telling me that he was not in fact a 'nice guy'. And right after that, he had just walked away...leaving me to Pronyma.

"...Sorry," I finally said. "I guess I'm a little distracted."

"Now that's one hell of an understatement," he remarked, raising his eyebrows. "What's on your mind, hunny?"

You, Zelos. You're on my mind.

Oh, God...why couldn't he just go away? I didn't know what I was supposed to say to him! I tried being his friend, but he just screwed me over without a second thought! How could I trust him after that?

"Just...a lot of stuff," I mumbled. "Cruxis, the others, what we have to do next..."

"There's no point in worrying about all that," Zelos said, smiling in a carefree way. "Just look on the bright side of things! Everyone seems to be trusting you for now, and you managed to get away from Cruxis."

Zelos and I were kind of alike, weren't we? The only thing that had stopped me from betraying everyone was my friendship with Lloyd. If Yggdrasill had given me that proposal in the beginning of the journey, I probably would've screwed everyone over to save my own skin. I would have told myself that they were just video game characters, and if I could just get home, none of this would matter anymore.

I would be lying to myself if I said otherwise. I didn't have the guts to play the hero.

What was I going to do, then? I could kind of sympathize with Zelos...if I had been born a Chosen, I probably would've stopped at nothing to get out of it. He had betrayed me, and it really, really hurt, but...

"I'm sorry," I said helplessly. "I guess I'm just in a gloomy mood. Thanks for trying to cheer me up..."

I felt a hand grip my chin, and I was suddenly looking into Zelos' eyes. He winked, giving me a charming smile.

"Anytime, beautiful. You know, there's this activity we can try to relieve stress...want to give it a shot? I'm a professional."

Was he really making a sex joke right now? I just stared at him blankly.

"...Whoa." The smile dropped from Zelos' face, and he gave me a bewildered look. "I can't even make you blush? This is more serious than I thought."

He made mistakes, he did some stupid things, and I could never tell what he was thinking...but he was a good person beneath it all, right? He was a kind and caring human being; he just hid it all beneath that easygoing facade. So...so...maybe I couldn't give up on him just yet.

"I wonder if I'll ever be able to fully regain their trust again," I said, gazing up at the sky. "The Professor keeps giving me these looks..."

Zelos frowned, sobering. "Don't feel too bad about it. I mean, it's not like I'm really trusted, either."

"Hmm?" I looked over at him.

"Well, I was just roped into this," he said with a shrug, looking away. "I don't really have a bone to pick with Cruxis, and I'm cool with whatever happens as long as Tethe'alla ends up being okay. Why would they trust me?"

His tone of voice suggested he didn't really care either way, but the light in his eyes had dulled a little. He was used to not being trusted, but that probably didn't make it any less unpleasant. He knew exactly how I felt, didn't he?

I...I wanted to give him a second chance. Not just because I didn't want him to die, but because I wanted to get to know him some more. That cynical mentality, hidden by an obnoxious mask...out of everyone in the group, Zelos was probably the one I could relate to the most.

"Would you believe me if I told you that...that_ I _trusted you?" I asked, leaning over to look him in the eyes.

He rolled his eyes. "You don't have to lie to make me feel better. Besides, aren't you the one in need of cheering up?"

"Well, I do trust you," I said, crossing my arms. "You remind me of myself, and I'm pretty sure I can be trusted. Pretty sure."

Zelos snorted. "I remind you of yourself?"

"Yeah." I smiled. "For one, we're like the only people in the group that appreciate the art of dirty humor."

He tilted his head a little, smirking. "And yet you're still not up for a little shower sex..."

I coughed loudly, taken aback by that, and felt my face turning red. "Z-Zelos!"

Meanwhile, the redhead was laughing happily. "Theeere we go! I was worried I had lost my touch."

"Here I am, trying to be somewhat serious..." I muttered, rubbing at my warm cheeks.

"Oh, come on, spitfire," he said, draping his arm around my shoulders once more. "You know I'm just playing! Offer's still open, though."

"I kind of like having the occasional serious conversation with you," I said, awkwardly kicking at a pebble near my feet. I felt my cheeks heating up even more. "I-I mean, it's like I'm seeing another side to you."

Zelos didn't say anything in reply. Oh, no...had I said too much? He probably thought I was weird! Lloyd was used to my occasional awkward mumblings, but I was probably just making Zelos uncomfortable...

I got nervous, not wanting it to get too quiet. After chewing on my lip for a second, I shifted a little and spoke again, not sure of what I was going to say.

"You...you've got more of a cynical outlook, and...I don't know, I'm kind of the same...I feel like I can relate to you more." I fidgeted, keeping my eyes glued to the ground. Zelos still didn't say anything. When I hesitantly gave him a sidelong glance, I noticed that he was giving me the strangest look. What little confidence I had left vanished, and I instantly looked away.

"Ugh, I'm sorry," I mumbled. "You were just trying to cheer me up, and here I am being all awkward and weird."

"...Are you serious?"

"Huh?" I glanced over at him.

"...Nothing." Zelos shook his head. "You are pretty weird, though."

"Oh." If it were possible, I would've crawled under a rock right then.

"In a good way," he amended, patting me on the head.

"But you think I'm weird..." I murmured helplessly.

"And you're awkward in a cute way," he said, as if that was going to cheer me up.

"But I'm still awkward..."

"C'mon, spitfire! I'm really trying!" Zelos whined, and I looked over at him, biting my lip.

"Well..." I stared at him for a second. "...You're kind of weird too."

"Me? No, no. I'm perfect," he said, immediately giving me a confident grin.

"Perfectly weird," I countered, a small smile tugging at my lips.

"Well, at least I'm not awkward," he shot back, pouting.

"You make me feel awkward..." I mumbled before I could stop myself.

"I make you feel a lot of things, don't I?" Zelos smiled slyly, leaning closer, and I laughed.

"Creep. Cut it out." I shoved him away lightly, shaking my head and standing up. "...It's really getting late. I guess...I guess I'll get some rest. I'm still pretty tired."

"Hmm? Oh, all right." The redhead grinned, once again under that carefree mask. "Goodnight, my little spitfire."

"Night," I said, and smiled at him. "Thanks, Zelos. I feel a lot better now."

Even though I had totally just spilled my guts to him. At least he knew how I felt, however weird I was. But I had made my decision...I was going to forgive him for what he did, and I was going to keep trying. Talking to him again didn't seem so scary now that I had gotten through that first incredibly awkward conversation.

As I walked away, I heard Zelos let out a sigh.

"But...I didn't even do anything."

**A/N: yay Zelos? :D**

**uhhh...I'm so tired, I can't think of anything else to add. XD Review and...Regal will eat udon with you? Yeah!**

**Next time: Ozette and Altessa and Rodyle, ew!**


	41. Potion

**A/N: Yeah, it's been a while again. Uhhh...I really don't have an excuse this time other than writer's block, random distractions, and my own laziness. XD Sooo...enjoy the chapter! I'm off to write the other fic that I haven't updated in a month. XD**

**Disclaimer: If I owned ToS, I would hold the secret to Zelos' amazing man-beauty and would thus rule the world. Unfortunately, that is not the case.**

The stars over Mizuho really were beautiful. After everyone else retreated to bed, I couldn't stop myself from sneaking outside to take another look. My body was tired, but my mind was still racing with the events of the past few days. The cool night air helped me relax a little bit.

Sitting on the river's edge near where Lloyd and Colette had sat earlier, I looked up at the sky. It didn't take long for my eyes to trace out one familiar constellation - the Great Tree. My lips tugged up in a slight smile; so the constellations were the same here. That one was, at least. Lloyd had probably noticed it, too. I couldn't help but wonder when he'd decide to bring it up.

My smile fell after a moment, and I suppressed a shudder. Dammit...the one thing I didn't like about Mizuho was the constant feeling of being watched. At least I knew it wasn't anyone from Cruxis or the Renegades...there was no way they could get in here without getting caught. Hopefully.

Argh, I still wasn't tired. What could I do to kill time? Well...there was always the option of cleaning Loki-

Oh. Right. New sword.

Pulling the sheath from my back, I quietly drew out the blade and examined it. The sheath was a plain black color inlaid with silver. The sword's hilt and pommel were made of some unknown material, and it was the same black and silver color color as the sheath. Both ends of the sword's guard flared out to form a pair of angel wings. The wings shined as if they were made of glass, and yet they were solid as stone...

"Weird Cruxis technology..." I whispered to myself, fascinated nonetheless.

The blade was a brighter shade of silver than Loki had been, and it was completely flawless. I felt my mouth fall open in a slight gape as I examined it, mentally kicking myself for not noticing before. Not only had Kratos saved my life, he had given me one hell of a beautiful weapon.

Something was engraved on the blade, but it was impossible for me to read. They were strange runes that probably translated into Angelic...maybe Colette or the Professor would be able to translate it for me in the morning.

I ran my hand along the blade, and let out a quiet hiss when I gave myself a small cut on one of my fingers. Shoving the finger into my mouth, I stared down at my new sword with respect. Loki had never been this sharp, even when I'd first gotten it. This thing was lethal...and now that I was examining it carefully, I couldn't help but notice that it was actually heavier than Loki had been.

Well, that made sense...this was a sword made for angels, after all. What did weight matter to them when they had angelic strength?

Angels...I despised this blade's origin and everything it represented. But the sword I had been using before had once belonged to a Desian, and I had still grown to love it. Lucian had said that naming the sword would help me disassociate it from the Desians, and it had. The same would work for this one, right?

What to name it, then...

I closed my eyes, deep in thought. Loki's name had had some meaning behind it...it couldn't hurt to do something like that again. What could I name it this time around? The blade had an angelic sort of design, so maybe a biblical name?

No, no. I didn't want to reference Cruxis in any way, shape or form. Maybe I'd do the opposite. Something satanic? Heh. Or maybe something Greek, since I had gotten it from Kratos...wasn't Kratos the name of a Greek god, too?

The sound of a dog barking somewhere broke my concentration, and I scowled. There had to be a noisy dog in every freaking town, didn't there? Jeez...oh, wait a minute. Dog...

What about that three-headed dog from Greek mythology? The one that guarded the gates of the underworld? Cerberus...right? No, I liked the Greek spelling better. Awesome! The underworld was the opposite of heaven, so it was kind of like I was mocking Cruxis!

"I christen thee...Kerberos!" I whispered with a smirk, holding the sword up so that the moonlight reflected off its blade.

Now if this thing snapped in half, I would eat my shirt.

* * *

"Writing on your sword?" Colette asked curiously over breakfast the next morning. I hadn't wasted any time in bringing it up to her.

"Yeah," I confirmed with a nod. "I was taking a look at Kerberos last night, and-"

"Why do you always give your swords such weird names?" Lloyd interrupted, prodding me.

I rolled my eyes. "Would you rather I named it Stabby?"

"Well, it's easier to remember..."

I stuck my tongue out at him. "I dub my new sword...the Lloydslayer! Yaaahh-!"

"That's enough," Raine said, grabbing the back of my collar before I could tackle a certain brunet, who had thrown up his hands in defense. Zelos snorted from his spot in the corner, while Regal just gave us a bemused look.

"You wanted to see if Colette and I could translate, correct?" the Professor asked as I looked over one shoulder at her. "Let us see the sword, then."

Sobering a little, I reached out and pulled Kerberos from its sheath. Raine took it from me, and the room grew quiet as she and Colette leaned over the blade to examine it.

"What does it say?" Lloyd asked eagerly.

"These are quite old runes," the Professor murmured, ignoring him. "Fascinating..."

"I can read Angelic too, you know," Zelos pointed out. "Just saying."

"Really?" Genis asked skeptically.

"Oh yeah, you're a Chosen too," I remarked, looking over at him.

"It's easy to forget, isn't it?" Sheena said dryly, between bites of food. "You wouldn't think a pervert like him would be associated with the church."

"Well, it's nice to know you all love me so much," Zelos replied, his lips turned up in a wry smile.

The ninja just rolled her eyes and returned to her food, while Genis ignored him. I looked over at the two of them, frowning. Was I being too paranoid, or was Zelos bothered by this? Everyone automatically disregarded half the stuff he said...that would really get to me after a while. Should I say something? What was I supposed to say?

"Um..." I broke the silence, sending Zelos a furtive glance and then staring down at my hands. I fidgeted, biting my lip.

"Aww, it's okay, hunny," I suddenly heard the redhead say. "I know you really do love me."

My head snapped up, my eyes instantly meeting Zelos' blue ones. He was smirking at me, leaning forward slightly with his eyebrows raised suggestively. I instantly felt my face heating up. Oh God, embarrassing!

"Th-That's not what I-!" I sputtered, looking away, only to see Lloyd staring at me with a confused expression.

"Oh, geez..." Genis muttered, sounding exasperated, and I swung on him.

"What was that, Genis?" I asked defensively, twitching. "Go flirt with Presea or something!"

"H-Huh?" He gave me a wide-eyed look, now as flustered as I was.

"Would you guys cut it out?" Sheena spoke up, facepalming. Regal was just watching the scene with a puzzled look on his face, probably unsure of what to make of it.

"Oh, this is fun," Zelos said, laughing loudly.

We were cut off by the sound of the Professor clearing her throat. Everyone's attention was drawn back to Colette and Raine, who had placed the sword flat on the floor so they could examine it. Apparently they had deciphered whatever those runes said, because the two of them were staring at us expectantly. Well, Raine was, anyway. Colette was just wearing her usual smile.

"So...you know what it says?" I asked hesitantly, trying to ignore the way Zelos was staring at me. Augh, he made it so hard to concentrate! Stop being so goddamn attractive, Zelos!

"Uh huh!" Colette confirmed. "I couldn't read the runes, but the Professor was able to translate it into Angelic. It says 'Auribus tenere lupum'."

I blinked, forgetting all about my embarrassing ordeal. That was definitely Latin...I had heard that phrase before. So did that mean Angelic really was the same as Latin? There were so many weird similarities between this world and Earth.

The Professor looked over at me. "It's a common saying that roughly translates to-"

"'I hold a wolf by the ears', right?" I piped up, and everyone turned to give me a surprised look.

"...That's correct," Raine replied, frowning. "But how did you know?"

I hesitated, feeling a little uncomfortable at all the sudden attention. "...Well, from the looks of it, Angelic is the same as an old language on Earth called Latin. I don't speak Latin or anything, but I recognize the phrase."

Thanks to my interest in other languages and random Google searches, I had come across that saying before. I couldn't remember exactly what it meant, though. The first thing that came to mind was the old "take the bull by the horns" saying, but that didn't quite fit.

"Interesting..." Raine watched me for a moment. "There are some strange parallels between our world and yours. Am I correct in assuming that the language we're speaking now is derived from your Latin?"

I nodded slowly. "Well, um...yeah, it is. There's a bunch of languages that are descended from Latin...on Earth, that is."

As I spoke, I had to make sure my gaze didn't stray towards Regal. I could see him from the corner of my eye, and he was staring at us all like we had grown two heads. I really wished the others would stop and explain to him, because I sure as hell wasn't doing all the explaining myself.

I quickly grew uncomfortable at the scrutinizing look the Professor was giving me. Me having knowledge of Angelic probably didn't look too good, now that I thought about it...ugh, why did I always have to open my stupid mouth?

"A-Anyway," I said, "I'm familiar with the phrase, but I can't remember what it's supposed to mean..."

"Huh?" Lloyd piped up, confused. "Doesn't it mean exactly what it says?"

"It's an idiom, Lloyd," Genis said helpfully, smirking when that only confused his friend more.

"Uh...what?"

"It's something that's not supposed to be taken literally," Colette said. "You know, like 'It's raining cats and dogs.'"

"Oh!" Lloyd's eyes lit up. "I get it, kinda."

"Bravo!" Zelos exclaimed, clapping. "I'm proud of you, bud!"

"Sh-Shut up!"

Meanwhile, I was rubbing my forehead in exasperation as the Professor attempted to stop the boys from bickering. Instead of trying to speak up over all of them, I quietly turned to Regal. He probably thought we were all crazy at this point, but I was willing to overlook that for a minute or two.

"So, uh...you seem like a smart guy," I said lamely, getting his attention. "Any idea what the phrase means?"

Thankfully, Regal didn't ignore me as Kratos probably would've done. He rubbed his chin lightly with one hand, looking thoughtful.

"Someone who holds a wolf by the ears is in a precarious position," the convict explained. "Letting go would mean getting attacked, while holding on only keeps the wolf at bay as long as you don't tire."

"That's..." I trailed off, thinking of the wolf that had attacked me in the forest. I knew it wasn't supposed to be taken literally, but the phrase was bringing back some less-than-pleasant memories.

"As it's written on your weapon, I'd assume it's meant to encourage constant diligence," Regal said.

I didn't reply, instead choosing to tune out the bickering of the others as I was lost in thought. Constant diligence...that phrase was probably written on a lot of Cruxis weapons. I could see the blank, but forever watchful eyes of the angels now...it was kind of ominous when I thought of it that way.

Still, I could practically hear Kratos lecturing me in the back of my head. In a time when I had to fight for my life just about every other day, I really was holding a wolf by the ears. All it took was one slip, and I could be killed. Fine, then...I wouldn't screw up this time. I never wanted to find myself in that cold cell in Welgaia again.

"Brittany?" Colette's voice caused me to jump a little, and I looked up to meet her gaze. She was holding Kerberos out to me, ignoring the people bickering behind her. "Here."

"Oh, thanks," I said distractedly, taking the sword and sheathing it.

Auribus tenere lupum...No matter what I told myself, I couldn't help but feel that it was only a matter of time before I slipped up.

* * *

After breakfast, everyone split up for a little while as Sheena went off to have a final meeting with the vice-chief. Genis and the Professor took to watching over Regal-that is, Genis was going to keep watch over the convict, and Raine supervised Genis so that Regal wouldn't get killed. That left Colette walking off with Presea, and Zelos dragged Lloyd off to...somewhere. I was somewhat worried about Lloyd getting into trouble, but I had other things on my agenda and I couldn't be bothered to babysit.

What other things could I possibly have on my agenda, you ask? Well, I had decided to actually make myself useful. I really wasn't going off to brood this time. Really!

I stopped in the middle of a bridge that led over the river, looking curiously over to where Colette and Presea were standing. Unsurprisingly, it looked like all of Colette's attempts at conversation had failed, and the blonde was now leading the younger girl over to Raine's group. Meanwhile, the two boys were standing near the building we had slept in. Lloyd was punching Zelos on the shoulder, while the redhead was doubled over laughing. I felt a twinge of curiosity, but forced myself to ignore it. It was good to see those two were getting along, though. Kinda.

Okay, onward to business! Sheena had said not to go too close to the Chief's house, so I made sure to keep my distance as I walked down the other side of the riverbank. It was somewhere around here, wasn't it...?

The sound of a dog barking caused me to jump a little, and suddenly I had something that looked like a German Shepherd weaving between my legs. I let out a yelp, tripping over it and falling to my knees, and the dog instantly moved in and started licking my face enthusiastically.

"Ack! G-Get off!" I said, attempting to push the animal away.

"Kiba!" A male voice called, and I heard the person yell a few things in Japanese. Er, Mizuhonese. Mizuhoan. Forget it. Either way, the dog immediately tensed and moved away from me, walking back to its owner with its tail lowered.

I looked up, and saw a man clothed in the typical ninja garb looking down on me. He wasn't wearing a mask over his face, so I could see the apologetic look he was giving me. Phew, I was worried he'd yell at me for wandering around or something...

"I'm sorry about him," the man said with a thick accent. "He's still a puppy. He needs more training."

"Oh, um, don't worry about it," I replied immediately, looking around to make sure no one had seen that little scene.

The man smiled politely, helping me up. I had half expected the people to be rude since I was a foreigner to the village...but apparently not. Granted, they weren't exactly welcoming, but at least they were somewhat nice.

As I looked around, I noticed that the man was tying the dog's leash to a pole that was supporting a wooden stall. A frown tugged at my lips as I remembered what I came here for in the first place.

"Excuse me, but are you the owner of this shop?" I asked him, and he nodded.

"Is there something you would like?"

"Yes," I confirmed, and suddenly he began acting even friendlier. Yay, I knew how to get on people's good sides!

He showed me some of his wares, all of which were labeled in Japanese. Thankfully, I knew what most of it was so I didn't need to read anything anyway. I bought a couple of lemon gels to replace the ones I had lost upon being captured, and then had to stop and count my Gald before buying anything else.

I had a small amount of Gald saved up from the past few weeks; whenever the Professor sent me off to buy something with Zelos' money, I would always take a small percentage of what was left over. It was...a service tax! I had to get off my lazy ass to do the shopping, so I deserved some money for it. It wasn't stealing, really! No one even noticed!

Okay, yeah...maybe it was kind of stealing. But anyway, I was putting it to good use. After a minute or two of searching, I managed to find the item I really wanted.

The shopkeeper grinned when I picked up a bottle. "That's Mizuho Potion. Very strong. You sure you want it, miss?"

"I need something strong," I said mischievously, even though I had no intention of drinking it. The man just laughed, telling me the price-which was kind of expensive. Despite that, I bought two bottles in case the first one broke. Things tended to break after being lugged around for days in my bag, after all.

Five minutes later, I was walking down the street with a rather heavy bag and a satisfied grin on my face. I was useful, hurray for me!

"...Am I seeing things, or did you just buy alcohol from that vendor over there?" A female voice came from behind me, causing me to jump. I swung around, only to see Sheena watching me with crossed arms and a raised brow.

"You're seeing things," I assured her.

"Mizuho Potion is pricey. Where'd you even get the money for it? Did Zelos put you up to this?"

"No, no," I said, waving my hands defensively. "What you just saw was entirely a hallucination, so there's no reason for you to be questioning me. No reason at all!"

"I can't believe he'd make you go on a booze run for him," Sheena said with a scowl, already getting irritated. "That idiot! I'm gonna go give him a piece of my mind!" With that, she was already storming off, leaving me with my growing sense of unease. This probably wasn't going to end well...

"Sheena, wait!" I yelled, chasing after her, but she just ignored me.

Dammit! I had only bought that Mizuho potion so I could give it to the gnomelette in the Toize Valley Mine. That would save us a lot of running around later when we got to the Temple of Earth, if I remembered correctly. Speaking of which, I had to remember to get that recipe when we went to Altessa's...ah, crap! Sheena!

Too late. She was already up in Zelos' face, as a very confused Lloyd looked on. Zelos was holding up his hands in defense, looking very surprised at the whole thing. Well, there was nothing I could do now...in a last-ditch attempt to save myself from embarrassment, I started inching my way past them, trying to remain unnoticed.

"Whoa, whoa, spitfire!"

Ack! I was spotted! My head snapped up, and suddenly Zelos had rushed to stand behind me, using me as a human shield.

"I don't know what Sheena's so pissed about, but do you wanna help me out here?" The redhead pleaded in my ear, making me shiver a little at the close proximity. Stupid...hormones!

"Uh...Sheena..." I said, waving feebly to the ninja, who just ignored me in favor of continuing her rant.

"...can't believe you'd use her to buy alcohol! You don't listen to anything, do you, Zelos? This isn't Meltokio, and I sure as hell don't need to see you drunk! You knew we wouldn't let you near an alcohol vendor, so you took advantage of our trust in Brittany, didn't you? I can't believe you! I-"

"Hold on, what?" Zelos spoke up over her, sounding terribly lost.

"Stop playing dumb, you idiot!" Sheena raged.

"Um..." I waved again, my face beet red. "Sh-Sheena..."

"What?" she snapped, finally looking at me.

"...Zelos didn't put me up to it."

"Of course he...huh?" Sheena raised her eyebrows at me.

"I just...thought it looked good." I tried, suddenly very interested in a rock near my feet.

"You bought two bottles," she pointed out in a dry tone. "What, were you planning on drinking it all yourself?"

"...Maybe?" I said helplessly, not knowing what else to say. Behind me, Zelos had begun snickering uncontrollably, holding on to my shoulders for support.

Exasperated, the ninja reached up to rub her forehead. We were silent for a few seconds, and Lloyd looked between all of us with a frown.

"Whatever," Sheena finally said, holding out one hand. "Just give them to me. I'll return them to the vendor and get your money back."

"..." I mumbled something, continuing to stare at my feet.

"What? Speak up," she said, and I could feel her staring at me. Zelos had quieted for the moment, leaning over me with his hands still on my shoulders. I could practically feel the amusement radiating off him in waves. I was like his own portable circus or something, wasn't I?

"N-No..." I said a little louder this time.

"No, you won't speak up?" Sheena asked, confused.

I bit my lip. "I meant no, I won't give them to you."

"Why the hell not?" The ninja asked, irritated.

"Because."

"Because why?"

"Because!" I repeated, my face beet red. "Uh...uh...I have to go do something! Something came up! Bye!" Suddenly I turned and bolted, running as fast as I could in a random direction. I didn't know how it would solve anything, but it was the only way I could get out of answering Sheena's question."

"Hey! Hold on!" Sheena protested, and I just ran faster before she could pursue. Behind me, I could hear the sound of Zelos' roaring laughter.

* * *

"Yes, I've received confirmation that the forest is clear now. It should be safe to leave."

A man I assumed to be Orochi was at the front of the group, speaking with Sheena. It was still early, maybe an hour or two before noon. I had a feeling we were going to get a lot accomplished today, and just thinking about it made me feel exhausted. I wasn't sure I wanted to ponder what was supposed to happen next, but I figured I would end up doing it at some point anyway.

"Okay. Thanks, Orochi. We'll be going now," Sheena said. She seemed to be calm now, thankfully.

Orochi nodded, stepping away from the village gate to let us pass. "Good luck."

And with that, we left Mizuho and plunged back into the dreary forest. Presea led the way, Genis trailing behind her slightly and casting the occasional glare in Regal's direction. The looks only seemed to amuse the convict now; clearly Regal had caught on that Genis had a massive(ly awkward) crush on the girl.

We had all decided to stop by Ozette first when Zelos explained that the small village was pretty close anyway. None of us really knew the exact spot where Altessa lived, so Sheena had suggested asking for directions once we got into town. So, it was settled that we'd go to Ozette right away. Surprise, surprise. This meant we were going to see Rodyle again, right? Ugh.

The forest didn't seem to grow any less dense after twenty minutes of walking, and I began to wonder if we were wandering in circles. This was boring...

"Brittany?" I looked up to see that Raine had fallen in step with me. She was giving me a rather serious look, which instantly put me on the alert.

"Yeah, Professor?" I asked cautiously.

"Sheena has brought it to my attention that you've purchased alcohol," Raine remarked, watching me. I had to stop myself from flinching, especially as I saw Zelos casually fall back to listen in.

"What about it?" I said as innocently as I could.

The Professor raised her eyebrows. "I...understand you're of age, Brittany...but is now really the time to be considering that sort of thing? I'm disappointed...I thought you were more responsible than that."

Ouch. That kind of stung.

"I haven't even touched it yet," I pointed out, unable to meet her gaze. "And it's possible to have alcohol and not abuse it, Professor. I'm a little hurt that you'd assume I would do something so stupid."

Touche! I had just turned her own words around on her. I almost felt smug when I saw her expression waver a little.

Raine stared at me for another second or two, and then sighed. "...Fine. I won't tell you to get rid of it. Prove to me that you're as mature as you say."

"Yes ma'am!" I said with a salute, and thankfully that got her to walk on ahead. That conversation had been a little uncomfortable. Mainly because I wasn't mature and I wasn't always responsible. Still, though...I never intended to drink the stuff anyway. Jeez, this wouldn't have been such a big deal if stupid Sheena hadn't caught me buying it.

Sheena...speaking of which, she was still annoyed with me after what happened earlier. She hadn't caught me after I ran off, but from the moment we regrouped with everyone else, she hadn't said a word to me. Part of me wanted to shrug it off as her being put out, but the other part of me wondered if what she felt was a little deeper than mere annoyance. Had I really ticked her off...?

"Hey, hunny."

Surprisingly enough, I didn't jump this time around. I was getting a little more used to the handsome redhead...though I still couldn't stop my mind from shutting down when he hit on me. At least I didn't blush whenever he so much as looked at me now. Unless he gave me that one suggestive look that I hated so much-oh god he was doing it right now.

Zelos was looking down at me with his eyebrows slightly raised, his lips turned up in a smirk and his eyes filled with mirth. I had to look away. For one thing, that look tended to render me speechless...and for another thing, I didn't exactly want to talk to him right now. Not after that embarrassing ordeal earlier. Everyone seemed determined to think I was some kind of troublemaker, and being buddy-buddy with Zelos right now probably wasn't going to help my image much.

"...Hey," I finally managed.

"That's it?" he asked, moving a little closer. I inched further away in response, wanting to keep a safe distance so he couldn't sling his arm around me or something.

"You're gonna tell me why you bought that booze, right?" Zelos tried again, leaning over slightly to give me a sidelong glance.

"Nope."

"Aw, c'mon! Why not?"

"It's a secret," I said with a shrug.

"I'm good at keeping secrets," Zelos said with a conspiratorial wink.

"That's nice," I replied.

The redhead huffed. "Fine, be that way." After a second, he brightened a little, patting me lightly on the head. "It's okay, though. I'll just bug you later until you crack, my little spitfire."

"Whatever you say, Zelos," I said, rolling my eyes. He walked on ahead, moving on to begin yet another attempt at hitting on Colette. I stared at his back and wondered just what the hell he'd meant by that last statement. Did he really think I would crack if he irritated me enough? Because I was pretty good at tuning people out when I had to.

Wait, what if Zelos did something I couldn't tune out? Like...like...

I felt my blush coming back when I imagined that suggestive look of his again. Okay, I'd just have to make sure I stayed with the others, where he couldn't get away with making me too uncomfortable. I'd just...cling to Lloyd or something. Yeah, that always worked. Lloyd was awesome.

"Uh...why are you looking at me like that?" Lloyd asked me, a slightly disturbed expression on his face.

I snorted. "None of your business."

He smacked his forehead. "Weirdo..."

* * *

Ozette was...quiet. Not a good kind of quiet, either...I didn't get a sense of peacefulness from this place. If I had stepped into 17th-century Salem, I think I would've gotten the same feeling. It's like the place was mimicking a homely little village, when in actuality it was something much uglier.

Maybe I was reading too much into it. I'm sure my prior knowledge of everything didn't exactly help, either. But when we first entered the village and Presea immediately ran off ahead, I noticed the intense glares that followed her. Some of the townsfolk gave her unfriendly looks, while others just averted their gaze. They didn't understand her and she was different, therefore they ostracized her. That narrow-minded mentality was really getting on my nerves; at least the people where I came from recognized that it was wrong.

"Presea!" Genis called when the girl ran off. He ran ahead of us, turning and gesturing for us to follow. "Come on! We should follow her!"

"Right," Lloyd said, and began to run up to Genis, only to have Raine pull him back.

"Genis, there's no need to run," the Professor said. "Presea lives here. I'm sure she's only going back to her home. Besides, we don't want to attract attention."

"Oh...okay," Genis said, visibly deflating. "Well...I think she went this way." He pointed a finger towards the other side of the village.

"Let's go, then," Sheena said. And so, we made our way slowly but surely to where I knew Presea lived.

This town would be pretty interesting if it wasn't for the people that continually gave us unfriendly looks. The whole place was covered in some kind of...moss? I wasn't sure. It actually looked like a tree...there were extremely thick branches that served as pathways to different parts of town. The amount of foliage here combined with the branches above us caused the entire town to be somewhat dark.

"...What's with this place?" I murmured, trailing at the back of the group since I wasn't in any rush. Regal walked next to me, and I saw him acknowledge my question by inclining his head slightly in my direction.

"It looks like we're on a giant tree or something," I elaborated, shrugging.

"We are," Regal replied, surprising me. "This was once the original tree that supplied sacred wood. When the tree died, it hardened into a rocklike substance. Ozette was built here for convenience, since it's closest to the new sacred wood supply."

"Where do they get sacred wood from now?"

The convict shook his head. "I'm not sure. The sacred grove is somewhere near this town, but it's kept a secret due to its importance."

"You seem to know a lot about this town, Regal," Raine noted, giving him a scrutinizing look.

Regal closed his eyes for a moment. "I...used to know someone who lived here."

"I see," the Professor replied with a frown.

Oh...kay, bad topic. Everyone was already suspicious enough of Regal. Time to cover his ass!

"So do you think we'll end up staying the night here, Professor?" I asked, smoothly changing subjects. She glanced over at me.

"It's looking that way. We're running low on supplies, so I'm hoping to make it back here by nightfall."

"I wonder how far away Altessa's home is?" Colette thought aloud, and we fell silent. I was earnestly hoping it wasn't a long walk, because I knew Altessa was going to turn us away immediately anyway. What a waste of time.

"Guys! She went down there!" Genis called back to us, pointing toward a large branch that led down to a lower part of the village. I could see the roof of a house...yeah, that was definitely the place.

Our sad excuse for a conversation fizzled out as we followed Genis and Lloyd down to where Presea's house was. I quickly decided that I did NOT like these branch-bridge things, mainly due to the fact that they possessed no railings and it looked all too easy to fall off. Not only that, the path leading to Presea's place was just long enough for my fear of heights to kick in.

Since Lloyd, my usual safety net, was marching on ahead to keep up with his best friend, I found myself inching up to walk between Zelos and Colette. If all else failed, Colette had wings...and I could use Zelos to cushion my fall. That was a good plan.

The redhead just gave me a knowing smirk, and I made a point of not looking at him for the rest of the way down. After a few seconds, it was easy enough to ignore my fear, because we started hearing voices. Or, well, a single voice having a mostly one-sided conversation.

We came out into a clearing, only to see Presea facing a man standing on her front porch. We'd seen him once before...Rodyle. An involuntary shudder made its way down my spine; this guy really creeped me out. He was like, the mad scientist of the Desian Grand Cardinals, wasn't he? Anyone who had the potential to be as twisted as Kvar just made me nervous.

"...Thank you," I heard him say. We all paused where we were, staring at the somewhat familiar face warily. He looked up and stared right back at us. "...Hmm? Are these guests as well?"

"Porters..." Presea answered quietly, seeming to look right through us as she spoke. I kept my gaze focused on Rodyle, wondering if I would have an opportunity to stab him in the back. Hey, if I got a chance, I'd take it. I'd worry about explanations later.

"Ah, I see..." Rodyle murmured, a smirk forming on his lips. I sensed Regal growing tense beside me, and glanced over at him. I couldn't read his expression...though I could hazard a guess that he was probably a little concerned about Presea being somehow connected to this weirdo.

"Presea!" Genis called out, stepping forward. "Come with us! We have to make a Key Crest for you!"

Presea didn't acknowledge him; she just continued staring straight ahead. Then she turned our back on us, heading for the door of her home. "My job awaits...goodbye..."

"Presea...!" The mage tried again, and his face fell when his only response was the sound of the door shutting.

Rodyle's smirk only grew. "A Key Crest, hmm? You'd be better off not worrying about such silly things."

"You..." Lloyd frowned, watching the Desian carefully with narrowed eyes.

"Only Presea can retrieve the sacred wood used in the ritual at the church," Rodyle said. "I'm quite pleased that she has finally returned." He let out a laugh at that, staring at each of us in turn before swiftly leaving the area. We all watched him go.

"That man..." Raine murmured. "He's a half-elf."

"He is?" Lloyd raised his eyebrows. "Now that you mention it...didn't we see him in Meltokio, too?"

"Yeah," I confirmed. "He seemed oddly delighted by the fact that Colette kicked that dog."

"He's creepy," Colette remarked with a shudder.

"I agree," Zelos said wholeheartedly. "But, uh...I gotta say, I feel sorry for the guy. I mean, he has to deal with the fact that there are magnificent specimens of males around like me. Hehe."

"I'd say you two are on the same level," Genis was quick to retort.

"I heard that, you little twerp!"

I snorted. "Anyway...is it just me, or is that guy painfully suspicious?"

"I see what you mean," the Professor said with a sigh. "He was in Meltokio the day we met Presea, as well..."

"I'm not sure I like the idea of Presea associating with that character..." Regal added, a thoughtful frown on his face.

"The guy practically radiates evil," I remarked, looking around at everyone. "He even has an evil laugh. He's got 'villain' stamped all over him. I say we off him the next time we see him, who's with me?"

Zelos grinned at that. "I like the way you think, spitfire!"

"Let's not get carried away," Raine said, pressing a palm to her forehead.

"Hey," Genis spoke up. "Shouldn't we go check on Presea?"

"Yes," Regal immediately agreed. "We've spent enough time out here."

Genis paused to glare at Regal in jealous rage, before walking up to the door of the house. We all decided to follow the pre- teen before he went in and did something stupid. Also, I didn't particularly want Genis to be the one to discover the dead body. That probably wouldn't be very pleasant.

The young mage paused long enough to knock, and none of us were surprised at the lack of an answer. The door wasn't locked, so we invited ourselves in.

As soon as we opened the door, the smell hit us. It was...indescribable. I had smelled blood before, and I had seen corpses...but nothing prepared me for this. Knowing that the stench was the smell of decaying flesh only made it worse. I pressed a hand to my mouth, trying not to breathe in too deeply.

Zelos' hands instantly flew up to his nose. "Ugh! What's that smell?"

"Has Presea...been living in this place?" Sheena said, her voice muffled; she had pulled one of her ribbons up to cover her nose.

Not only did it smell horrible in here, everything was in disarray. There was dust everywhere; it looked like no one had been here in years, when in fact Presea had been here the whole time...how had this environment not made her sick? It must've been because of the Exsphere.

"I...I'm sorry, I can't..." Colette trembled a little, looking pale. The smell was getting stronger as we moved deeper into the house.

"It's all right, Colette," Raine said. "You can wait outside if you'd like."

"I'll go with her," I immediately volunteered. It wasn't like seeing the corpse was extremely important anyway. "I don't really want to see my breakfast again."

As everyone else ventured deeper into the house, I walked outside again with Colette. The fresh air was such a huge relief, it was almost intoxicating. I took deep lungfuls of it and flopped down on to the grass in front of the house.

Colette sat down next to me, letting out a slow sigh. I glanced over at her, a little concerned.

"You okay? Not gonna throw up or anything, are you?"

She shook her head, smiling a little. "No, I think I'll be fine now. Sorry for worrying you."

"Don't apologize," I said, waving it off. "I'm kinda glad you opted out, because I probably would've gone in otherwise...and I really don't think I want to see the source of that smell."

"Me neither," Colette replied, shuddering.

We fell silent for a moment, and I couldn't stop a frown from forming on my face. When we came here later, we'd have a Key Crest for Presea...and Colette would be captured. We'd have to get the Rheairds in order to save her, which meant a trip to the Renegade base and the Temple of Lightning...how long would that take? Would we really have that much time? Rodyle couldn't use her in her current state, but that still didn't mean he wouldn't kill her...

"Brittany?" Colette's voice interrupted my thoughts. "You look like something's bothering you."

"Something's always bothering me," I replied with a sigh. "Don't worry about it."

There were no certainties. She might die. Was I really going to just sit back and let this happen to her? I had already let her lose her soul before. I had already let a lot of bad things happen...

"Hey, Colette? I have to tell you something."

"Hmm?" She looked over at me.

I hesitated. This was it...act now, worry about it later. "...When we come back here with Presea's Key Crest, Rodyle is going to-"

"Nngh," Lloyd's loud groan cut me off, and he flopped down on the grass next to us. Colette sent me a questioning glance as I let the words die on my tongue, before looking over at the other teenager.

"Lloyd? What's wrong?"

"Ah..." He frowned at the grass. "The others are still in there. But in that house, her father...he's..."

Colette's eyes widened; the look on his face said it all. "...Oh..."

"So that's what the smell was," I remarked quietly. "And Presea doesn't even realize he's dead?"

"That's the worst part!" Lloyd clenched his fists. "The Professor said it was one of the effects of the Exsphere...she's just been living like that all this time!"

"How horrible..." the blonde murmured.

The sound of footsteps caught our attention, and we all looked back to see the others exiting the house one by one. Genis wasn't looking good at all; he had probably only stuck it out for Presea. He seemed immensely relieved to be out of that house. Everyone else seemed to be at least someone all right, though Zelos for once was looking rather serious. Well, I guess nothing was a worse moodkiller than seeing a decaying corpse, after all...

Raine let out a quiet sigh. "...We should get going, then."

"We're going to just leave her in there?" Lloyd asked incredulously, getting to his feet.

"If we try to move her, she'll only fight back," the Professor replied with a shake of her head. "We know Presea will still be here when we return. We'll have to go see Altessa on our own and try to bring a Key Crest back to her."

The brunet looked down, clearly not liking the idea. Instead of raising another protest, though, he just sighed. "...All right. Let's hurry so that she doesn't have to be in there long."

"Yeah," Genis said without his usual enthusiasm. Raine put a hand lightly on his shoulder as he stared intently at the ground. I began to wonder if I should've stopped Genis from going in...oh hell, Raine was probably thinking the same thing.

Regal was at the back of the group, a rather faraway look in his eyes. I decided to leave him to his own thoughts, instead standing up and moving near the front of the group. Colette stood up as well, but immediately tripped and fell down again. I turned to see her wincing with pain; she reached to grip her shoulder for a second, before hurriedly pulling her hand away.

"Colette!" Lloyd rushed to her side. "Hey, are you all right?"

"Y-Yeah, I stumbled..." Colette said, smiling weakly as she slowly got to her feet again. "Hehe, I'm clumsy."

He frowned at her for a moment, and I knew why; that was the giggle Colette always did when she lied. I wouldn't have caught on if Lloyd hadn't pointed it out in that scene in the game, but it was pretty easy to notice when you listened carefully.

"Are you hurt?" Lloyd asked, still not quite buying it.

"No, I'm fine," Colette replied. Her smile wavered a little. "...I'm fine..."

You're not fine, Colette. It had started already, hadn't it? The Chronic Angelus Crystal-something-or-other. Cruxis hadn't taken her back on Mount Fooji because of it...that had been at least a week ago. How fast did it progress? If only I had the freedom to run around and get the ingredients for the Rune Crest myself, the way Kratos did for the Ring of the Pact...but the only thing I stood even a remote chance of getting was the zircon.

Lloyd stared at Colette for another second, before seeming to let it slide. Everyone still seemed to be in shock from the whole dead body ordeal, so we all just made our way back up into the village. Zelos stopped to stare at our downcast faces for a moment, before heaving an overly dramatic sigh and walking on ahead. We all looked up to see that he was asking the villagers if they knew anything about where Altessa would be.

I couldn't help but smile weakly. While we were all over here sulking, he was actually the one to take initiative...Zelos really wasn't so bad.

Then I stole a glance at Raine, who seemed down for a different reason. Ah...even if she wanted to take initiative, she couldn't. If the people here did realize she was a half-elf, we'd never get an answer out of them no matter who did the questioning. Actually, Zelos had been the one to warn us about this village's hatred for half-elves in the first place. What had he said? This was the Pope's hometown...

After a few minutes of this, Zelos made his way back over to us.

"It's just south of here," he said casually. "We just leave the village by Presea's place and go straight from there."

"All right," Raine said with a nod. "We might be able to make it back here by nightfall if we start now. Let's go."

* * *

The walk to Altessa's house was long and uneventful. Everyone was still kind of gloomy, so I didn't bother trying to make conversation. It wasn't like there was much to talk about, anyway.

"Um, Brittany?" Colette fell in step with me, and I looked over at her.

"What's up?" She looked like she had something on her mind.

"I was wondering...what was it that you were trying to tell me earlier?"

I blinked, frowning. Then I turned to stare straight ahead. Earlier...Lloyd had interrupted us, but I had come so close to telling her the truth. But I couldn't now, not when everybody else was there to hear. Besides...maybe it had been a stupid, impulsive decision in the first place. I would just have to figure something else out in the meantime.

After a second or two of thoughtful silence, I shook my head. "I don't really remember. It probably wasn't anything important."

"Oh..." Colette watched me, frowning a little. "Okay then."

She fell silent after that, and I couldn't help but glance at her from the corner of my eye. What had I said, again? Lloyd's interruption had caused me to trail off in the middle of a sentence, so I couldn't remember the exact words I had started to say. Something about Presea's Key Crest...ah, well. Point was, she still didn't know what was going to happen.

Maybe I'd just have to do what I did when Genis and Raine got arrested, and try to stop it when it happened. Problem was, I hadn't been able to change anything last time...

And so, the rest of the walk continued much like this. Everyone had their own issues to think about. I was mainly feeling conflicted over my knowledge of the future. At this rate, I was just going to worry myself to death...if only I could've somehow told everyone the complete truth right from the very beginning. It would've saved me a lot of stress.

Before I knew it, we had finally made it to Altessa's house. Everyone slowed as we came to the place, and I heard Raine quietly instructing everyone to be polite and all that. We couldn't afford to screw this up, after all. Not that it mattered; Altessa wasn't going to help us now anyway.

I slowed to the back of the group without meaning to. It was strange...I hadn't had a feeling like this since I had first set foot in the Tower of Salvation. So many important events were supposed to happen here. This was where Kratos would reveal the truth about his identity to Lloyd. Weird, that event had always seemed so far away. It was nice to think that eventually I wouldn't have any future knowledge left, though. If I could just keep my mouth shut for a while, I really would have nothing left to hide.

My gaze strayed up the cliff face, where I spotted a rock overhang. When the earthquake hit, I was willing to bet that that would be the rock to fall down and nearly crush Tabatha. But Mithos would save her.

Mithos...

Oh my God, we were going to meet him so soon. How could I keep up the act around him? How could I pretend he was innocent when that bastard was the reason for everything that had happened to me?

"Brittany." I realized Regal was speaking to me, and was jolted back to reality. Jumping a little, I looked over at him. He frowned at me, nodding over to the door. "We're going inside."

I stared over to where everyone else was; it looked like Tabatha had answered the door, and Regal and I were the ones trailing behind. I let out a laugh that sounded extremely forced.

"Oh, right...let's go." With that, the two of us made our way over to the back of the group.

"PLEASE FOLLOW ME." Tabatha's voice met my ears, and I felt my eyebrows fly up a little. I hadn't heard a voice like that in a while...she sounded like one of those automated female voices that always played when your phone call didn't go through. Blah blah blah, please dial the number and try again. Considering they didn't have telephones over here, I was sure her voice sounded even more out of place to the others.

We did as she said, and she led us into a new room that looked like some kind of workshop. A short man with a large gray beard stood at the desk; he paused in his work when he heard us coming.

"Who are you people?" he asked, already sounding rather unwelcoming.

"My name's Lloyd," the brunet spoke up. "This is Colette, Sheena, Zelos, Genis, Raine, Brittany, and Regal." He introduced each of us in turn, though from the look on Altessa's face, the dwarf didn't care and probably would forget our names in about five seconds.

Meanwhile, I had the music for Altessa's home playing over and over in my head. I did my best not to let my mind wander because usually it wandered into unpleasant places, but it was hard when I already knew what was going to happen.

"We've come in regards to Presea," Raine said. "A woman named Kate from Sybak informed us about you."

Altessa paused at that, but then he suddenly turned away from us. "Leave."

"What?" Lloyd asked, eyes wide.

"I don't want anything more to do with that girl! Get out!"

"But we-"

"Lloyd." Raine quietly cut him off, giving him a look. He scowled, his shoulders slumping, and we all quietly moved to leave the room. It wasn't like arguing with the dwarf was going to get us anywhere.

We filed out of the workshop and into what seemed to be the main room of the house. It had a large table in the middle of it, and we gathered around it for a moment as we recovered from that little scene.

"...Professor, why didn't you let me say anything?" Lloyd asked with a frown.

Raine shook her head. "If we argue, we may just make him angry. It would only lessen our chances of getting a Key Crest made."

"As things stand now, however, we won't be able to make any progress," Regal remarked, looking troubled.

"Ugh...what was that all about, anyway?" the brunet asked.

"I APOLOGIZE FOR THE MASTER'S BEHAVIOR," Tabatha spoke up, facing our group. "HE DOES NOT WISH TO GET INVOLVED WITH PRESEA."

Wow, now that I was looking at her...that blank look in her eyes really reminded me of how Colette had looked soulless...and how Presea looked now. Only, it was somehow less scary to me...maybe it was because I knew Tabatha was relatively harmless.

"Why?" Genis snapped. "He doesn't care if she dies?"

"IT IS NOT THAT. THE MASTER REGRETS WHAT HE HAS DONE."

"Then please, save Presea!" Colette urged. "All she needs is for her Key Crest to be fixed."

"...I DO NOT KNOW IF THAT WOULD TRULY BE IN HER BEST INTEREST," Tabatha said. I would have tried to read her expression, but she had none. Instead I turned to glance at Regal, and sure enough, he looked troubled.

"Is it really okay for us to make that decision for her?" I asked, my eyes downcast. "She deserves the chance to get her life back."

"Besides, how could anything be worse than living in that cruel condition while waiting to die?" Lloyd spoke up, his fists clenched. "Whatever Presea does when she's back to normal is her decision, but we can't just leave her the way she is!"

"IF YOU ARE THAT COMMITTED, YOU SHOULD SEARCH FOR INHIBITOR ORE," Tabatha said. As we had spoken, she had looked at each of us in turn, but hadn't reacted to anything we'd said. It was odd to think she was physically incapable of reacting because of what she was.

"Her crest isn't made out of inhibitor ore?" Lloyd asked.

Tabatha nodded, a mechanical looking gesture. "CORRECT. HER CREST IS-"

"Tabatha!" We looked up to see Altessa standing in the doorway of his workshop. He scowled at us, before looking over to the girl. "What are you doing? Get rid of them!" With that, he retreated back into the room. I was sure if we stayed out here nay longer, though, he'd come and kick us out himself.

"I APOLOGIZE," Tabatha said, turning away from us. "PLEASE COME BACK AGAIN. I WILL ATTEMPT TO PERSUADE HIM."

Since we had no choice, we all made our way back outside and gathered together in the rocky clearing in front of his house. As everyone spoke, I found my eyes wandering around again over the familiar surroundings.

"Inhibitor ore, huh..." Lloyd frowned. "I think Dad knows where to find it, but that's in Sylvarant."

Sheena shook her head. "We only just asked Mizuho to locate the Rheairds, so I doubt we'll have much luck with that."

"Where could we find inhibitor ore, then?" Colette wondered aloud.

Regal stepped forward. "I've heard it's mined in the mountain range that extends between Altamira and the Ymir Forest," he said. "If you're going to create a Key Crest for Presea, I would like to help. I can lead you to the mine."

"Huh...just what is your relation to Presea, anyway?" Lloyd asked curiously.

"There is none."

The brunet looked a little taken aback at the curt answer, but it didn't look like Regal was going to say anything further. His expression was completely unreadable.

"For a complete stranger, you seem rather concerned about her," Raine remarked, giving him one of her looks. Yeah, she definitely wasn't buying it. On the plus side, the scrutinizing gaze was turned on someone else for once! Wooo!

"...Either way, you haven't done anything suspicious up until now, and Brittany seems to trust you. I wouldn't mind if you came along." He turned to look at us. "Guys?"

The Professor frowned for another second, and then just let out a sigh. "...If you truly wish to come along, I won't stop you. We have the same goal, regardless of your connection to Presea."

"We need to get to that mine, so..." Genis scowled. "But don't think that means we're friends!"

I covered my mouth to hide my grin, my shoulders shaking with silent laughter. Yes, Genis, because being BFFs with you was totally at the top of Regal's to-do list.

"I'm okay with it!" Colette chirped, smiling.

"If Colette's cool with it, so am I!" Zelos said, using that as an excuse to sling an arm around her shoulder. He was forced to pull away when Raine reached out and grabbed him by the ear.

"I don't see how it could be a problem," Sheena said with a shrug, sending a glare in Zelos' direction as he whimpered quietly over his sore ear.

"Just be warned, you might get roped in to more than you bargained for," I remarked, smiling a little. "We've got a lot of baggage."

Zelos gave up his pathetic act in favor of snorting at my remark. "Now that has to be the king of understatements."

"Anyway," I said, shoving the redhead, "I'm obviously fine with you coming. So welcome aboard, Regal! Our main attractions for the night include Zelos being a pervert, Genis trying to hurt you, and the Professor smacking me-"

Just as I said that, I felt the familiar impact at the back of my head as Raine hit me. She heaved a sigh, shaking her head at me as I attempted to gather my bearings again. She was probably wondering if I was a lost cause. I probably was. Zelos, meanwhile, was too busy whining in the background over my pervert comment to care what happened.

Regal's lips twitched upwards in amusement. "I...see. Thank you all for allowing me to come."

"Spitfire! You don't really think that, do you? I'm just incredibly attractive, and I really like women, I can't help it if I make a few comments every now and then-"

"Will you cut it out?" Sheena snapped, prying him off of me; my mind had shut down about two seconds into his rant. I sent her a grateful look, but she looked away too quickly to notice. Zelos stood to one side, pouting for the moment.

"So where is this mine you're talking about?" Lloyd asked, giving us a look before turning back to Regal.

"It's across the sea from here, on the southern continent," Regal explained. "As inhibitor ore is found relatively close to the surface of the Exsphere mine, we should be able to find it without too much trouble."

"You said it was near Altamira, right?" Zelos piped up again, grinning. "That place is awesome! We should stop by there on the way. Besides, it's spitfire's hometown so it's kinda important, right?"

"We don't have time to hang out at that gaudy resort!" Sheena said, giving him an irritated look. "Besides, those documents were fabricated, remember?"

"Aww, but once spitfire sees it, she'll wish it was her hometown!" Zelos whined.

"Uh...when did I become the topic of conversation?" I muttered helplessly, and the redhead just winked at me.

"The sea...?" Raine didn't even seem to be hearing us. "We're going out to sea again...?"

"...Professor?" Lloyd asked, frowning, and she seemed to snap out of it.

"I-It's going to get dark soon. We should head back to Ozette," she said. "We can...set out in the morning." Her eyes filled with dread at that.

"Hey, I haven't ridden in the EC yet," I remarked. "How is it?"

Lloyd looked at me for a moment, but then rubbed the back of his neck. "It's...interesting."

"Oh, great," I groaned. That probably meant it wasn't a smooth ride like I'd hoped. Well, nothing could be easy around here, after all.

"Anyway, Raine's right. If we go back now, we might not have to camp out," Sheena spoke up.

"Yeah," Lloyd agreed. "Let's go."

We all started walking, but I noticed that Zelos had paused to have a word with Regal. Or, well, a one-sided conversation, because Regal wasn't acknowledging him. I paused, only to watch the convict walk right past me to catch up with the rest of the group.

"...Fine, ignore me," I heard Zelos mutter. "Not very friendly, are ya?"

"What was that about?" I asked when he caught up, even though I already knew.

Zelos just smiled. "Oh, don't worry about it, my little spitfire. I was just asking him what he thought of you. Can't have anyone stealing you away from me, after all!"

I smacked my forehead. "You're a real piece of work, you know that?"

The redhead let out a loud laugh. "Oh, but you love me anyway."

"Whatever you say, Zelos..."

* * *

**A/N: Formula to an NR chapter: Angst + Zelos comic relief + moar angst + moar Zelos + smartass remark by OC Brit + corny Lloyd speech. Yay? :D**

**It's late over here, and I don't really have much of an opinion of this chapter, so I guess I'll leave it at that. XD And yes, a certain something OC Brit said here is going to bite her in the ass later. If you're wondering what I mean, just think of whatever phrase of hers sent off warning bells in your head. :P**

**Reviewwww~! And I'll give you your very own Tabatha! 8D She's a good cook, just don't let Zelos near her cooking or bad things may happen!**

**Next time: Toize Valley Mine, booze, and other fun things!**


	42. Quiet Night in Ozette

**A/N: Heeeeeyyy guys. :D I'm back with another update!**

**Ummm...not much to say here. Oh, about what I said last chapter...it's not the EC comment that's gonna bite OC Brit in the ass later. :P It was only mentioned in passing, but the EC was explained while Brit was around.**

**So! Character interactions galore in this chapter. I'm just setting up for some future events. Didn't get as far plotwise as I would've liked, but that's okay. I'll make up for it next chapter...somehow. Derp.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned ToS, Regal would be my personal chef/eye candy. I would keep him in my kitchen and he would be forbidden to wear a shirt. Or pants. Hurr hurr. I'll let you sit with that image for a while.**

The hike back to Ozette was pretty long and boring, too. Now more than ever, I was grateful for the lack of monsters. It was boring, but at least I could relax. I found myself remembering the days back in Sylvarant when we'd constantly been on guard. It seemed so long ago now. But it had only been a couple weeks, hadn't it?

"What's the date?" I asked aloud to no one in particular.

"September twenty-ninth," Raine replied, glancing over at me. "Why?"

I frowned thoughtfully. "...We've been in Tethe'alla for a month already." If I remembered correctly, it had been around the beginning of September that we'd first arrived in Meltokio. Damn, time really flew. That meant I had been away from home for about four months now.

"Really?" Genis piped up, looking surprised. "Now that you mention it...we celebrated Lloyd's birthday just before going to the Tower of Salvation. So that sounds about right."

"My birthday...it feels like it was a long time ago," Lloyd remarked with a faraway look in his eyes.

This caused me to quiet down, too. Oddly enough, one thing I remembered most about Lloyd's birthday was Kratos. That was the day after I'd had a complete panic attack after seeing Kratos talking to a Cruxis angel. Talk about a frightening experience...I still believed I was lucky as hell that he hadn't killed me then.

Was it strange that even despite these thoughts, I found myself missing the seraph? He was so goddamn confusing.

"Eh?" Zelos butted into the conversation. "How old are you, bud? Fourteen?"

Lloyd scowled at that. "I'm eighteen!"

"Really?" The redhead grinned. "Could've fooled me!" It was clear that Zelos was just trying to be a pain, so Lloyd just rolled his eyes.

"Yeah? How old are you?" The brunet countered, causing Zelos to stand tall.

"Twenty-two. I know, I know...try not to be intimidated by my age, kids."

"Wow, you're so old," I commented, just to be annoying. "You're like a perverted old geezer."

Zelos' face fell as Genis snickered somewhere behind us. Raine looked over her shoulder at me, staring, and I cringed. Oh, right...she was older than Zelos. Okay, time to hide behind Lloyd!

As I inched behind the unsuspecting swordsman, Zelos seemed to regain his composure. "So...you like perverted old geezers, eh? That's kind of gross, spitfire, but hey, I'm not one to judge-"

"I never said that!" I snapped a little too quickly, and nearly groaned when I saw the size of Zelos' grin. It was impossible to shoot that guy down, really.

"You guys are so weird..." Lloyd grumbled, and Colette giggled.

"So when's your birthday, Zelos?" the blonde asked.

"November third," Zelos said happily. "Don't forget it, mmkay? Gotta make sure you get me lots of-whoa, spitfire's actually writing it down?"

"Don't get too excited," I said, rolling my eyes as I jotted down the date in the notebook I always carried with me. "I keep track of everyone else's birthdays too, see?" I waved it in front of his face, showing that his birthday was written below several others.

Zelos leaned forward to take a look, but then he raised his eyebrows. "I don't think you're gonna be needing that Kratos dude's birthday anymore, spitfire."

"Oh...right," I said quietly as Lloyd frowned. Holding the notepad steady, I reached up and scribbled out Kratos' name and the date next to it. Just this little action kind of hurt...but it wasn't like I would have to worry about forgetting his birthday, anyway. Not when it was on my favorite holiday.

When I realized it had grown quiet again, I looked over my shoulder. "Oi, Regal! When's your birthday?"

"My birthday?" he repeated, looking taken aback. Clearly he hadn't anticipated being included in this little conversation. He recovered after a moment, but still looked a little bemused as he answered. "It's on July tenth."

"Huh...not for a while," I noted thoughtfully. "Let's see...that means Zelos' birthday is closest..."

"What about you, hunny?" the redhead asked.

"November twentieth," I replied, smiling wryly. "You're loaded, so you better give me something good."

"Oh, I will," Zelos shot back. "I can give it all night long, you know-"

"I don't want to listen to this," Sheena cut in, looking rather irate.

"Sheena, no need to be so jealous! You've got a birthday too, after all," he called to her in a singsong voice, and then had to dodge a few kicks.

"Uh...just to clarify, I wasn't asking for birthday sex..." I muttered, but the sound of my voice was mostly drowned out by Zelos' pained cries. Apparently Sheena had managed to get in a few hits after all.

"...Why does every conversation with Zelos end up this way?" Lloyd wondered aloud.

"I wonder when Presea's birthday is..." Genis murmured dreamily, oblivious. We both facepalmed.

About twenty or thirty minutes later, we were checking into the inn at Ozette. It was a pretty small building, but I somehow managed to snag the room with the single bed, so I was feeling rather victorious tonight. Privacy was awesome. As for the others' rooming arrangements...Raine and Genis were together, and so were Colette and Sheena. Lloyd and Zelos were rooming with Regal, probably to keep an eye on him or something. Genis kept sending the convict warning glares; it was probably because Presea's house wasn't too far from here.

Geez. I guess even though he'd officially joined us, it would take a little longer before everyone would start to trust him. That was one thing I liked about having this knowledge...it was so much easier to place my faith in him. I liked not having to keep my guard up around him just because he was new to the group. Zelos and Kratos were both confusing as hell, but at least I knew for sure that I could trust Regal.

When the Professor mentioned that we needed to stock up on supplies, I volunteered to do so. Part of me was a little dismayed when Colette offered to go with me; if she was around, I couldn't pocket a percentage of the leftover cash like I usually did. Well...then again, it would probably be a good idea for me to get out of that habit. But I put it to good use! What if another situation arose where I'd need to buy something in secret? Bah...it's not like Zelos missed the small change anyway.

"Oh! Found them!" Colette called to me as we stood in one of the shops. I glanced over to her, and she held up some lemon gels. I quickly counted the Gald we had been given, confirmed that we had enough, and crossed the item off the list the Professor had written for us.

"All right," I murmured. "Now we just need some orange gels, and we can move on to buying food."

"Okay!" Colette chirped. "I think the orange gels are over here..."

As she looked through some of the shelves, I found my eyes drawn to the store's other wares. The only thing about sending me alone to do the shopping was that I always took forever. I was the type to get distracted with all of the other items. We could never trust Lloyd to shop for weapons alone for the same reason. At least Colette seemed able to focus.

Colette waved me over to the shelves she was standing next to, and we both picked out a few bottles of orange gels and placed them in the bag we were carrying. I started trying to think of where the food shop in this town was, but I just couldn't remember. It looked like we'd either have to search or ask for directions somehow. Too bad most of the people here tended to ignore us. Maybe that was for the best if we were fugitives.

"We're going to that mine tomorrow, aren't we?" the blonde said as we carried everything over to the store clerk. "I wonder how long it'll take to get there."

I frowned thoughtfully. "Well...we're on the northern continent near the Tower of Salvation, right?" I tried redrawing the map of Tethe'alla in my head, and my face fell. "...Damn. And the mine would be all the way down there..." I muttered to myself, biting my lip. Then I looked back up at Colette, who was giving me a curious look. "Um, I think we're looking at several days out to sea, depending on how fast the EC moves."

She raised her eyebrows. "Really? Oh, no...I hope the Professor will be okay."

"Well, we'll probably have to stop and camp out on land whenever we can," I said as the clerk took the Gald I gave him. "I doubt she'd be able to get any sleep otherwise."

The clerk handed me some change, and we smiled at him before making our way out the door. I started leading the way, even though I didn't know where I was going. I at least knew that the food shop was somewhere on this side of town.

"The boat ride we took from Izoold to Palmacosta only took a few hours," Colette remarked.

"Yeah, but that's kind of a one-way ride, isn't it?" I said, looking around. "We're gonna have to go around the whole northern continent...and some of the southern one. Though I could be wrong," I added, "I haven't seen a map of Tethe'alla since the last time we were at Zelos' place, so my memory might be a little off." I had started to sound too sure of myself there. I needed to be more careful.

"How fast does the EC go, anyway?" I asked, changing the subject.

"I'm not sure," the blonde replied. "I think it goes pretty fast, though! It only took us a half hour to get from the Fooji continent to the Altamira continent last time."

"A half hour..." I murmured. The bridge was...how long? Presea had said it was almost sixteen miles. If it took a half hour to cross a distance of sixteen miles, that meant the EC moved at a speed of approximately thirty-two miles per hour. I frowned, picturing the map in my mind and trying to form a more solid estimate of how long it would take.

After a few minutes of this, I gave up. "Oh, well. I guess we'll find out tomorrow."

"Look, over there!" Colette suddenly said, and I looked up to see that she was pointing to another building. I recognized the sign; this was the food shop. Sweet!

We went inside and once again began the somewhat tedious task of finding all the things we needed. This time we looked at a list of things Genis had written for us; we didn't exactly trust the Professor to decide what we needed when it came to food items. I felt my stomach growl, and started moving a little faster. The sooner we got this done, the sooner dinner would get started.

I saw that Colette had paused for a moment, and I walked over to her. "What's up?"

She jumped a little, and let out a fake sounding laugh. "Um, it's nothing. I was just thinking, we never saw any Exsphere mines in Sylvarant...I wonder if they exist there?"

"I dunno," I replied, picking up a tomato and examining it. Tomatoes were on the shopping list; Lloyd wouldn't be too happy about that. "Maybe the Desians have some. Or maybe they somehow get Exspheres from whoever owns the mines over here."

"I bet Regal would know," Colette said, forcing a cheerful note into her tone. "He's really smart."

"Yeah, he is," I agreed, trying not to make it too obvious that I was watching her carefully. "But either way, it's not the Exspheres we have to worry about right now. It's the inhibitor ore."

"I know. Kate said Presea would die if she didn't get a Key Crest soon," Colette murmured. "But...what if it's too late?"

"As long as she's still alive, I don't think it's too late," I replied, frowning at her. "I mean, I'm okay, and I've just been relying on Lloyd's handiwork all this time." I tapped my Key Crest with one finger.

"...Your body was making a Cruxis Crystal, though, right? You've never felt...sick, or anything?" She fiddled with the shopping list, not looking at me.

"No, nothing really out of the ordinary..." I replied. "Why?"

She glanced over at me, smiling suddenly. "Hehe, it's nothing. Sorry for bothering you."

"Is something bothering you?" I asked, concerned. That giggle of hers had given her away.

The blonde immediately shook her head. "I've just had a lot to think about, that's all. Oh! I just remembered, I wanted to ask you something."

I continued to give her the same look, but humored her after a second or two. "...What is it?"

"Is Sheena mad at you?"

"Huh?" I blinked, taken aback. Colette had once again busied herself with finding the items on the list; all traces of her previous troubled demeanor were gone. Damn, she was good.

"Well," she said slowly, "I just noticed you two haven't been talking lately." She finished what she was doing, and carried everything over to the counter. I distractedly fished for some Gald to give the clerk.

"Oh...I think she's still kinda ticked at me about what happened in Mizuho. She just needs some space, she'll get over it soon," I replied in a casual tone. Hell, she would thank me later. I was about to save us a lot of running around.

"That's all it is?" Colette asked, picking up our groceries again after the clerk had given me change. "That's good. I just thought it was a little strange since you two used to talk a lot."

"Yeah, we did, didn't we..." I murmured, troubled. Come to think of it, I really hadn't been talking to Sheena much lately, even before our little spat. I guess I could chalk that up to the fact that mostly everyone seemed a little guarded around me ever since I explained about Earth.

"Hey," I said, perking up a little. "Me, you and Sheena should have a girls' night one of these days. I think we all need some more bonding time, don't you agree?"

Colette clapped her hands together, looking excited at the idea. "Okay! But what about Presea?"

"If Presea's still with us after we give her a Key Crest, then she can come too," I replied, nodding. "We can use the time to get to know Presea better too. And we can do girly stuff! Like...like..." Shit, I couldn't think of anything girly...

"I've always wanted to try makeup," Colette piped up.

I nodded. "Then I'll help you put some on and we can see how you look. And we can pretty ourselves up for once, and...hey, we should do this the next time we go to Meltokio! I bet Zelos will have all the stuff we need," I said, grinning as the plans formulated in my mind.

"...Zelos will have makeup?" the blonde asked, looking confused.

"He's got lots of girlfriends," I replied dismissively. Surely at least one of them had left stuff behind. Then I bit my lip, thinking. "Okay, so what we'll do is try to change our look so much that no one will recognize us. That way we can explore the city without being caught! And I'll mooch some cash off Zelos, and we can go have some fun. It'll be just us girls."

"The Professor probably won't want us to..." Colette said, her face suddenly falling.

I grinned. "Who said the Professor has to know? Like I said, it'll just be us. The boys don't have to know either."

She tilted her head. "How are you going to get money from Zelos without telling him?"

"I'll flirt with him or something," I said, shrugging. Then my mind processed what I had just said, and I had to fight a blush. I said it easily now, but I was probably going to regret it later...oh well, I'd cross that bridge when I came to it. For now, I had a feeling this was an epic plan in the works.

"Oh...okay!" Colette smiled easily. "I can't wait! I'm going to go tell Sheena, okay? I think I saw her going to the other side of town..."

"Go ahead," I said, happy that she liked my idea. "Here, I'll take the groceries back to the inn."

"Right!" she replied, placing the bag in my arms. Then she walked over to the door, waving. "See you at dinner!"

I waved back, watching her leave, and then let out a sigh. Well, I was glad that had cheered her up, and I was looking forward to that girls' night, but...I still hadn't forgotten about her previous troubles. It had been that CACI thing, hadn't it? I couldn't help but wonder if it was hurting her right now.

I stared at the floor. "...Isn't there anything I can do?" I muttered to myself, shaking my head. Or was cheering her up the only thing that was within my power? Damn... Well, fine. I was going to keep her happy, and do a damn good job at it.

Man. For a sixteen-year-old girl, Colette had way too many problems on her shoulders.

* * *

Dinner that night was pretty much amazing. Genis was cooking as he usually did, but this time around Regal offered to help. At first he was denied, but then he smoothly started a conversation about the dish the half-elf was starting to make. The conversation distracted Genis, and he didn't even realize Regal was helping until they had finished the main dish together. I observed Regal's tactics with amusement. By the time the two had finished making dinner, Genis had developed a grudging respect for the older chef.

Hey, I was rooting for them both. I wanted a beautiful friendship to blossom! Because that meant we'd get to keep eating insanely good food for dinner!

"Is there a reason why you're smiling?" Regal asked, sitting across from me after the food had been set out on the table.

"You're surprisingly good with people," I remarked, watching Genis as he sat next to Lloyd. Well, considering Regal's occupation, I guess his people skills wouldn't be too surprising.

"Ah, I see. You saw that," Regal said, smiling a little. "You're very observant."

"I never talked much in school, so I learned to watch people," I replied with a shrug, taking a bite of pasta. It was made with alfredo sauce, so Lloyd had nothing to complain about this time around. So good...

"Never talked much?" Zelos butted in, raising his eyebrows. "Spitfire, there's no way you were the quiet type."

"Quiet, smart type," I confirmed, twirling some noodles around my fork. "That's me!"

"Strange," Raine said, glancing over at me. "I have yet to see this side of you during lessons."

"I graduated over a year ago, Professor!" I whined.

"Why'd you change?" Genis piped up.

I grinned at him. "I never changed. You guys just bring out a better side to me."

"Oh, great," he replied, rolling his eyes.

"You think I'm cool, right?" I looked over at Regal now, giving him my best puppy-dog eyes. He blinked.

"You're a dork," Lloyd called from his side of the table. I gave him a squinty-eyed look as I stabbed my noodles and shoved them in my mouth. He just snorted, flinging a toothpick at me.

"That's enough," the Professor scolded, letting out a tired sigh.

Thanks to Lloyd's relatively short attention span, he dropped the matter rather quickly. "Hey, Regal! You helped Genis with dinner, right? I didn't know you could cook."

Regal looked over at the brunet. "Ah...yes, I enjoy it. It's been a hobby of mine for quite a while."

Lloyd raised his eyebrows, curious. "So how do you do it? Don't you have trouble with the handcuffs?"

"I cook with my feet," Regal replied, reaching up to rub his chin.

"Wha..." Lloyd had the fork halfway to his mouth. He now paused, staring at it with horrified eyes, and then looked back at Regal. "Really?"

Everyone in the group let out an exasperated sigh as I burst out laughing.

"Lloyd, he's joking!" Genis pointed out, smacking his forehead.

"H-Hey!" The brunet said, looking embarrassed. "How am I supposed to know? He said it with a perfectly straight face!"

"It's called dry humor," I managed between gasps of air, and then right back to cracking up.

"...My apologies," Regal said. "Perhaps I should've been a bit more obvious."

The look on Lloyd's face just caused me to laugh some more, and much of the rest of dinner was spent bickering until Raine got us all to shut up. Oh well, I'd just wait till later to pick on Lloyd. Heh.

* * *

Night had fallen. I was currently making my way to my room, dressed in my pajamas and feeling pretty good about myself. We had gotten a decent amount done today and I had come out of it without feeling like I was going to die, so I couldn't help but feel cheerful. Plus it was almost my favorite time of the day: bedtime!

I threw open the door to my room, a triumphant grin on my face. When I saw who was sitting on my bed, however, the grin fell. Oh, great.

"You don't look very happy to see me, Brittany," Zelos said, giving me an amused look.

"Uhh...get off my bed?" I tried.

"I could do that," the redhead remarked, nodding and leaning back against the headboard. "Or," he said, holding up a finger, "you could shut the door and come sit next to me."

I scowled, kicking the door shut and crossing my arms. There was no point in protesting, because he looked pretty determined about something. I wasn't sitting next to him, though.

Zelos patted the spot next to him, winking at me. Instead of giving in, I just walked over to a nearby chair and sat down, watching him. He didn't say anything; he just gave me that suggestive look I hated so much, his smile slowly growing. After a few seconds of this, I let out a groan and threw my hands up.

"Fine!" I got up, stomping over and plopping down on the bed next to him.

Zelos clapped his hands together happily. "Okay! Now let's try that again without clothes - aah! That hurts!"

I scooted as far away from him on the bed as I could, blushing fiercely and looking the other way as he rubbed the arm I'd smacked.

"Ow...have you been taking lessons from Sheena or something?" he whined.

"No, but I should be," I muttered under my breath, feeling intensely uncomfortable.

"Ah, well, it doesn't matter," Zelos said, quickly shrugging off the injury. I heard a small clinking sound, and suddenly a glass was shoved into my hands. I stared at it with confusion.

"What's this for?" I asked, looking over at the perverted Chosen.

"What else?" He grinned, holding up what looked like a wine bottle. Hold on...that was Mizuho Potion!

"Ohh no," I shook my head, immediately setting the glass aside and crossing my arms. "No way."

"Come on," Zelos said, leaning a little closer. "Why buy it if you're not gonna drink it?"

"I have my reasons!" I replied. What the hell did he think he was doing?

"I can't help but wonder what those reasons are." He reached over me to pick up the glass, placing it between us on the bed. "Listen, hunny, you've got two bottles. As long as you save one, you can still use it later, right? Besides, it's gonna be tough lugging this much around all the time. I'm just trying to help you out, see?"

"You just want an excuse to get drunk," I shot back. I was dismayed to find that he did have a point, though. My back had been hurting a bit today from the added weight...those bottles were kind of heavy.

"Well, that too," he relented. Then he smirked at me. "Either way, you did buy this stuff with my money. Shouldn't my input matter at least a little?"

Oh, crap. "Y-You knew?" I asked, mortified.

He laughed. "You've been pilfering from my grocery money since the day we met. What, you thought I wouldn't notice? You know, hunny, you could've just asked if you needed me to buy you something."

I put a palm to my face, trying to hide my embarrassment. I couldn't believe Zelos had noticed...man, I had thought I was being so secretive, too. I was lucky he didn't care; Raine would probably give me the scolding of a lifetime if she ever found out about this.

"I'll keep that in mind," I mumbled into my hand.

"Well! Now that that's settled," Zelos started, pushing the glass into my hands again, "what do you say we lighten your load a little?"

"Cut it out!" I protested feebly. "You know we'll be in deep shit if anyone finds out!"

"Hunny, when was the last time you had a drink?"

I faltered, staring at him. Well, I wasn't legally allowed to in America, and I obviously hadn't had anything in the past few months...so maybe that time I'd snuck some at the state fair?

"Uh...the August before last?"

His eyebrows flew up. "Oh, you poor deprived thing!"

I just let out a groan, realizing I'd only encouraged him. Dammit Zelos! Why couldn't he just drop it and go to bed already?

Zelos let out a sigh, draping an arm around my shoulders and pulling me closer to him. "Brittany, lemme recap for you here. You got dragged away from everything that was familiar to you, only to get stuck in a world full of uncivilized barbarians," he said, holding up a hand as he began to count off on his fingers. "Then you ran around trying to save a world that wasn't even yours, fought a bunch of crazy Desians, got your ass kicked at the Tower of Salvation, ran away from the Renegades and crash landed on Mount Fooji, snuck into a castle, got branded a fugitive, got kidnapped by Cruxis, escaped from Cruxis, and fought your own allies over a misunderstanding. All that, and yet you still haven't had one single opportunity to wind down with a drink?"

He turned to look at me, frowning when I remained silent. "Well?"

"Shit, I've done a lot," I said, surprised.

"That's right, you have," he confirmed, his smirk returning. "Now, I haven't had a drink since the day we met and I don't think I can stand being sober for much longer. We'll split the bottle, sound good?"

"...I'm going to regret this," I muttered, holding up my glass.

"There's nothing to regret, spitfire." Zelos uncorked the bottle and poured me some potion, grinning. "You deserve this. Trust me."

I watched as he poured himself a glass, wondering just what I was getting myself into. This guy really was a horrible influence. It was okay, though...I'd just have a glass or two. I'd let Zelos get drunk first; then he'd lose track and end up finishing off the bottle for me. And I could laugh at him in the morning! Everyone wins.

"Well, cheers," I said, and we clinked our glasses together and drank.

* * *

Things...didn't exactly go as planned.

Unfortunately, I failed to take into account the fact that Zelos had probably gone to bars regularly during his time in Meltokio, while I was a total lightweight. Even though I was drinking as little as humanly possible without Zelos catching on to my plan, I was still getting drunk at about the same rate as him...if not faster.

I reluctantly took another sip of Mizuho Potion. The liquid felt like fire coursing down my throat. I had almost gagged and spit it back out when I'd first tasted it, but since then it had become easier and easier to resist the gag reflex. That was probably a bad sign. Also, Zelos' arm had become attached to me like some sort of oversized leech. That was a bad sign, too.

"Ahhhh..." Zelos let out a happy little sigh. "Now this is how life should be!"

"If you say so..." I mumbled, trying not to let myself slur. That stupid potion was really strong...I was only about a third of the way through my second glass.

"Y'know, hunny," the redhead said, pulling me closer, "I'm glad I met you. I don't think I could last in this group otherwise."

"You could," I said distractedly as I tried to think of what time it was. "Tr...Trust me." I hiccupped, and then burst out laughing. Was I that drunk already? Wait...I was drunk...and on a bed with Zelos. Maybe I should move...or something?

"You think so?" Zelos swirled the alcohol remaining in the bottom of his glass. "Nah...I think they'd do the world a favor and kill me. It's not like anyone would miss me." He slurred a little, downing the rest of his potion and unsteadily pouring some more. I followed his example and finished my own glass.

"Don't say that!" I suddenly sat up straighter, upset. The world spun from the sudden movement and I moved closer to Zelos for support. I leaned on his shoulder, frowning. "Everyone's so mean to you," I whined. "I like you, Zelos."

The redhead smiled, holding the bottle out to me, and I set my glass aside to take a swig. The alcohol made me feel so warm and comfortable. I liked it. Zelos really knew how to have a good time. I didn't want this to end; I didn't want to go back to fighting and killing.

Zelos pulled me closer, and I smiled back up at him. He was always so nice to me. How could anyone not trust him? I just wished I could tell him everything...it would be so easy! I could let it all out, just like that. And he'd laugh, and we could drink some more, and no one else had to know.

"I mean," I continued, leaning back and staring at the ceiling, "I'm jus' trying to be nice, y'know? Even if I was captured 'cause of you." Why was Zelos so stiff all of a sudden? I turned to look at his face, and the smile was gone. But he looked so much better when he was smiling...

"But you know what?" I said, giggling a little nervously. Why had he set his glass aside? "I don't care. I said to myself, 'I'm gonna be Zelos' friend anyway. 'Cause everyone else is so mean to him.' 'Sides, you're kinda nice, Zelly."

Zelos was frowning, but turning my head to look at him made the world wobble a little. I reached up to tug lightly on a lock of his hair, feeling put out. Why wasn't he smiling and laughing anymore? This had been so fun when it first started out.

"What's wrong?" I asked unhappily. In response, he pulled his arm away and got off the bed, standing up.

"I'm tired," he replied, pushing the almost empty bottle of potion into my hands. "You can finish it."

"Wha...?" I stared at him in confusion as he headed for the door. "Zelos! Wait!"

In response, he left the room, shutting the door behing him. I sat there in silence for a few minutes, staring at the bottle and wondering what had happened. What did I do wrong? Was Zelos mad at me?

I huffed. Fine! I could have just as much fun without him. I lifted the bottle to my lips, taking a long drink of the fiery liquid inside.

* * *

"Nnnngh..."

I stared at the plate of breakfast in front of me, my head pounding. This was probably the worst headache I'd ever had in my entire life. Why the hell had I ever agreed to such an idiotic idea? Why?

To my satisfaction, Zelos was sitting at the other end of the table, looking no better off. He was staring dully at his own plate, listlessly poking at the eggs with a fork. I really didn't feel like food, either. I had woken up this morning with a taste in my mouth that was so terrible I couldn't help but wonder if I'd eaten a dead rat at some point during the night.

"Uh...what's wrong with Brit and Zelos?" I heard Lloyd ask quietly, but everyone just seemed to shake their heads. Sheena was glaring at me.

"I'm fine," I said, glancing over at Lloyd.

"Okay..." he said, sounding unconvinced. I sighed, forcing myself to shovel down the rest of my breakfast. If I finished before everyone else, I could probably go lay down until breakfast was over.

I stood up when I was finished, running a hand through my hair. "Well...I'm gonna go get my stuff together."

Raine nodded to me. "I'll call you when we're ready to go."

With that, I headed back into my room, taking a seat on my bed. The empty bottle of Mizuho Potion was still sitting on the floor; I glared at it and kicked it under the bed where it wouldn't be noticed. Once again, I asked myself why the hell I had agreed to drinking last night, and couldn't come up with an answer.

I frowned and leaned back against the headboard. Well, it had been fun...all I could remember was our laughter and Zelos' smiling face. I had felt really good last night. But was it really worth all the trouble that followed? Now I really had to be careful with my spare bottle of potion, or all my efforts would be for nothing.

It was kind of weird, though. I'd half expected Zelos to waltz up and tease me this morning, but he hadn't said anything to me yet. Oh well...he was probably just feeling as crappy as me. I couldn't remember how much I'd had last night. Hell, I really couldn't remember much of anything at all. Not that it really mattered; I hadn't woken up naked in Zelos' bed or anything, so everything was right with the world in my view. At least now I had learned my lesson.

"Hey," a voice interrupted my thoughts, and I looked up to see Sheena standing in the doorway with her arms crossed.

I raised my eyebrows at her. The cool wood of the headboard was helping to lessen my headache, so I was a little more sociable now. "What's up?"

"Look, I know you were drinking last night." She rolled her eyes.

I faltered, stiffening. "Uh, crap...h-how'd you figure it out?"

Sheena scowled. "You came knocking at my door in the middle of the night, declared your undying love for me, and then went in the bathroom and vomited for an hour. Call me crazy, but I thought something seemed a little suspicious."

"Pfft...!" I snorted, my hands flying up to my face to stifle my laughter. Oh, god, it hurt to laugh.

"It's not funny!" she growled, shutting the door behind her. "Just what were you thinking?"

"S-Sorry..." I said, calming down after a few seconds. "I'm sorry you had to see that. But you know I do love you, right, Sheena?"

"Ugh..." She smacked her forehead. "You didn't...do anything with that idiot, did you?"

"No!" I said, sobering. "I mean, I woke up alone and fully clothed, so..."

"Do you even remember anything that happened last night?" Sheena asked, raising her eyebrows at me. I blushed a little, feeling ashamed.

"Um...no...not really," I said, sighing. "I know it was stupid. I don't even know why I did it. Trust me, Sheena, I really didn't buy the potion just so I could do something like that."

"Why'd you buy it, then?"

I bit my lip, staring at my lap. "W-Well...I was going to take some home. As a souvenir," I lied, glancing back up at her. "I thought...maybe my sister would like some, or something."

Her eyes softened a little. "Why didn't you just say that in the first place?"

"I dunno, it seemed kinda stupid," I said, laughing weakly. "I doubt I'll be able to carry the remaining bottle till the end of the journey without breaking it. But I figured I could try."

Sheena let out a heavy sigh, coming over to sit on the bed with me. "Look, you should just stop hanging around that stupid Chosen. He's just a bad influence on you."

"Oh, I don't know," I said, smiling. "He's really not so bad, Sheena. You just can't take his perversion seriously."

"He convinced you to get drunk enough to vomit, and yet you're still defending him?" Sheena asked angrily. "I don't get it. You've never hesitated to tell anyone else off! And I have a hard time believing this is all because of a stupid crush."

"It's n-not a crush," I protested feebly. "I just...like him, okay? And last night is my fault anyway. I could've said no, but I didn't."

Sheena just shook her head. I leaned over to look her in the eyes. "Please don't tell the Professor," I begged. "She'd probably skin me alive."

"I'm not telling anyone," she said, running a hand through her bangs. "I know you're not as bad as Zelos is. I was worried for a while that you'd somehow caught his stupid, but it looks like you still have some sense of responsibility left."

"I won't touch the second bottle," I said earnestly. "I promise. Okay? Are you still mad at me?"

"No," Sheena said grudgingly, turning to look at me. "Besides, that girls' night you were talking about won't be very fun if we're all ticked off at each other."

My face lit up. "Oh? I thought we'd meet some resistance. You're agreeing to it?"

She blushed a little, averting her gaze. "W-Well...! I can do girly things too! Besides, I think it'd be good for Colette. She's seemed bothered by something lately."

"You noticed that too, huh?" I frowned, troubled. I still hated how helpless I was...but if I had Sheena on board, maybe we'd be able to get Colette to have fun and forget about her illness, if only for a little while. That would at least help a little, right?

"Yeah, but she never talks about what's bothering her," Sheena said with a sigh. "Asking her won't do any good. I guess we'll just have to wait for her to bring it up on her own."

Yeah, like that was gonna happen, I thought glumly. If her secret wasn't revealed at the Iselia ranch, Colette would probably go on silently until her whole body crystallized.

"Brittany! Sheena!" Raine called. "We're heading out."

Sheena nodded to me, getting up. "Well, we'd better get going."

I stood up as well. "Hope this headache goes away soon," I groaned, following her out the door.

* * *

It took us about an hour of walking just to get to the ocean shore. Throughout the course of this hour, the Professor grew more and more pale, until I was worried she was going to fall over or something. In a way, this was worse than the washtub incident...we were spending far longer out to sea this time.

"How did things go last time on the EC?" I asked Lloyd quietly as Zelos brought the vehicle out of the wing pack. I had to gape when I saw it seemingly poof into existence; that shouldn't have been possible. It was ridiculous!

"Uh..." Lloyd grimaced a little. "I don't think the Professor was doing too good. I'm kinda worried about what will happen this time. Regal says we'll be out to sea at least a week."

"Ew..." I remarked. Seven days of not moving? The longest ride I'd ever been on was a nine hour plane ride, and I had wanted to shoot myself by the end of it! "...Well, I hope we'll be able to find something to do to occupy ourselves."

"Me too," Lloyd said, sounding about as enthusiastic about it as I was.

Sheena summoned Undine to keep the vehicle afloat, and we all got in through a hatch on the top of it. The inside of the EC wasn't exactly spacious, but it wasn't cramped, either. There were seats along the walls of it, and windows near the front. There was a steering wheel at the front as well, but apparently it was useless since Undine was the one who guided the vehicle.

And so, we set off. I was dismayed (but not surprise) to find that it was a bit of a bumpy ride. The EC wasn't streamlined to go over waves smoothly since it was a land vehicle, so once in a while we'd hit a wave the wrong way and the entire thing would jolt. The first time this happened, Raine screamed and everyone had to calm her down. It was kind of scary seeing the normally composed Professor acting like that.

Though the bumpy ride left me a little nervous. If this thing sank, this could change from Tales of Symphonia to the movie Open Water in an instant. And doesn't the chick's boyfriend get eaten by a shark in that movie? Yeah. Only this was Tethe'alla, so there was probably a deranged shark monster out there to bring a much more painful death.

The days passed by slowly. Not much worthy of note happened during the eight days we spent out to sea; we did stop on occasion to have a meal on the beach and stretch out our stiff limbs, but those moments seemed to pass all too fast. We couldn't stop too often, because every time we did, it was extremely difficult to get the Professor back into the EC.

We did everything we could to stay occupied. I must've had a lengthy conversation with everyone on the vehicle at least three times, but eventually we all ran out of things to say. For a while I tried telling stories of Earth, but even that got boring after a few days. Sometimes I just laid on the floor of the EC and tried to sleep for hours on end. But that was kind of difficult, too, because Lloyd got the same idea and often ended up kicking me in his sleep or something. I couldn't win.

On other days, went and sat on top of the EC, preferring the cool sea breeze to the stuffy interior. I usually went out to watch the sunset, but sometimes I went with Lloyd to look at the stars. Although we only spent a little over a week at sea, it felt like an eternity.

There was one thing I did determine during our time on the EC: something was up with Zelos. I had attributed his initial sullen mood to the hangover he had, but my headache faded after a day and I assumed his had too. Despite that, the redhead still acted a little strange. He still had the same obnoxious cheer, but there was something else beneath it...at least, that was what I noticed when I was talking to him.

Actually, he'd been acting distant ever since that night we'd gotten drunk. I couldn't figure out why; hadn't we had fun that night, stupid as it was? I was starting to worry that something was bothering him. But every time I tried talking to him, he would act even more perverted than usual and deflect most of the questions I asked him. Before, it had been difficult to keep up a conversation with Zelos due to how flustered I'd get from his flirting. Now, though...it was just hard to talk to him in general. Oh, well. It was probably just a phase he was going through or something. He'd forget about it soon and move on with life.

I hoped he'd get over it soon, though...it sounded silly, but I kind of missed that playful teasing of his.

On the eighth day, we stopped for the final time. Regal took a look outside via the hatch, and pointed out the mine to us. We all had to breath a collective sigh of relief; it was finally over. I really, really wasn't looking forward to the trip back.

It only took about twenty minutes of walking to reach the Toize Valley Mine. It looked like a regular cave from the outside, but when we went inside, I saw electric lights lining the walls. There was also a track running down the center of the path, probably used to guide cartfuls of Exspheres. I almost shuddered in revulsion at that thought; how could people actually dig up something like that, knowing what it would be used for?

We moved deeper in, finally arriving in a large room. There was a big, ominous metal door blocking our path, and I cringed a little. Ah, crap...and all that other machinery attached to the door was probably gonna attack us too. Okay, so that weird little contraption in front of the door was the auto repair unit-thing...it would fix the damage we did, so I'd go for that thing first.

"Wow! So this is that sealed mine!" Zelos remarked. "It looks like it might house a ghost or two, don't you think? Hmm?" He glanced around at everyone, grinning.

"Argh! Will you just be quiet for a little while?" Sheena growled, putting a hand to her forehead as if she had a headache. I snorted at Zelos' remark, but he didn't acknowledge me; he just gave the ninja a pouty look.

"What's with you? Don't get mad, Sheena."

"...This isn't good," Regal noted quietly, stepping forward with his eyes slightly narrowed.

"What's wrong?" I asked, not wanting to think about Zelos right now. Regal just shook his head.

"The door's guard system is out of control," he replied, gesturing to the machinery before us. I noticed now that it had started moving of its own accord, and some parts of it were letting out sparks, as if it had been damaged somehow.

"Someone must have destroyed it when trying to force their way through," he continued.

"Is there some way to repair it?" Raine asked. Regal frowned thoughtfully.

"There might be a way, but it would be time consuming and risky...and there is still no guarantee the door will open for it afterwards."

"Why don't we just bust it up more, then?" Lloyd suggested.

Zelos grinned, drawing his sword. "Now that's an easy to understand plan! Sounds good to me!"

Sheena shrugged, getting out her cards. "Well, I guess that would get us in faster."

"Um...if Lloyd says so, it's fine with me," Colette added uncertainly.

"...Are you guys sure about this?" Genis raised his eyebrows.

I stretched, pulling Kerberos out of its sheath. "Ah, well...what's the worst that could happen?"

"Honestly..." Raine sighed, facepalming, as Regal gave us all a strange look.

Lloyd was the first to move in. He ran up, immediately using Demon Fang on the door. A red light flashed on the door, and suddenly an enormous metal arm was slamming down on to the spot where Lloyd had just been standing. He'd managed to dodge just in time.

"That's the worst that could happen!" Genis pointed out with exasperation, as several other metal arms came down and attempted to squish Lloyd like a bug.

"Oh...uh, crap," I said, paling.

"Genis, cast a lightning-type spell. Perhaps we can try short-circuiting it," Raine commanded, and Genis didn't waste any time. He immediately launched into casting Thunder Blade. Meanwhile, Regal and the others had run forward in an attempt to help.

I heaved a sigh. Well, I didn't know what effect my sword would have on metal, but it looked like I was about to find out...I readied Kerberos, lunging straight for the auto-repair mechanism and hoping for the best.

* * *

**A/N: Oh yeah, gotta love Lloyd's beat-everything-up strategy. :D I had fun writing all the character development in here. And yeah, that girls' night is totally happening. Dunno when yet, but it's gonna happen! -is determined-**

** So, not much else to say. The next chapter will probably be mostly Toize Valley Mine. After that...well, we'll see. :D**

** Next time: Gnomelette! Hey, losers!**


	43. Quest for Inhibitor Ore!

**A/N: Whew... I did it! Par-tay!**

**I really don't know what to say. XD This took me a while. Stupid Toize Valley Mine. Anyway, hurray for updates! enjoy~**

**Disclaimer! Do not ownnnn!**

Halfway through my mad dash into danger, I had a rare moment of rational thought. Hey, maybe trying to slice through metal was, I don't know, utterly insane! Maybe I was a complete idiot for even deciding to give it a try.

"Hell Pyre!" I yelled, deciding to go a different route. I twisted through the air, slinging the ball of fiery mana down my sword and into the repair unit.

My efforts caused several sparks to fly from the machine. It looked charred now, but it still seemed to be functioning. Maybe I could just spam Hell Pyre until it broke down?

"Angel Feathers!" I heard Colette yell, and several lights streaked past me to beat back a metal arm that had been aiming for Sheena.

I frowned, attempting to focus once more on the auto repair unit. It was glowing, which probably meant it was still fixing up the parts that the others broke down. I lifted Kerberos, my arms already aching from its unfamiliar weight, and prepared to attack once more.

Regal beat me to it. He ran past me before I even realized what was happening, swinging one leg around with a surprising amount of speed. "Spin Kick!"

The metal of his greave connected hard with the machine, and the brute force of it caused the part he hit to break almost completely off. The repair unit started sparking even more and emitting smoke; a piece of it dangled close to the floor, connected only by a few thin red wires. It stopped glowing.

"...Damn," was all I could manage at that moment, giving Regal an impressed look. Oh yeah, he was definitely my new meat shield.

He didn't seem to hear me; his head snapped up as he stared at something over my shoulder. "Behind you!"

"Eh?" I swung around, alarmed, only to see one of those enormous metal arms coming straight at me. There was no time to dodge. My eyes widened as I attempted to think of a solution fast. When no ideas came, I acted purely on reflex; I threw my arms up, held Kerberos out in a blocking position, and yelled "Guardian!"

The shield came up in the nick of time. When the guard system's arm hit, I felt almost like I'd been punched in the stomach. The light of my mana wavered for a moment, but it stayed up just long enough to thrown the metal arm off course slightly.

I managed to move to the side just enough to dodge the hit. Then I steeled myself, watching as the arm hit the floor hard enough to leave a large dent. I lunged forward and swung Kerberos hard.

"Heavy Tiger Blade!" The sword glowed slightly with mana as I came down for the second swing, and I realized with surprise that I was actually doing a decent amount of damage. Encouraged, I continued my barrage, going in for another Tiger Blade.

I saw a flash of purple from the corner of my eye, and noticed that Sheena was jumping up towards the base of the metal arm.

"Pyre Seal!" she yelled, and the weakened arm broke right off, colliding with another arm and damaging the system further.

The repair unit began glowing again, but Regal gave it another good kick and it stopped. Meanwhile, Raine had cast Ray, wreaking more havoc on the guard system as Lloyd hacked away with his swords.

"Burn, baby! Eruption!" That was Zelos. His attack hit the door itself dead on.

Suddenly the arms stopped moving with coordination; they sparked and began to smoke. I heard a strange mechanical whirring coming from the door. After a few tense seconds, everything just froze.

"Whew...I think it's busted," Sheena said with a sigh.

"Aw, yeah! You ever need something taken care of, call the Great Zelos!" The redhead cheered.

"Oh, shut up! All you did was take the last hit!" Sheena snapped.

"Regardless," Raine cut in, exasperated, "we should get moving."

"Yeah! Presea needs our help!" Genis added.

"The door should open now, correct?" The Professor turned to Regal, who looked a bit taken aback. I smirked a little; he'd been mumbling something about us being violent.

Finally, Regal nodded slowly. "...I would assume the mechanism that holds the door shut is now broken."

"So we should be able to pry the thing open, right?" Zelos asked, smiling. "Got it! C'mon, Bud, let's get to work."

"Huh?" Lloyd looked confused, but he was already being dragged over to the doors.

We watched as the two of them wedged their swords in the crack between the doors, maneuvering them to pry the doors apart from each other. I watched them work, my head slightly tilted. Zelos and Lloyd seemed to be getting along fine...was it just me he was being distant to? I didn't know, but it bugged me.

After a few minutes, the doors were open fully and we could all pass deeper into the mine.

As with almost everything else, it was different than I remembered. Bigger. I was sure that if I'd been left here alone, I wouldn't have been able to find my way around. Thankfully we had Regal, who probably knew this place like the back of his hand. It was nice being friends with important people sometimes.

Fluorescent lights lined the walls and brightened the path ahead of us. They seemed to be reaching the end of their days; some were dim, and some flickered as we passed. Regardless, they still cast that same harsh light I'd grown so accustomed to seeing in fluorescents, making our skin look too pale and casting shadows that were too dark.

"What's that noise?" Lloyd questioned after a few minutes of walking.

Regal opened his mouth to reply, but I beat him to it. "It's the lights."

"The lights?" If anything, he grew more puzzled at this.

I shrugged. "Fluorescents. They always hum."

Regal cleared his throat, and we all looked over to him. "Brittany is correct; it is the lights. Fluorescent lights have a part called a ballast that is used to control the amount of electric current flowing into the bulb. This always creates a humming noise to some degree, though it's worse in lights like this than those designed for home use."

I clapped my hands, grinning. "Wow. You learn something new every day."

"Fascinating," Zelos remarked dully from somewhere to my right. I glanced over at him; he was walking some distance behind Sheena and staring intently at her butt. Maybe his little comment hadn't been directed at our conversation after all.

After a few minutes of walking, a worn track came into view. We followed it deeper into the mine. These tracks...were they used to carry cartfuls of Expheres? An image appeared in my mind at that thought: Hundreds upon hundreds of dark stones in a cart...hundreds of human lives waiting to be taken. It was kind of gruesome to think of the potential just one Exsphere had. At first they seemed like harmless gems, but knowledge of the truth transformed them into repulsive things. Though the Exspheres themselves weren't at fault...it was the cruelty of those that used them.

I found myself fingering my own Exsphere uneasily as we ventured deeper. Eventually the passageway we were in ended, giving way to an enormous room full of lifts and conveyor belts and various other forms of machinery. It was a little startling to see them running on their own, but then I remembered Regal explaining that it was an automated mine; the machines were programmed to run on their own.

Just as I had this thought, Regal began explaining it a second time-or, well, first time. I hadn't heard it in real life before. Rather than hear about something I was already aware of, I continued my examination of the room.

Ah...this place I recognized. We were up on a high ledge, and below was a large rocky area with mining tools scattered about. This area could be accessed via elevator, but the elevator was installed on a different ledge on the far end of the room. A moving platform provided transportation to either of two ledges; one had the elevator and a sealed gate, and the other had what seemed to be a passageway. Yup, all was as it should be.

"Okay, so where do we go from here?" Sheena asked.

Regal looked around, frowning a little. Then he led us over to where the moving platform was. "If we use this, we should be able to make it to that passage," he replied, gesturing ahead of us.

That was when I noticed that although the platform had railings, they were just under waist-high. It also moved absurdly fast, stopping for only about ten seconds at each end before whizzing over to the other side. Oddly enough, I was reminded of a subway car; the mechanism on the platform even emitted that same buzzing noise that alerted you when the car doors were about to close.

The platform came to a stop at our end, and everyone shuffled on...except for me, of course.

"Uh, I'll stay here-" I started, but then three pairs of arms reached out, grabbing me by my coat and yanking me forward into the middle of the group. Raine slid the gate shut as Lloyd and Sheena kept me from bolting, and suddenly the platform was moving and I was clinging to the ninja for dear life.

"D-D'you mind?" Sheena griped, holding the railing with one hand as she tried to fend me off with the other.

"I need someone to hold on to! You guys are hogging the edges!" I whined, my voice cracking a little due to nervousness.

"I've got you, Brittany!" Colette said cheerfully, hanging on to one of my arms.

Lloyd and Genis exchanged a look and rolled their eyes. I stuck my tongue out at them, inwardly resisting the urge to cling to Regal. He looked about as stable as a freaking statue.

Instead, I stood between Colette and Sheena and did my best to stare at my feet, because looking at our surroundings rushing past us would probably just make me nauseous. Raine was the opposite; I could see her moving continually from one end of the car to the other, looking like a kid at Disneyland as she examined the different aspects of the machinery.

One glance at Zelos reminded me of being in a subway all over again. He was gripping the railing with one hand, staring indifferently ahead and not looking particularly approachable. My first thought was that he looked exactly like almost every person that rode the subway on a regular basis. My second thought was a little more troubled: something might actually be wrong here. Something was clearly bothering Zelos, and from the way he'd been acting, I was the last person he wanted to talk to about it-but I seemed to be the only person who had noticed. So what, then? He was just gonna bottle it up? Dammit.

The platform came to a sudden halt, and I stored that thought away for later use as I was nearly thrown face-first into Sheena's breasts. That DID get a large grin out of Zelos. No matter what happens, I guess some things never change.

"This is why I told you to cut it out in the first place!" the ninja grumbled, her face beet red as we trudged in the direction of the passageway.

"I can't be held responsible for my actions when you force me to face my fear of heights!" I declared, marching on ahead so I wouldn't get smacked.

Since I already had a good idea of where the passage would lead, I didn't mind walking at the head of the group. That was, until I turned a corner and almost walked right into an enormous boulder.

"Um...Houston, we have a problem," I remarked, pointing at it.

"Hmm...I see." Regal nodded, considering this.

"What's 'Houston'?" Lloyd asked.

"The name of my cat," I answered randomly since I didn't feel like explaining.

"...Your cat."

"Yup."

"Do I want to know?"

I shrugged. "Do you?"

Genis smacked his forehead. "Lloyd, you know how this goes already."

"You named your cat, eh?" Zelos couldn't refrain from making a comment here; when I looked over, he had a wide smirk on his face. Though there was still a different quality to it, somehow...

Colette didn't get it. "Of course she named her kitty! Who doesn't name their pets?"

This seemed like the perfect opportunity for another sexual innuendo, but with Zelos staring at me like that, I suddenly didn't feel like joking. My eyebrows drew together. Yeah, there was definitely something different...it was almost like he wasn't teasing. Was he intentionally trying to be a jerk? I found myself feeling more disgusted than embarrassed, and I turned away from him.

"Whatever," I muttered, going to stand beside Genis.

Meanwhile, I had missed part of an exchange between Raine and Regal, neither of whom had any desire to listen to our meaningless banter. Now I paused to listen.

"...and with that, we should be able clear this out of the way," Regal said.

"Are you certain it won't collapse the passage?" Raine asked, looking a bit concerned.

The convict shook his head. "The dynamite was designed for this purpose. It's not nearly powerful enough to damage the structure of the mine to the point of it collapsing."

"You seem to know a lot about this mine," the Professor remarked after a pause. "How is that?"

Regal closed his eyes. "...I am a convict. I've been sent here to work many times in the past."

"So wait," Lloyd piped up, "we're gonna blow stuff up?"

"That's the gist of it, yeah," Sheena replied.

The brunet grinned. "Awesome!"

"Settle down, bud," Zelos said casually, ruffling Lloyd's hair.

"H-Hey! Cut it out!"

"...Is it just me, or has he been acting even more idiotic than usual?" Genis muttered to me, nodding his head towards Zelos.

"You noticed it too?" Man...I really wished I could figure out what was up.

"Well, yeah," the boy said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. He glanced over at me. "How come you're not over there being an idiot with him?"

"Dunno," I said distractedly, totally missing the idiot comment.

Genis raised his eyebrows. "Did you two...fight, or something?"

"...Dunno."

"What do you mean, you don't know?"

I shrugged, and Genis just looked aggravated. But I honestly didn't know, and I wasn't in the mood to discuss it when I wasn't sure what to do about it myself.

Anyway, from the looks of it, we were about to put some dynamite to use. There were a few sticks of it sitting in a box near the mouth of the passage, and Regal had gone over to grab them. Apparently we wouldn't be using the Sorcerer's Ring here for anything other than lighting the fuse. Then again, it didn't make sense for the mine to rely on the ring for explosives anyway; it wasn't like Sorcerer's Rings were very common. The one we had was the only one I knew of...they'd have to hike on over to a different Tales game if they wanted another one. Heh.

When Regal came back, Raine held out the ring and used it to ignite each fuse. Then we set the explosives down near the boulder and ran like hell. Then there was an explosion, heat, and an acrid scent in the air. When I turned to take a look, I saw that the boulder had been reduced to rubble.

The next few minutes were spent clearing the debris away to create a path. While the others were busy with this, I walked over and loaded a few sticks of dynamite into my bag in case we encountered anything else blocking the path later on. Hey, it never hurts to think ahead.

Once the path was mostly clear, we continued onward down the passageway. It gradually widened until it finally opened up into a room even larger than the last. This one was full of uneven terrain; a raised pathway ran between countless pits and holes. Some had mining equipment scattered within while others seemed to be empty. At the other end of the room was the route we needed to take, the one that led down to the inhibitor ore.

The path we were currently on branched out in many different directions. Regal took the lead and nobody seemed to object. We followed, trusting him to lead us over stable ground. I watched my feet carefully as I walked, having no desire to slip and fall into a pit.

Eventually we made it to the other end of the room. Lloyd confidently strode forward now that there was a single path to follow again, but Regal immediately reached forward and grabbed him by the collar.

"Wait," he said, his voice tense. Lloyd's foot nudged a panel on the path ahead just before he was yanked backwards, and suddenly a huge boulder had fallen to the floor in front of us. Sheena and I let out a cry of surprise and we all stumbled back, watching with shock as the boulder rolled down the path before plummeting over a ledge and hitting the ground below with a resounding crash.

There were a few seconds of heavy silence in which we all exchanged looks. Then Regal cleared his throat loudly.

"...I had almost forgotten," he said. "That is a trap designed to stop intruders."

"A little extreme, isn't it?" I let out a shaky breath, and then added in a mutter, "What is this, an Indiana Jones movie?"

Lloyd gave me a curious look, but then turned his attention back to the path in front of us. "There're panels like that almost all the way down the path. We can't just step over it..."

"Do you know how to pass without triggering it?" Raine asked.

Regal frowned thoughtfully, staring at a smashed bit of machinery hanging from the wall next to us. "There was a control panel here that we could use, but it seems to be broken. The only other way to deactivate it is to use the switch on the wall over there." He pointed to said switch, which was at the end of the pathway the boulder had rolled down.

"...So in other words, one of us has to run like hell down that path and try to hit the switch without being reduced to pancake form via enormous rolling boulder," Zelos said helpfully, his arms crossed.

"Not it," I said, raising one hand.

"Wait, wait, we can't do that," Sheena protested. "It's way too dangerous."

"Then what do we do?" Genis asked

"Hmm..." Unfortunately, even Regal seemed stumped on this one.

"Hey, you losers!"

"What the...?" Lloyd frowned, and everyone began looking around for the source of the voice. I was the only one that knew to look down.

Holy crap, a gnomelette. He was really, er...tiny. And he wore a cute little blue hat, too. There wasn't really any good way to describe him; he looked like a Harvest Sprite or something. Wrong game, you little creep!

"...What is it?" Genis wondered aloud, bewildered.

The gnomelette instantly bristled. "Whaddaya mean, 'what is it'? Watch it, kid!"

"It's not very civilized..." Lloyd muttered.

"Fascinating..." Raine murmured, leaning closer. "It matches the descriptions I've read completely! This must be a gnomelette! To see one in person, like this..."

The little gnomelette grinned, winking. "Wanna see more, lady? Come as close as you want."

"Hey! Get away from my sister!" Genis raged.

"He's so cute!" Colette added happily.

"Hey, uh, guys? Don't we have more important things to be doing?" Zelos asked aloud, and was ignored. He just rolled his eyes, turning away. "Fine then. Guess not."

I almost opened my mouth to speak up for Zelos, but closed it when I remembered how he'd been acting lately. Ugh...everything was just so awkward. Instead, I just turned to the new arrival.

"What's a, uh...a gnomelette doing in a place like this?" I asked.

He turned to me. "I'm on a journey to find and eat some potion."

"...Eat potion." Lloyd just stared blankly.

"Yeah, loser. Don't you know what potion is?"

"I'm pretty sure you don't eat it," the brunet shot back, facepalming.

"You losers give me some potion, and I'll flip that switch over there," the gnomelette said. "No potion, no flip. And you guys get squashed by a big rock."

"He does seem light enough that he won't trigger the mechanism," Regal ruminated.

"But that's crazy! Who just carries around potion like-" Genis cut himself off halfway through his statement, and he glanced over at me. I was already digging through my bag.

After a second of this, I pulled out the bottle and held it out to the gnomelette. "Mizuho Potion. Here you go," I said proudly. My ability to think ahead had saved all our asses! This was alllll me, baby!

"Is that potion? Let me see!" He snatched the bottle out of my hands and stuck the neck of it in his mouth. It cracked under the pressure of what looked like surprisingly strong jaws, and then there was the loud crunching noise of the gnomelette eating the bottle as streams of potion flowed into his mouth. Okay, that was a little weird.

Rather than focusing on the bizarre scene in front of me, I took a moment to bask in my own moment of glory. I had put up with the others thinking I was a drunk, and it had paid off in the end. Well...except for the whole Zelos thing. But I shoudn't have let him persuade me to drink in the first place...

"Is he seriously eating the bottle...?" Lloyd gaped.

"Wow, hunny. You happened to have a bottle of potion left? That's pretty convenient." Zelos grinned, putting an arm around my shoulders, but even the gesture didn't seem the same. And I knew that tone of voice...it was the same tone he'd used when he had been asking me about what happened back in Sybak with Genis and Raine. Was he actually suspicious, or just trying to start something? It was getting harder and harder to tell.

"I would've had both if a certain incident hadn't happened," I muttered to him, and couldn't keep the contempt out of my voice. Was I mad at him? For a while it had seemed one-sided, but now I wasn't so sure. That smirk of his had a derisive quality to it and it was really pissing me off.

The others were too busy gawking to notice our little exchange. I shrugged off Zelos' arm and stepped away from him just as the gnomelette finished crunching down the last of the bottle. There was a puddle of potion on the ground in front of him when he finished; I was pretty sure he'd only gotten in a few sips of the actual drink between each mouthful of glass.

"Is that all?" the gnomelette said, frowning. "Lame! It doesn't taste like anything! This was a waste of time!"

"You still have to keep up your end of the bargain," Raine pointed out.

"Fine," he huffed, marching down the path. "But you losers owe me!"

"...How do we owe him?" Lloyd looked like he was getting a headache.

After a second, we heard a loud click as the gnomelette jumped up and pressed down on the switch.

"That's it," Regal said, nodding. "It should be safe now."

"I'm going home now!" the gnomelette called from the other end of the room. "Later, losers!"

"Bye!" Colette was the only one that waved.

"Man...what was that all about?" Genis sighed, rubbing his forehead. "I can't believe it ate the whole bottle."

"Well, good thing Brittany had that potion!" Lloyd smiled at me.

"Either way, we should keep going," Raine said. "The inhibitor ore isn't much farther, is it?"

Regal shook his head. "No. If I'm remembering correctly, it should be in the next room."

And so, we continued onward. I was a bit relieved that we were almost finished with our task here, but then I remembered what was supposed to happen next and suddenly the mine looked a lot more inviting. Ozette...bad things were going to happen in Ozette. Like Colette being captured. Crap.

"Whoa...what's that thing?"

Lloyd pointed ahead of us when we turned the corner. Oh look, a spinning white...block thing. Riiiight.

"That's a Naploosa Bacura," Regal explained.

The Professor gasped. "You can't mean the great Professor Naploosa's...?"

"The very same," he confirmed, nodding. Then he looked over at the rest of us. "It's a device made of concentrated mana in physical form. Normal attacks won't have any effect."

"So it's another security measure," I said, crossing my arms. "How do we get rid of it?"

"Well..." Regal paused to think. "If we could hit it with a powerful impact..."

A lightbulb seemed to turn on in Lloyd's head, because he instantly looked excited. "So we lure it over here and let the boulder hit it!"

"Yes, that's what I was thinking," the convict agreed. "One of us would have to hit the switch and trigger the trap."

"But then they could get hit with the boulder too," Sheena pointed out.

"I vote Zelos," Genis piped up.

"Can it, brat," came the retort.

I just rolled my eyes. "I think we're forgetting that one of us has wings."

"Oh!" Lloyd smacked his forehead. "Why didn't we think of that in the first place? We wouldn't have needed help from that gnome thing!"

"I'm sorry," Colette murmured. "I should've said something. But he seemed to want a potion so bad..."

"It's okay, you dork," the brunet laughed.

I frowned a little. Fine, so I hadn't saved everyone's asses. But still! They'd thank me at the Temple of Earth later!

"Right, so...I just lure the Bacura over, hit the switch, and fly away," Colette said, nodding.

"Uh, guys?" Zelos spoke up. We looked over, and he was pointing behind us-the Bacura had been slowly creeping up on us as we spoke.

"Move away from it! It will attack if it gets close enough!" Regal warned us, and we all hurriedly backed up the path in an attempt to flee.

"Wh-Whoa!" That was the sound of Colette tripping right into the switch, conveniently at the exact same time that Sheena stepped on to one of the panels.

"Oh, crap!" I screamed, seeing the boulder coming down.

We all rushed to the wider part of the path, standing so close to the edge that our heels were hanging over empty air. The boulder rolled down the path and for a moment I thought we were all going to be crushed. Then it came by so close that I felt a gust of wind as it passed, and in less than a second it was crashing into the pit below.

I stumbled over to the wall, gasping, as everyone else just stood there in a shocked silence.

"...Oh, man," Zelos finally said. "I think I saw my life flash before my eyes."

"Oops," Colette remarked quietly.

"The Bacura's gone," Sheena pointed out.

Everyone fell silent again. Slowly, we walked over to the edge where the boulder had fallen and looked down. It was a little hard to tell because of all the debris down there, but yes, I saw some white down there. Jagged white shapes...like pieces of a shattered dinner plate. That thing was busted, all right.

"Well..." Lloyd broke the silence. "I guess that worked out pretty well."

"Yeah, remember the part where we almost died?" I added from the back, and was elbowed hard by Sheena.

"Whatever," she huffed. "The path's open now, right? Let's just go."

Regal nodded, seeming to compose himself. "The inhibitor ore is just ahead."

We made our way down the path and past the point where the Bacura had once been. I had to take a few deep breaths to quell my adrenaline rush; seeing that boulder rush past us had nearly given me a heart attack. Colette's clumsiness had helped us that time too, but I really could've done without the scare. Seriously, it would've been pathetic to die like that after everything else we had been through.

In the next area we entered, I immediately noticed the sound of rushing water. After a few seconds of walking, a waterfall came into view.

"Wow, look!" Colette pointed, smiling.

It was pretty interesting to see a waterfall in a place like this. The room was significantly colder than the others had been, mostly due to the mist surrounding us. The water reflected the harsh glare of the fluorescents; the contrast of light and darkness created an interesting black-and-white effect on the rippling surface of the water below.

The steady hum was absent in this room...or maybe it was being drowned out by the sound of the waterfall. I glanced over and noticed that the fluorescents here were encased in some sort of glass or plastic. Aha, that was to prevent the mist from getting in and rusting the parts. Smart Brittany is smart.

"Don't lag behind," I heard the Professor call from up ahead, and realized that I had been falling back alongside Lloyd and Colette. Those two had been looking at the waterfall while I had been zoning out. Now I hurriedly caught up to the others.

At long last, we came down into an area with lots and lots of wooden boxes. A fair amount of them were discarded in one corner, rotted and falling apart. Hmm, yet another effect from the water in this room. All of the sturdier looking boxes were stacked around everywhere else, full of various things from ores to dirt to tools.

"Inhibitor ore?" I asked, pulling a random yellow looking stone from one of the boxes.

"That's just a rock," Lloyd said to me.

"...You're a rock," I mumbled, pouting.

He rolled his eyes, choosing to ignore me, and turned to Regal. "So this is where the ore is, right?"

"That's correct," Regal said, nodding. "This is where it's mined."

"So where is it?" Genis asked. "In these boxes?"

The older man gave the area a cursory glance and frowned. "Some other materials seem to have been placed here as well. There should be some left over in one of the boxes, but it seems we'll have to search for it."

"Oh, awesome," Zelos remarked, "a scavenger hunt."

"What the hell's up with you lately?" Sheena snapped all of a sudden, glaring at the redhead. "You're being even more irritating than usual."

Zelos grinned. "I was getting lonely since you hadn't acknowledged me in a while, melons! But it's all okay now, don't you worry."

"Idiot! I don't know why I even try," the ninja huffed, pausing just long enough to smack him before stomping over to the other end of the group.

"Uh..." Lloyd tried feebly to pretend he hadn't seen the exchange. "So...So we should look through some boxes, right?"

"That's the gist of it, Bud," Zelos confirmed, his grin fading a little. "But man...that's a real pain, huh? I don't feel like going through all these boxes."

"Blow 'em up?" I suggested, calling forth what I remembered from the game.

"We can't do that!" Genis protested. "We'll just destroy the ore!"

"Hey, I'm just sayin' stuff..." I held two hands up defensively and saw several people facepalm in reply.

"I wish we could," Lloyd grumbled. "Isn't there some way we can get this done faster?"

Raine sighed, shaking her head. "We'll just have to split up and each take a different section of boxes."

"Okay!" Colette replied, not seeming to mind at all. "I'll take these boxes over here."

She walked over to a pile of boxes. The rest of us did the same, and the search began. According to Lloyd, raw inhibitor ore looked a lot like gold, so it should be easy to spot. Anyone who thought they had found something worth looking at would call him over.

The task had originally seemed pretty daunting, but with seven of us it wasn't so bad. Most of the stuff in the boxes I chose was either rocks or minerals of some kind, but I didn't see anything that even remotely resembled gold. The work was pretty tedious, especially with Zelos whining off in one corner. I found myself wanting to tear him a new one. Seriously, I was starting to understand why Sheena acted the way she did.

"Lloyd! Is this it?" Genis called after what seemed like hours of searching. Both Lloyd and Regal walked over, and they confirmed that the rock Genis was holding was indeed inhibitor ore.

"Finally," I muttered sighing.

"Now we can save Presea!" Colette added.

"Yeah," Lloyd said. "Now all I need to do is prepare this. I just have to do the same thing I did with Brittany's Key Crest."

"You'll just be carving the charm directly into the ore," Raine remarked, and received a nod in return.

"It should be good enough for now...but I think we should get a dwarf to make a real one for both Brit and Presea later on."

"How long will this take?" Regal asked.

"I want to make sure it holds, so probably an hour at the most," Lloyd replied. "I'll try to be quick. Is that okay?"

"Not like we have any other option," I spoke up. "Have at it, Lloydie."

Lloyd nodded, and we all spread out as he got out his carving knives and began work on the raw ore. I had to say, he was pretty damn good if he could manage to carve intricate runes into something taken directly out of the ground. Even if it wasn't a perfect Key Crest, he still did a nice job regardless.

"So," I said, sitting down next to Raine, "we go back to Ozette and give the Key Crest to Presea. Then what?"

"Hmm..." Raine paused, thinking. "The next logical step would be to go back to Sylvarant. That means we'll be making a pact with the summon spirit of lightning, Volt."

"But we'll need the Rheairds first."

She nodded. "Yes. And we still don't know where they are. I suppose we'll go back to Mizuho and see if there have been any developments, then."

"Right," I said, nodding.

"...Brittany," Raine said after a pause, suddenly turning to give me a serious look.

"Yeah?" I resisted the urge to inch away from her. I didn't like that look.

The Professor frowned. "The Rheairds...are likely still in the custody of Yuan. I'm sure we'll be encountering the Renegades again soon."

"Probably," I said, a little confused. "What about it?"

"Yuan is the one who told you about how you arrived here, as well as Yggdrasill's true intentions. Correct?" I nodded, and she continued. "He has also expressed a desire to keep you from Cruxis and possibly take you into custody."

My brow furrowed. "You mean, like, capture me? When did he say that?"

"On Mount Fooji," Raine replied.

"Oh," I said, remembering. "That's what he told Pronyma...that he'd take custody of the host body or something like that. I think he was just trying to hide that he was after Lloyd, though."

"Regardless...you aren't planning to join Yuan at any point, are you?" The Professor gave me a stern look.

I blinked, surprised. "Uh...no. He's a di-I mean, he's a jerk. And I'm pretty sure he finds me really irritating. So I really doubt anything like that will happen."

Raine nodded. "I see."

"...Why would you ask that, though?" I gave her a puzzled look.

She closed her eyes. "I'm sure Yuan is far more informed than we are. It's just a choice I thought you may be considering."

"You trust me, don't you?" I asked uncertainly. "No...don't answer that. I don't think anyone trusts me after-"

"I do trust you," Raine said immediately, meeting my gaze. "But you're hiding something. Perhaps you don't think it's important or something we need to know, or maybe it's another thing you think we won't believe, but I know either way. There's something you're not telling us."

I couldn't look at her. I just felt...cold. It was eerie how right she was...

"...But you trust me," I murmured.

"Yes. I've seen you suffer and sacrifice for the sake of this group, and I have faith in you," the Professor said. "But please try to heed my advice. All this secret can do is hurt you."

"It already hurts," I said with a bitter little laugh. "I'm...I'm sorry. But thanks for trusting me either way. You don't know how much that means to me."

"Take care not to betray that trust," Raine warned.

I bit my lip. "I won't. I promise."

I said that, and yet I continually lied...but I really was doing my best! I had reasons behind what I did. It wasn't like I had malicious intentions or anything. I was just doing what I could to survive and to help the others survive. Even if that meant hiding things every now and then.

Raine got up to talk to Genis after that, and I found myself sitting in silence. Sheena was talking to Corrine and sitting near the bridge that led past the waterfall. Colette was having a conversation with Regal, the latter of whom looked rather bemused. I could only imagine what the blonde was going on about this time. Chats with Colette usually were on the funny side.

Zelos was, like myself, sitting alone. That was odd...usually he'd go butt into somebody's conversation with an obnoxious remark. I had been half expecting him to go bug Sheena, but he didn't. He just...sat there. And it looked like he was brooding about something. Zelos brooding? The world was about to end.

Go sit next to him, Brittany. Go talk to him. See what's up. Ask him why he's been acting so strange lately, and get things back to normal.

...I couldn't. I just couldn't. I really wasn't in the mood to talk to Zelos right now, with how he'd been acting...if he just shrugged off my question with an obnoxious remark, I had a feeling I'd snap at him and make things worse. Maybe I needed some time to cool off myself before talking to him. Yeah, that was it.

So, I continued to sit alone. And after a while of staring off at nothing in particular, Lloyd finally stood up and announced that he was finished. It was time to head back to Ozette.

Not much of interest occurred on our way back out. We didn't get crushed by any rolling boulders, so I guess there was that to be thankful for. The gnomelette was long gone and I didn't find any more uses for those sticks of dynamite I had grabbed. I didn't bother putting them back, though; I was sure I'd find a nice use for them later on. Maybe I could blow Yggdrasill's face off.

When we were making our way towards the gate, however, I saw a very familiar (and ugly) figure standing there. He was talking to a few knights, looking around.

"...No good," he said in a husky voice. "No Exspheres around here, either..."

"Vharley!" Regal spat, his eyes wide with shock.

The man turned around, frowning at us. "Regal? Huh. So you're the one that destroyed the guard system outside."

"What's the Exsphere broker doing here?" Zelos wondered aloud, his brow furrowed slightly. He didn't exactly look happy to see Vharley either.

"Exsphere broker...?" Lloyd's eyes narrowed.

"Why are you here?" Regal asked, stepping forward and clenching his fists. I had never seen him look so angry; it reminded me of the looks Kratos had given Kvar. "Why has the Pope let you remain free? That's not what I agreed to!"

Vharley laughed; it was an ugly, hoarse sound. "Did you really think the Pope would keep a promise to a murderer? You didn't even keep your side of the bargain and bring us the Sylvaranti Chosen! You joined with them instead!"

"Silence!" Regal growled. "If the Pope will not fulfill his promise, then I will punish you myself!"

The other man visibly balked at that. I would be nervous too if Regal was giving me looks like that.

"No way," Vharley said, immediately turning. "I'm getting out of here!" He fled, with the two knights following close behind. It wasn't worth following him; we had more important things to do, and Regal seemed to know it. The convict stared at the floor, looking like he was trying to calm himself down.

"Who is that man, Regal?" Colette asked after a pause.

"He called you a murderer..." Genis murmured.

Regal closed his eyes. "I am a prisoner serving time for the crime of murder. I won't blame you if you look down on me."

"What happened?" Lloyd asked.

"Explaining would be an excuse. I committed a crime. That's all that needs to be said."

That caused everyone to fall into a brooding silence. Finally, Lloyd stepped forward and looked Regal in the eyes.

"I've killed a lot of people with my own stupid actions," he said, clenching his fists slightly. "I know whatever you did won't just go away...but if you're suffering, it's all right to say so."

Regal looked away. "...I apologize. Perhaps someday I will have the chance to tell the story, but..."

"It's okay," Lloyd said, nodding. "We won't push you. Anyway, let's get out of here."

"Yeah," Sheena said quietly, her eyes downcast.

We made our way out of the mine in silence. The sky was a beautiful blue outside; the beautiful day almost seemed to be mocking us. Everyone was at least a little down after learning the nature of Regal's crime.

"Um...Regal?" I saw Genis fall in step with the man just as I had been getting ready to speak. He stared at the grass as we walked. "I...I understand."

Regal frowned. "What do you understand?"

"I'm a murderer, too," Genis explained. "I've...killed lots of people."

"We all have," I spoke up. "It was mostly Desians, but that doesn't change anything. People are people, regardless of their race or beliefs." After a moment, I let out a sigh. "It'd be wrong for us to get all high and mighty on you when we're really not all that different."

"Yeah," the half-elf agreed. "I don't know what happened, or why you did it, but...I won't judge you for it."

"...I see," Regal said quietly. "Thank you."

Then we plunged back into that same brooding silence for pretty much the rest of the way back to the ocean shore. But something had changed; Genis was looking at Regal in a new light. There was no more of that childish dislike and jealousy. It was just as Genis had said-he understood. It was unfair that someone so young should understand something like that, but that's how it was. He was twelve and he understood what it was like to take a life.

It took another week out to sea before we were finally within sight of Ozette. Seeing the town again was like a blessing and a curse all at the same time; I was going to kill myself if I had to endure another eventless day, and yet I wasn't exactly looking forward to what would now inevitably happen. I still hadn't come up with any brilliant plans and it was driving me crazy.

I still hadn't figured out the thing with Zelos either, but that seemed less and less important compared to the problem at hand. By the time we had returned to Ozette, I was feeling pretty panicked. Okay...what to do, then? What to do, what to do...

"Let's find Presea," Regal said as we walked into town. "We shouldn't waste any more time."

"Hold on." Lloyd had stopped near the back of the group. He was frowning at the inhibitor ore in his hand. "Let me make a few last-minute adjustments, okay? I want to make sure it works until we get her to a real dwarf."

"All right," Raine said, nodding. "We'll head up to the inn and get dinner started in the meantime. We can take the Key Crest to her whenever you're ready, Lloyd."

I found myself holding back a sigh of relief at this. I knew it was only postponing what was bound to happen, but it gave me more time to think, at the very least.

We all went up to the inn and got ourselves settled. Lloyd worked on the Key Crest all through dinner, which made me wonder if it had even been close to finished in the first place. Then it occurred to me that Lloyd might be nervous-nervous that it wouldn't work. Maybe it was because Colette's hadn't at first...I didn't know. He was probably feeling inadequate because he wasn't a dwarf and didn't possess the skills of one.

I thought about heading into his room to comfort him, but decided against it. Lloyd was hell bent on getting this right. I didn't want to interrupt him when he was this determined. Besides, if I screwed him up, we might not get Presea back. And that would kind of suck.

Hmm, what would Presea be like, anyway? Somewhat emotionless, kind of awkward...yeah. Maybe I might even like her. At least she wouldn't be standing around all creepy-like anymore. Hopefully. It was strange to think that although she'd been with us for quite a while now, I really hadn't even met her yet.

"Um..." Genis hesitated, and Raine and I looked up. It was just the three of us left sitting at the table in the inn; the others had retired to their rooms while they waited for Lloyd.

"What is it, Genis?" The Professor was the one to ask.

"...There's still some leftovers from dinner," the boy finally said. "Would it be okay if I took some down to Presea?" He blushed a little, looking away.

Raine frowned thoughtfully. "Yes, I suppose that would be all right. But only if Brittany goes with you; I'd feel better if you weren't alone."

"Raine-" Genis started to protest, but the Professor wouldn't hear it.

She looked over at me. "Brittany?"

I bit my lip, and then nodded. "...Okay. C'mon, Genis."

The younger half-elf put together a plate of the remaining food, and we exited out into the cool evening air. Part of me hoped that Lloyd wouldn't finish the Key Crest until tomorrow. Then again, I wouldn't be able to sleep tonight knowing what was about to happen...dammit.

"I can't believe Raine wouldn't let me go on my own," Genis grumbled. "It's not like I'm a little kid."

"I don't know about you, but I wouldn't want to go alone," I replied, shuddering. "I mean, there's a dead body in there, Genis. I can kind of see where your sister is coming from."

Genis suddenly paled. "Oh...you're right. I forgot about that..."

Then we were standing in front of the Combatir house, and the setting sun seemed to cast an evil red glare over the home. The windows were closed and not even a sliver of light showed from between the shutters. It looked abandoned, but I knew for a fact that it wasn't.

"Um...P-Presea...?" Genis called shakily, lightly knocking on the front door. It swung open with an ominous creak that reminded me strongly of a few horror movies I'd seen in the past. We exchanged glances, steeled our resolve, and crept cautiously into the house.

I was half expecting Presea to jump out and hack us to pieces at any second. Room after room, however, proved to be empty. The house was extremely dark and we had to tread carefully so we wouldn't trip over anything. Every time I saw a shadow shift, I nearly jumped out of my skin. But it always turned out to be a tree branch moving outside or something of the sort.

Finally, we came to a door that was cracked open; there was light spilling through it. And I heard voices, too...there was Presea's dull monotone, and a more masculine voice. A terribly familiar voice.

"Presea?" Genis had called out before I could stop him. He pushed open the door. "Wh...What are you doing here?"

Presea was there, all right. But so was Rodyle...and I did not like the looks of that smile he was wearing.

Rodyle. Oh dear god, alone with Rodyle. The last time I'd encountered a Grand Cardinal like this hadn't turned out too well. Memories of Kvar's last stand flashed through my mind, and I shuddered.

"Hmm?" The Desian watched us with calculating eyes. "Well, Presea, it seems you have visitors."

"Wh-Who are you, anyway?" Genis asked, and I could tell he was trying his best to look confident. "Why are you always around Presea?"

Rodyle's smirk grew. "Hehehehe. We'll just say that I'm a dear...friend of Presea's," he said, placing an emphasis on 'friend' and pretty much giving away that he was blatantly lying. "Oh, I see. You brought her dinner, did you? You shouldn't waste your time...she won't be needing such things for much longer."

"Wh-What's that supposed to mean?" Genis stuttered again, paling a little. He inched closer to Presea, as if to protect her somehow.

The Grand Cardinal only chuckled in response, turning to face Genis fully. The boy shrunk under his gaze.

"Oh, nothing at all," Rodyle replied easily. "Now, is that it? I think it's time I took my leave."

It was then that I realized that Rodyle's back was turned to me. He had let me completely out of his line of vision.

Suddenly I was hit with an adrenaline rush, and my heart rate skyrocketed. Rodyle's back was turned. Rodyle, who would probably capture Colette at some point today. Rodyle, who would eventually cause Botta's death. Rodyle, who was fucking crazy and dangerous in general. It occurred to me that a lot of problems could be solved right here, right now.

My mind raced. But how would I explain this later? Oh...oh, screw it! I'd figure that out when the time came! Right now I had to act, or else Colette would get captured later and I would only be able to watch! How would I live with myself if she died or something?

Just one fluid movement. That's all it would take. I thought back to my days of fighting alongside Kratos, recalling the times he'd dispatched enemies with one solid sweep of the sword. Grab hold of the hilt, and then unsheathe and swing all in the same movement. Death in the blink of an eye.

The Grand Cardinal took one last moment to fix Genis with that unsettling stare, and I braced myself, my mind made up.

Then time seemed to pass far too quickly, blurring the seconds together and leaving no time for thought. My hand jolted up to the hilt of my sword and in the next moment I was drawing it out with a metallic hiss, the sharp blade gleaming wickedly in the soft light of the room. The adrenaline coursing through my system caused me to notice everything in exquisite detail as I swung Kerberos with every ounce of my strength.

I knew mid-swing that I'd made a terrible mistake. Particularly because of the axe that was now biting deep into my side.

As white-hot pain bloomed on my left hip, I saw the light reflect off the runes on my sword. Auribus tenere lupum...

Rodyle turned around at the last instant and dodged the blade. The tip of the sword came infuriatingly close; I felt it graze his clothing before sliding past, and that was it. Then the Desian was facing me and I was falling to my knees and there was blood everywhere. I was in too much shock to scream.

Presea pulled the axe out and I clutched at the gaping wound in an attempt to quell the blood flow. It wasn't working in the slightest. I was reminded of the wound I'd gotten at the Tower, and I wondered if I was going to die.

"Well, well..." The Grand Cardinal smirked now that he'd regained his composure. "Thank you, Presea. That was rather unexpected."

The girl raised her axe. I realized she was getting ready to lop my head off, and I squeezed my eyes shut in anticipation. Then Rodyle just chuckled.

"Oh, no, that won't be necessary. She is part of the Angelus Project, after all. She might prove useful later."

"Wh-Wha...?" Genis' eyes were wide with horror as he put two and two together and finally understood.

"Genis, RUN!" I yelled, cursing myself for my failure. If something happened to Genis because of me...!

I don't know if it was the look in my eyes or my tone of voice, but something I did convinced him to bolt without hesitation. In the next instant, the boy was gone, and I was left on my own to contemplate how much deep shit I was in this time.

"Oh, there's no need to worry," Rodyle said, watching me with a cunning smile. "I won't bother harming the boy. He's not the one I'm after." He laughed. "What a stupid attempt. I suppose that's to be expected of a girl that's only survived to this point because of her value as a host body."

That insult nearly caused me to flinch. Instead, I steeled my resolve and spat on the floor near his feet. It mixed with a few droplets of my own blood, turning it a pink color and making me want to vomit.

The Desian didn't seem fazed. "Tell me, how did you know who I was, girl?"

I continued to clutch at my wound, and even as the world started turning gray at the edges, I fought to glare up at Rodyle. "Y-You aren't exactly going out of your way...to act innocent. I...I saw you t-talking with the Exsphere broker in Meltokio." The second part was a lie, but I didn't want him to realize just how much I really knew.

I took a breath. "That...and you just confirmed my suspicions by mentioning the Angelus Project. Desian." I spat again.

"Impressive," Rodyle said, and I really didn't like the way he was looking at me. "But I'm afraid I don't have time to chat. I've got a few other things to attend to. If you haven't bled out by the time I'm finished, maybe I'll make use of you. Hehehehe."

"W-Wait...!" I protested as the Desian moved for the door, Presea following. When Rodyle didn't acknowledge me, I attempted to swing my sword. The blade was deflected by Presea's axe, and Kerberos slid across the floor until it hit the opposite wall. And then they were both gone.

I remained there on my knees, my palms pressed to the wooden floor. I was kneeling in a growing puddle of my own blood. The world spun. No...I couldn't pass out now! He was going to capture Colette!

I reached up and pressed on the wound, hoping the pain would wake me up a little. There was pain, all right, but the intense shock of it caused me to fall over on to my side, gasping. When I was in that position, I knew I would never pull together the strength to get up.

Dammit...I had really fucked up.

My vision darkened. I let my eyes slip shut, feeling lightheaded.

Maybe it would be better off if I bled to death...because if Rodyle found me alive, I...

...I couldn't finish the thought. Darkness took me.

* * *

**A/N: Oh snap?**

**Review and I'll punch Rodyle in the nose! Awwyeah!**

**Next time: Hey, stop stealing my Colette! Oh, and time to tell Zelos to stop being such a prick!**


	44. Friends and Enemies

**A/N: Update in less than a week? YOU BET.**

**If only I could do this more often. XD I have weird spurts of productivity followed by long periods of writer's block.**

**Not a ton of plot advancement in this chapter, but I did get two significant events out of the way. Awwyeah.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned ToS, uh...I would own it!**

"...ny? Brittany!"

"Uuhhh...s-stop..."

"Lloyd, move over. Let me see."

The warm sensation suddenly flooding through my body didn't change how incredibly weak I felt. I let out another groan, turned my head, and felt my cheek touch something warm and wet on the floor.

"She's lost a lot of blood," an increasingly familiar feminine voice remarked. Well, so that was what my cheek was now covered with. I slowly began to gather my bearings, fighting to remember what had happened.

"Will she be okay?" Another female. "That was a pretty nasty wound."

"P-Presea did it..." A shaky adolescent voice piped up. "Th-The same way she attacked Colette..."

"It must be the effects of her condition," a grave masculine voice mused.

Colette. That name...

Images and memories flashed through my mind. Blonde hair, blue eyes, a cheerful smile, innocent laughter. Colette...the girl who was punished time and time again simply for being born in the wrong bloodline. Sixteen years old with the weight of two worlds on her shoulders. Colette...

The urgency I suddenly felt caused me to jolt into a sitting position. My eyes snapped open, and I gasped, looking around.

"Colette!"

Familiar face after familiar face came into view, but no blonde hair. One person was absent. I had just long enough to register this before the dizziness came, and I pressed my forehead to my knees with another groan.

"Don't strain yourself," Raine warned, and I felt a firm hand between my shoulder blades. "Relax."

"C-Can't..." I gritted my teeth, forcing myself to look up. "What...What happened...?"

"Genis came to us for help," Sheena explained. "He told us everything. But just as we were all running outside..." She suddenly looked away, clenching her fists.

"Colette collapsed," Lloyd spoke up, and I stared at my knees again, full of dread. "And then Presea suddenly appeared and attacked us." He shook his head. "That...That bastard captured Colette while we were distracted."

"You realized he was a Desian, didn't you?" The ninja asked. "That's why you attacked him."

"I..." I couldn't meet her gaze. I wasn't in the mood to explain anything to anyone. I had failed...I had royally screwed up again, and in the end I couldn't make a difference. I was so fucking useless and now Colette was going to pay the price for my stupidity. I just wanted to crawl into a dark place and never come out.

I shook my head, chewing on my lower lip. "I figured he was up to no good. Maybe it wasn't more than a hunch, but it was still a pretty strong feeling. I didn't like the way he was looking at Genis, so I attacked."

"You tried to kill somebody on a hunch, hunny?" Zelos asked skeptically.

"He turned out to be a Desian, didn't he?" I countered. "Besides, it wouldn't be the first time one of us has drawn a weapon without thinking." At this, I nodded over to Regal, and some of the others shifted uncomfortably.

"Regardless of why you did it, you failed." Raine's stern reminder felt like a punch to the stomach. "That was unusually reckless, even for you. You're lucky we arrived when we did. A minute later, and you would have bled to death."

"If I could've just stopped him, Colette would still be..." I trailed off, clenching my fists.

"Don't be stupid!" Lloyd spoke up. "We're going to save her, so it doesn't matter. Besides, that Rodyle guy turned out to be a Grand Cardinal! Don't you remember what happened when we fought Kvar? There's no way you could've defeated him on your own, so cut it out!"

I opened my mouth, wanting to mention that Rodyle had had his back turned, that I'd had the perfect opportunity, that if Presea hadn't been there I would've succeeded. But I knew it didn't make any difference either way. Rodyle was still alive and I was never going to get a clear shot at killing him again. I'd messed up on my only chance...so now I just had to shut up and move on. The only way I could get past my failure was to do my best in rescuing Colette before she got hurt.

Regal hesitated, but after a moment he spoke up. "...I understand your concern given what has happened, but...Lloyd, will you help Presea?"

The brunet turned and nodded. "...Yeah. Colette's in trouble, but...but we can't just leave Presea like this either."

As Lloyd walked over to the young girl, Raine and Sheena helped me to my feet. I still had trouble standing on my own, but I managed once I had them to lean on for support.

This entire time, Genis had been watching me uncertainly and fidgeting a little. Now I looked over and met his gaze, but I was unable to read what I saw there. He looked away immediately and began focusing on Presea instead. What was Genis thinking...?

"...I've finished carving the charm," Lloyd explained, bending at the knees until he was eye-to-eye with the girl. "With this, she should be able to return to her normal self."

He paused to stare down at the makeshift Key Crest he had created. After a moment, he seemed to make up his mind. Lloyd reached up, pressing the new Key Crest over the old one; it locked in place the same way mine had. It seemed like ages ago that I had gotten my crest from Lloyd...though it hadn't even been half a year yet.

For the first few seconds, nothing happened. The silence seemed to grow more and more tense with each passing moment.

Then, finally, Presea seemed to flinch a little. She rose her gaze from the floor, looking around at all of us as if she had never seen us before. Her eyes...was that confusion I saw? Real emotion...for the first time, I was seeing actual emotion in Presea's eyes. They seemed to have a shine to them that they'd never possessed before.

"Presea?" Genis was the first to speak up. He stepped forward, looking timid. "Are you okay?"

She pressed a hand to her forehead. "What...what's going on?" Presea continued looking around at us, completely lost. "Where am I? What am I doing...?"

"Presea-" Lloyd started, but she suddenly stiffened.

"This is...my house," she said, seeming to remember something. "Daddy! Where's Daddy?"

We all exchanged looks. It was quiet for what seemed like a long time...but then Regal finally put his hand on Presea's shoulder, leading her through the door into the next room. She followed without any resistance. Part of me wondered if she knew in the back of her mind what had happened.

Then she let an earsplitting scream.

* * *

"I...I'm sorry...I've been a great burden on you all."

Presea sat next to me on the front steps of her house, and we watched as Lloyd, Genis and Zelos dug a grave for her father. Regal and Raine had wrapped the body in the bedsheets it was lying in, and set it next to the grave. Sheena was busy carving a wooden marker for the grave with a small knife she carried around.

Somehow, I ended being the one to awkwardly comfort the grieving girl. It was probably because I was too weak to do much of anything else.

At first, seeing emotion in the younger girl's eyes had been relieving, like we had saved her from something terrible. But seeing her now, with her eyes reddened and her cheeks streaked with tears, I wondered if we had really done the right thing after all. Being trapped in that emotionless state must have been hell, but waking up to this...

Her only family was dead, she had lost years of her life, and she was an adult trapped in the body of a child. How was I supposed to comfort her? What could I even say?

I looked over, reaching up to place a hand on her shoulder. "There's nothing to apologize for," I said quietly. "So you remember everything?"

Presea nodded. "Yes...mostly." She stared down at her lap. "What I did to you was unforgivable. I..."

"You weren't in a normal state of mind," I said, shaking my head. "I blame Rodyle more than I do you."

"Presea." Regal's voice came now, and we looked up to see him approaching. "That Exsphere...why do you have it?"

She explained about Vharley, how she had received the Exsphere and how Rodyle had gotten her involved with Cruxis Crystal research. As she spoke, the others finished up what they were doing and gathered around to listen. Regal's frown seemed to grow with every passing second as he made connections in his mind.

"Do you...have any other family, Presea?" he asked quietly.

"I have a younger sister," she explained. "She left to go into service for a noble, and that was the last I saw of her. My mommy died when I was still a child."

"When you were a child?" Zelos raised an eyebrow. "You're still a child now."

Presea hesitated, and then nodded. "Ah...yes, of course. That's right."

If anything, Regal's face seemed to darken even more at this. He stared at the ground, seeming lost in thought.

"Either way, we can't just leave you here in this village by yourself if you have no one to turn to," Sheena remarked.

Raine nodded. "Yes, the people of this village seem to avoid her."

"I..." Presea hesitated. "I'd like to go with you...if that would be all right."

"What? Why?" Lloyd asked, confused.

"It's my fault that Colette was taken away," Presea said, lowering her gaze. "So...I want to help in her rescue. Please."

"Please allow me to come along as well," Regal spoke up now, looking grave. "It seems my fate is linked to your enemy."

Lloyd seemed to think for a moment, but then he nodded, smiling. "You've been with us up until now, haven't you? As far as I'm concerned, you're both already a part of the group. Help us save Colette!"

Presea nodded, determined. "I will!"

"Thank you," Regal said. "I shall not betray your trust."

"Right, now that that's all said and done..." Zelos spoke up, running a hand through his hair. "Shouldn't we be heading off to save our little angel?"

"Yeah," Lloyd said, nodding. "They headed east, I think."

"So you've lost the Chosen."

The new voice caused us all to stiffen and turn in the same direction. Thankfully enough, hearing that voice didn't bring the same pain for me as it usually did. Not after what had happened in Welgaia.

Standing before us was Kratos Aurion, clad in his Cruxis gear and looking as intimidating as ever. The fact that he'd been able to walk right up without any of us taking notice was a bit alarming, but not surprising. There were some things you just had to accept, and Kratos' superiority in just about everything was one of them. He had a couple millenia of experience backing him up and there wasn't any way for us to beat that.

"You again!" Lloyd snarled, not even bothering to say Kratos' name. "What have you done with Colette?"

Kratos' expression didn't change. "Rodyle is ignoring our orders and acting on his own. I know nothing of it."

"Internal strife? How pathetic," Raine remarked, disgusted.

"Say what you will. In the end, he will have no choice but to abandon the Chosen. She's useless as she is now; you can let her be."

"Useless? What's that supposed to mean?" Sheena's eyes narrowed.

"You...argh!" Lloyd growled angrily, drawing out his swords and lunging forward. For one incredulous moment it looked like he might actually land a hit, but then suddenly he was sprawled out on the ground with Kratos' sword pointed at his throat.

"What are you hoping to accomplish by attacking me? It's useless." Kratos sheathed Flamberge, glaring down at his son.

The brunet clenched his fists, staring at the ground as Zelos came up to help him to his feet.

"...I won't let you get in our way," Lloyd said. He finally met Kratos' gaze, shaking with an emotion I couldn't define. "We're going to rescue Colette no matter what, and I won't let you get in our way! You got that?"

"Hmph," was Kratos' response. He closed his eyes. "Do what you will. It makes no difference to me."

When he opened his eyes again, he swept his gaze over the rest of the group, seeming to take account of everyone present. I noticed that his eyes lingered on me for an extra second...probably because one side of me was completely covered in drying blood.

"If you're that determined, I suggest you head for the eastern skies," he said. "Surely the people of Mizuho have located the Rheairds by now."

"Why are you-?" Lloyd started, but was almost immediately cut off.

"Brittany," Kratos said, his eyes narrowed eyes coming to rest on me again. "Deluding yourself into believing you have an advantage will not make it so. I sincerely hope you have learned your lesson."

Some of the others glanced over at me. I gritted my teeth, glaring at the seraph. What did he mean? No...he couldn't honestly mean what I thought he meant, right?

Kratos turned and left, heading out of the village before anyone could question him any further. No one made a move to stop him; it was useless to try and do so anyway.

"...What the hell's that guy trying to do?" Lloyd wondered aloud, frustrated.

Zelos shrugged. "Well, whatever. If he's useful, make use of him, right?"

"Do you think it could be a trap?" Sheena asked with a troubled frown.

"I can't see what they could gain from it," Raine remarked, shaking her head. "They already have Colette. Perhaps Kratos was telling the truth..."

Lloyd turned to me. "...What did he mean by what he said to you?"

"He was talking about Rodyle," I replied hesitantly, biting my lip. "That's what I figure, anyway. I thought I had an advantage when Rodyle had his back turned, but I was the one who ended up bleeding all over the floor in the end."

The brunet crossed his arms, his eyes narrowed. "...There it is again. He's...helping us. Or is he? Agh, I don't know! Why can't he just make up his mind?"

"All we can do for now is save Colette," Sheena spoke up. "I think we should head for Mizuho next and see if there's any news on the Rheairds."

Raine nodded. "Yes, but entering Gaoracchia Forest at this time of night would be too dangerous. Let's get some rest at the inn and we can head out in the morning."

"Colette...dammit..." Lloyd murmured to himself.

Eventually everyone came to a reluctant agreement, and we all began heading back up to the inn. It was going to be very difficult to sleep tonight...

Kratos' words rang through my head, and I trailed at the back of the group, trying to think. Despite what I'd told Lloyd...I knew there was more to it than that. Deluding myself into believing I had an advantage...that was exactly what I had done. I had thought I had the advantage because I knew who Rodyle really was. I knew his identity, his goals, every important move he was going to make until the day we defeated him. That small sense of superiority had caused me to overlook the important detail of Presea's presence. That was why I had nearly gotten killed.

My knowledge of the future...it wasn't enough to be a real advantage. If I wanted to change anything, I needed the strength to back it up. Kratos had been warning me not to make the same mistake twice. What had my prior knowledge done for me in that cold cell in Welgaia? Nothing at all.

...But to make that warning...that meant Kratos had more than just an idea of what I knew. How much did he know, and how the hell had he figured it all out? The questions plagued me, and for the first time in a while, I found myself wishing I could just have a single moment alone with Kratos.

Maybe that was stupid. He was still the enemy, regardless of how he'd helped me. I couldn't start thinking of him as a friend again just yet. If I did, I was likely to get myself killed. But still...I couldn't stand not knowing. It was driving me crazy.

Ugh. I had a feeling that if I looked up "enigma" in the dictionary, I'd see a picture of Kratos right next to the definition.

* * *

It was as I had predicted; sleep tonight was impossible. For the longest time, I lay alone and awake in my room, staring at the empty potion bottle I'd stowed beneath the bed and wishing I still had some. My side had been healed, but it still burned with phantom pain. And I couldn't stop thinking. My mind went in circles, mulling over the same subjects again and again.

Where had I gone wrong? If I had just stood by and let Rodyle leave, would I have gotten another chance to save Colette later on? Or was thinking I ever had a chance in the first place just a foolish delusion? What was the point of knowing if I couldn't do a damn thing about it?

Now Colette had been captured, and the plot continued along its rightful track. I could only pray that it would stay that way, and that we would be finding Colette alive at the Dragon's Nest later on. How long was it going to take to make the pact with Volt and get the Rheairds? We had to take the EC all the way up to the Flanoir continent, too. This wasn't a matter of just a day or two. Colette would be in Rodyle's custody for a week at the very least.

If I could've just stopped him...

I sat up, clenching my fists. Dammit...all this confusion and guilt was getting to be too much. Maybe it was time I had a talk with Lloyd. Hiding the empty bottle under my bed once more, I stood up and quietly crossed the dark room. Then I opened the door and slipped through.

The hallway was as dark as my room had been. I didn't see a single crack of light beneath any of the doors. That meant everyone was sleeping, or at least trying to. I frowned, biting my lip as I began to have doubts. Lloyd was sharing a room with Zelos and Regal. There was no way I could knock on his door without waking all of them up...and I was trying to avoid contact with Zelos at the moment. Maybe I'd have to wait till tomorrow to talk to Lloyd.

I stopped, my hand still resting on the knob to my own door. Maybe confiding in Lloyd about this just wasn't a good idea at all. We'd just be worrying about Colette together, neither of us making the other feel better. Besides, I couldn't tell him the real reason why I was so upset, why I felt like such a failure...

My door slid shut with a small click, and I turned away from the hall and towards the inn's lobby. Then I started walking, not knowing or caring about where I was going. I just needed to clear my head...and there was no way I was getting to sleep until I did so.

It was chilly outside. Night had fallen and so had the temperature, and I found myself wishing I had something to cover my bare shoulders. I needed to get a warmer coat one of these days. It was now that I reminded myself of the fact that it was mid-October. Back home, October nights were even colder than this.

I couldn't help but wonder what the winter climates of Tethe'alla and Sylvarant would be. Were we going to be trudging through snow at any point besides in Flanoir? In the game, it had looked like summer practically everywhere. But then again, in the game, there hadn't been any real sense of time passing either. There had been the occasional nighttime campfire, but that was about it.

The town was, for the most part, empty; everyone had gone to bed. I saw the occasional light in a window, but nothing much besides that. I began wandering towards one end of the village to an area where there were less houses.

Hold on. At the edge of town, that silhouette...

I didn't know what was wrong with me, but I suddenly found my feet taking me to that shadow. I drew closer and closer to that man...the one who had once left me broken and bleeding on the floor, but who had also rescued me from hell when he'd had no obligation to do so.

In the next instant, the man had turned and his blade was at my throat. I froze.

"...Hey, Kratos," I said hesitantly, leaning away from the angry red metal of Flamberge. Remember what I said back in Gaoracchia about wanting to hug Kratos when I next saw him? Yeah, it wasn't happening.

His red-brown eyes narrowed dangerously, but after a pause he sheathed his sword. "Do enemies greet each other so casually?"

"No, I guess not," I said, trying to suppress the sigh of relief that wanted to come out. "I'm still a beginner when it comes to enemy etiquette. Sorry."

He didn't find my remark amusing. Not that he ever found anything I said amusing, but whatever.

"Is there a reason why you're out here?" he asked, crossing his arms.

I shrugged. "Not really. Just going for a stroll."

"You're a fugitive wandering alone in a village that would gladly give you up to the authorities," Kratos said, turning away. "Go back inside, Brittany."

"It warms my heart to see you so worried about me." I couldn't quite grin; despite everything, I still felt like I was on shaky ground. We weren't exactly at each other's throats, but this wasn't like old times, either. "Really, though, spare me the lecture. It's not like I'm any less vulnerable lying in bed. Besides, I've been wanting to talk to you."

"And what makes you think I have time for your meaningless banter?"

"Well, you're kinda just standing here doing that mysterious I'm-staring-off-into-the-distance-and-thinking-profound- thoughts thing," I pointed out, receiving a cocked eyebrow in response. "So maybe you can-hey, it's not meaningless banter!"

Kratos just gave me a deadpan stare, before letting out a sigh. "What do you want?"

I shifted a little, suddenly feeling uncomfortable now that I had gotten to the point. Finally, I walked up to stand beside him. From behind, our silhouettes might not be recognizable. Hopefully.

"Well..." I hooked my thumbs in my pockets, attempting to think. "First of all, we're not being watched or anything, right?"

"If we were, I would not be speaking to you right now," the seraph replied with a frown.

"You're positive?" I asked.

"Yes," Kratos answered, watching me. I wanted to squirm under that gaze.

"...Okay." I rubbed the back of my neck, looking away. "Uh...s-so..."

"If you have something to say, then stop wasting my time and say it."

"Fine! Jesus, you're impatient," I grumbled. Then I turned to look at him again. My insides churned with nervous tension. Okay, I was going to set things straight. I might not get the chance later. Just...out with it, Brittany!

"Kratos," I finally said, trying to look confident. "Be straight with me. How much do you know?"

He just raised his eyebrows in response, and I wanted to punch him. Goddammit, he wasn't going to make this easy, was he?

"About me, you jackass," I huffed. "Come on. You have to have figured a few things out since we talked back in Hima. Enough with the cryptic remarks already, okay? This guessing game is driving me insane."

"...Very well," Kratos finally said, meeting my determined gaze with his stern one. "I understand that you know more than you have any right to know."

I couldn't stop myself from breathing out a shaky sigh. Right, so that wasn't so hard, was it? Was it? ...Oh my god he fucking _knew_. Deep breaths, deep breaths, fuckfuckfuckfuck-

"Brittany."

My head snapped up. "I'm okay!"

"Are you?" That raised eyebrow again.

I gave him a fake smile. "Fan-freakin'-tastic. So you know that I know...do you know how I know? Do you know that I know that you know-"

"Enough. If you're trying to conceal your nervousness, you're doing a terrible job of it," Kratos said, effectively shutting me up.

"...Sorry." I grimaced. "But really...what tipped you off?"

"Hmph. Were I to list everything, this would take all night."

"Gee, thanks. That makes me feel confident."

"You knew I was with Cruxis from the very beginning, didn't you?" the seraph asked, only it was more of a statement than a question. He glanced over at me. "I gave you a chance that day in Asgard. Anyone else would have said something to the others, but you kept quiet."

I didn't say anything in response, so Kratos continued to speak.

"You knew the true nature of the world regeneration and of Cruxis," he said with narrowed eyes. "That is why you expressed such mistrust towards angels. That is why you were angry with Lloyd for confiding in Remiel at the Tower of Mana."

"I think the whole Angel Toxicosis thing was reason enough to be pissed at Cruxis," I interjected quietly.

Kratos pressed onward. "When Lord Yggdrasill revealed his identity as leader of Cruxis and the Desians...what was it you said?"

He got me there. I let out a hoarse laugh that sounded more like a cough. "Shocker."

"Shocker," Kratos repeated, as if he had successfully proven his point. "Mock surprise. You were already aware of his identity." He watched me for a moment, and I tried to keep my expression neutral. "You had some idea of what was going to happen at the Tower of Salvation as well."

I nodded, letting out another laugh, this time sounding exhausted. "Yeah. I was terrified, I told you."

Kratos continued to watch me, his gaze sharp and unwavering. "From your reaction, I suppose that means all of my assumptions are correct?"

"You always could read me like an open book."

"I know of your origins. I know how and why you were brought here. What I don't understand...is this knowledge of yours," the not-mercenary said, and I could tell he was in full-on interrogation mode. "You aren't a Renegade spy. You aren't of Cruxis. You're an eighteen-year-old girl with a high school diploma and about four months of fighting experience."

"And damn proud of it," I added, offering him a genuine grin. He glared and it dropped from my face. I shifted a little. "...So at least one person finally understands that I really am as pathetic as I make myself out to be. Everyone else seems to be having suspicions that I'm Kratos Number Two."

"Brittany," Kratos Number One interrupted in his no-nonsense voice. "You are the one who initiated this conversation, so enlighten me. How do you know the things you know?"

I opened my mouth to reply, faltered, and then closed it again. Furrowing my brow a little, I paused to think. I had known it would come down to this, and yet I hadn't been able to stop myself from waltzing up to this guy. Why did I find myself wanting to trust Kratos? Was it because he wasn't part of the party anymore, because he couldn't tell anyone else?

No, that was wrong. He certainly could.

"...I'm psychic," I finally said, nodding to myself as if in confirmation.

Kratos closed his eyes. "...My patience with you is wearing dangerously thin," he said in a quiet, scary tone. "I reccomend for the sake of your well-being that your next answer be the truth."

"The truth...is kind of hard to explain," I said reluctantly. "And not in an I'm-from-another-world-called-Earth way. But trust me, there's a reason why I know this stuff. I just can't say it."

"You can and you will," the mercenary said, rounding on me.

I took a step back and fought to remain composed. "It's way too hard to explain, so no. Plus I don't know who you'd tell, so there's a second no for good measure. As much as I like you, asshole, I just can't do it. If the wrong person found out my real secret, it'd be the end of the line, if you catch my drift." I crossed my arms and turned away from him, hoping to god that he wouldn't stab me in the back.

"I'll tell you this," I murmured. "I know...things that might happen. A potential path that events might follow. I wish it was set in stone, but these things never are, y'know?" I knew I was rambling, but that was what I tended to do when I was put on the spot like this. "But the thing is, in this, er...timeline, I'm not supposed to be around. Yggdrasill bringing me here wasn't supposed to happen. So anything I do has the potential to fuck things up majorly. Kind of like if you went back in time, you have to try not to meet your mom or something because then she might fall in love with you and not your dad like in Back to the Future-"

Kratos cleared his throat and I jumped.

"Are you finished?"

I blushed, looking away. "Thanks for shutting me up. I probably could've kept going for a while. Shit, I shouldn't have come out here..."

"Need I remind you again that you are the one who approached me?" Kratos pinned me under his gaze. "Elaborate. I'm not satisfied with your nonsensical time-traveling allusions."

"I like my pop culture references!" I protested, only receiving a glare in return.

"Brittany."

"Fine!" I shifted, hugging myself. "Um...um...it's like a story! A fictional story. On Earth, I mean. This."

He just stared. I continued looking everywhere but at him, attempting to find some outlet for my discomfort. There was none. It was just me and Kratos and the truth, and he was sniffing it out like a goddamn bloodhound.

"Fuck," I grimaced, backing away from him. "I should've just kept my mouth shut. I can't do this. I'm going. I don't care if you understand or if you believe me or not or whatever-"

"...I see."

"What? What do you see?" I suddenly stepped forward again, edgy.

"Just how much do you know?" Kratos watched me with narrowed eyes, stepping closer until I seriously wondered if I was going to wet myself.

"N-Nothing! Go away!"

"Hmph. If this is some sort of fictional story on Earth, then it inevitably has some manner of conclusion, does it not?"

"It's a good conclusion," I said, continuing to back away. "Just don't tell Yggdrasill any of this, okay? Okay."

"Answer me," the seraph said firmly. "How much do you know? You recognize names and faces of those you've never met in real life. You-"

"Agh! I have to go!" I said in a rather panicked voice, ducking around him and bolting straight for the center of town.

I must've run for five minutes straight. When I finally slowed down and checked behind me, I was surprised to see that I wasn't being pursued. It occurred to me that I hadn't heard any footsteps behind me at all during my escape. Had Kratos just let me leave?

It took a few minutes of panting before I was finally calm enough to head back to the inn. Troubling thoughts invaded my mind as I walked. Sure, Kratos had let me go, but in the meantime...he was definitely going to piece some things together in his mind. Maybe it really was time I just told him the full truth...but could I really trust him with that? Was it too big of a risk?

I was too indecisive right now. Though I guess it didn't matter; Kratos would force me into making a decision before long. I had already told him too much, and I wasn't sure if I regretted it or not...

Maybe everything would seem more clear in the morning. Or maybe I'd just want to shoot myself when I woke up.

* * *

Sleep eventually did come, though it was a shallow and fitful one. I awoke before dawn as I usually did, feeling about as exhausted as I'd felt the night before. For what felt like the longest time, I sat in bed and stared into my lap. I knew without looking at a clock that it was five in the morning.

Kratos would be starting training right about now if he'd still been with us. Kratos...

I grimaced, pressing a hand to my forehead. Dammit, I'd gone and told him just about everything. I didn't even know if he fully believed me or not...maybe it was better if he didn't. I didn't know if he would do anything with that knowledge, but if any of it somehow got out, I'd be royally screwed.

Then I leaned back in bed, frowning thoughtfully. Even though I couldn't help but feel like I'd made a horrible mistake, it felt...good. Somebody finally knew. I hadn't really explained the complete details of it, but he had a pretty good idea, right? No more secrets between me and Kratos. No more lies. It felt so nice, just knowing that I could talk to him with a clear conscience now. Maybe I wouldn't get those scary-suspicious looks from him anymore. That thought alone was enough to lift my mood.

Okay, so Kratos knew. It was done and I couldn't take any of it back. If there were consequences, I'd face them when they came. There was no point in regretting it or worrying about it. Right now I just had to focus on what needed to be done.

I got out of bed and changed out of my pajamas, pulling on my usual traveling gear. As I laced up my boots, I thought of the day ahead. Today we'd be trekking through the forest to Mizuho...and I was pretty sure the Temple of Lightning came after that.

I shuddered. Ever since dealing with Kvar, I'd had an instinctive dislike of lightning. It wasn't nearly as bad as Sheena's phobia, but I kind of had an idea of how she felt. I definitely wasn't looking forward to making the pact with Volt.

After that we'd probably shove off to the Renegade base near Flanoir. I was really getting sick of infiltrating bases. And Yuan would be there, which meant we'd probably have more fun with electricity...oh shit, on second thought, we might actually have to fight that guy!

Finishing with one boot, I paused. Botta was one thing, but Yuan was a freaking seraph. If Kratos could singlehandedly kick our asses, Yuan could, too. This wasn't a matter of hacking away until the enemy's HP ran out. Far more factors came into play here.

Dammit. The fight happened in the Rheaird hangar, right? Fine, I'd just have to make sure we all got the hell out before those two showed up. Then everything would be fine and dandy and we could move on to fighting a horde of bloodthirsty dragons to save Colette.

I pressed both hands to my face. Sometimes I really hated my life...

* * *

One pity party later, I was fully dressed and ready to begin the day. Unfortunately, the day itself wasn't ready to begin. It was still pretty dark. The sunrise would come soon, though. When the sun rose, everyone else usually rose with it. That meant I had about two hours to myself before breakfast would be ready.

There was no way I'd be able to fall back asleep, so I walked outside into the crisp morning air. I had already spent long enough cooped up in my room anyway. Knowing Kratos might still be around, I didn't wander far from the inn on this walk. Part of me wanted to go window shopping, but every sane person in this town was still asleep. Too bad.

Then I heard a door close somewhere. I turned, seeing someone coming out of the inn. Pink...hey, that was Zelos.

The redhead walked out into the village street, looking preoccupied about something. He reached up, running a gloved hand through his hair before turning away from me.

I was suddenly conflicted. What should I do? Talk to him, or avoid him? I didn't know what I was supposed to say...maybe I could just walk up and pretend everything was all right. Maybe...

"Zelos!" I called before I could change my mind. He turned around and I walked up to him, trying to look confident.

"Hey, hunny," he said, raising his eyebrows. "What're you doing out so early?"

"Well, you know. I can't sleep past five in the morning...and it's pretty boring just sitting inside my room." I shrugged, and then gave him a sidelong glance. "Were you going for a walk? Mind if I come?"

"Come right along, my little spitfire," he said, slinging an arm around my shoulders. Even despite this, things between us still seemed a little off.

We started walking, and I didn't bother to shrug his arm off this time around. I was too busy trying to think of things to say. Let's see...how would I go about asking him what was wrong? I couldn't do it directly, he'd just avoid the question. I had to somehow...hint at it or something.

"So what's your story?" I asked as casually as I could. "You couldn't sleep?"

"Something like that," Zelos replied. "I mean, don't get me wrong. I'm just as worried about our cute little angel as anyone else. But it was actually Bud tossing and turning all night that really kept me up."

I paused to consider this. "...I can imagine. It does really suck that we can't do anything about Colette right away. And she's stuck with that creep in the meantime-hey! I'm up here!"

Zelos' head snapped up, and he just smiled that not-quite-genuine smile that I'd come to hate. "Eh? Sorry, hunny, it's too early for this."

"That's no excuse for you to randomly start staring at my boobs," I grumbled, more irritated than embarrassed. "Look, I'm being serious. Cut it out." There were few things I hated more than being blatantly ignored when I had something important to talk about.

"Hey, hey, I'm being serious too," the redhead said with a wink. "We've got plenty of time before the others wake up, you know. Why don't we head back to your room?"

My face turned beet red in record time. I looked away. "Uh, no."

"C'mon, hunny, you don't need to keep up the prude act." Zelos smirked. "I'm betting you had your share of fun back home. Why are you so hell bent on holding back here?"

Something in me churned uncomfortably and I clenched my fists. "What's that supposed to mean? What kind of girl do you think I am?"

The smirk grew. "One that has a tramp stamp and makes a lot of sex jokes. Quit kidding yourself, babe."

I was nothing short of stunned for a moment. Was he seriously implying that I was some sort of slut? Was that why he called me "hunny" so often? All this time, I'd been thinking he understood me!

"...Quit kidding myself." I rounded on him, feeling anger boiling up in my stomach. "What the hell is your problem? Are you being an asshole on purpose?"

"Clearly you don't know me very well," Zelos said, his eyes hard but his smirk firmly in place. "I'm always an asshole, haven't you noticed?"

"No, you're not," I snapped. "You've had a stick up your ass ever since the day we left for the mine. Whatever it is, you don't need to take it out on me. Just stop it already."

"Who else would I take it out on?" We had both stopped in the center of town, facing each other. Now that Zelos was glaring down at me, I had to wonder how I had missed the anger in his expression before. "I want you to stop it already, hunny. Cut the act. You lie even more than I do, and to be honest it's pretty nauseating how fake you are."

His words felt like a punch in the stomach. "What...what are you talking about?" I asked, my eyes wide.

"I'm the one that sold you out to Cruxis, remember? You told me all about it the last time we were here." He gave me that derisive, bitter smile again. "Did you say you trusted me just so you could laugh at me later? You've got problems, babe."

The last time we were here. Those words rang in my head, and I saw red.

"Let me get this straight," I growled. "You're mad at me because of something I said when I was DRUNK? I don't even remember that night!"

So that was why he had been acting so distant. Now that I was thinking about it, the memory came back, vague and blurry in my mind. I had revealed my suspicions about that night we'd walked through the woods together. I knew it had been him! He was already a triple agent, so why not? It infuriated me that he had the nerve to act this way even after I'd fought to get past that whole thing and trust him regardless.

"You don't remember? Oh, how convenient," he shot back. "Just spare me already. You think you can excuse yourself out of everything just because you're some innocent Earth-girl, and you're arrogant as hell. I'm not obligated to give a damn about your problems, okay?"

"Arrogant? That's rich!" I seethed. "Look who's talking, hotshot! You're the one who thinks he's God's gift to the world! You've got money, you've got looks, you've got women...but you know what? None of that is going to be there for you when it really matters. In the end you're just a sad, lonely, pathetic excuse for a man!"

The furious words had all come out in a rush, and I realized I was near tears. My voice had groan hoarse and I had to fight to keep the lump in my throat from getting worse. No one had ever spoken to me the way Zelos had, and it stung. I knew what I was saying was mean, that I was hitting him where it hurt most, but I couldn't stop myself. I was too angry and hurt to care about anything at this point.

For a moment, Zelos looked like he'd been slapped. Then his eyes darkened. "That why you pretended to be my friend? You pitied me?"

My eyebrows flew up. "I wasn't-"

"Don't give me that." He cut me off immediately. "I don't need to hear it. We never were friends, anyway. You think I don't know your type?" Zelos scoffed. "For a while I thought you might be the only normal one out of this group, but it looks like I was wrong. You put up a pretty good front, but inside you're about as empty as the noblewomen that I used to take to bed. Oh, but you're not good for that either, huh? You'd probably fake it, just like you fake everything else."

I had to stop myself from gaping at those words. For a moment I just stared at Zelos in complete shock. Then I started shaking; I wasn't sure if I wanted to cry or scream or both.

"Fuck you," I finally said, because it was the only coherent sentence I could form.

Zelos smiled. "No thanks, babe."

Then no words would come. I drew back my fist and let it loose, hearing an audible thump as it connected solidly with Zelos' jaw. His head snapped to one side and he stumbled backwards one step, but he didn't make a sound.

I pulled back my hand; it was throbbing painfully. A thin trickle of blood ran from the corner of Zelos' mouth, and he looked over at me. He didn't say anything more. There really wasn't anything else that could be said. We glared at each other for another moment...and then I turned on my heel and stormed off in the direction of the inn.

If Zelos noticed the tears streaking down my cheeks, he didn't say anything. That was probably for the best.

* * *

"...Hey, Brit? Are you okay?"

Lloyd sat next to me at the table as we ate breakfast. Of course, he was the first one to catch on to my behavior. I wasn't sure what tipped him off; maybe it was my watery eyes, my complete silence, or the fact that I was pushing my food around on my plate rather than actually eating it.

"Yeah," I replied quietly.

He watched me for a moment, probably seeing right through my response. "...You haven't touched your breakfast."

"Touching it right now," I said as I stabbed some eggs with my fork.

Lloyd leaned a little closer to me, speaking in a low voice. "Do you...wanna talk about it later or something?"

I just shook my head slowly. "...No. I'm okay. Really."

He stared at me for another few seconds, and then shook his head in response. Then he returned to his own breakfast, seeming to let it go. Though I guess that was understandable...he was worried enough about Colette right now.

Besides, how was I supposed to explain this to him? I remembered the entire argument word-for-word, and I had been running it through my head for the past hour in an attempt to grasp where everything had gone wrong, but I just didn't think this was something I could explain. It all came down to that night Zelos and I had gotten drunk...

Not that it mattered. I was through trying to figure out what that asshole's problem was. I hated him. I fucking _hated_ him!

I hiccupped, and then tried disguising it as a cough when Lloyd looked over at me. Then I noticed that Raine and Regal were both giving me looks, and Sheena was starting to catch on, too.

I stood up. "I...I'm feeling kinda sick. Can I just go back to my room for a bit?"

Raine watched me for what seemed like forever. Finally, she nodded. "We'll let you know when it's time to leave."

"Thanks," I murmured.

Then, without sparing a single glance in Zelos' direction, I turned and walked back to my room...probably for another bout of silent tears.

The door shut quietly behind me and I sat down on my bed, hearing the bedsprings creak in protest. I pulled the bottle of Mizuho Potion out from underneath it, staring at the label and feeling numb.

What the hell had I done wrong? Was I really as selfish, as arrogant as Zelos described me to be? Or had he just been a complete prick from the very beginning?

I pressed my hands to my face, choking on a sob. His words kept coming back to me, cutting me like knives. That expression on his face...those cold, angry eyes. It didn't seem like the same Zelos I had grown so used to.

That stupid...ugh!

I wanted to kick something, I wanted to scream, I wanted to tear the entire fucking room apart. I couldn't do this anymore! I didn't want this! How could he say those horrible things about me when I did my best every goddamn day of this hell?

Oh, god...Colette had been kidnapped, Kratos knew the truth, and Zelos couldn't care less if I curled up in a corner and died. And no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't make one single difference in the future that we were faced with.

Now more than ever, I wanted to give up and go home.

* * *

**A/N: What, did you think they were gonna make up? Hahaha~**

** Man, talk about an unpleasant situation. Who's worse, I wonder? Keep in mind, this is being told from OC Brit's perspective. ;D Methinks they both have issues, hurr hurr. And Brit has one hell of a pathetic right hook. :P**

** I had fun writing all the conversations in this chapter. XD Review, won't you? And I'll give you...something! Here, an empty bottle of Mizuho Potion! Maybe you can get drunk off the fumes. XD**

** Next time: Shut up, Brit! It's Sheena's turn to be depressed!**


	45. Sheena

**A/N: SORRY ;_;**

**Yeah I always take forever. I was stuck on another fic for a while too, so that didn't exactly help. XD Anyway, here you go. I triiiiied! I'll do my best to not slack off from now on. (oh hell I say that every time.)**

**Also, more art for you to look at!**

**http : / / noa748. deviantart. com/ #/ d371ip5**

**http : / / noa748. deviantart. com/ #/ d376qc9**

**And with that done, it's on with the fic!**

**Disclaimer: I ownnn...OC Brit! And that's about it.**

A little while later, we were all packed up and en route to Mizuho. With Presea now becoming a permanent addition to the team, that put us at...eight people now? With Colette, it'd be nine. Christ...if we had so many damn people in the group, why did I feel so alone?

I tried to think, tagging along in the back of the group like I usually did. The foliage around us was growing thicker and thicker as we drew close to Gaoracchia Forest. The walk to the hidden village wouldn't take much longer than an hour or two, but I had a feeling we would be doing plenty more after that.

The Temple of Lightning. That was what came next, and unless I wanted to feel like even more of a failure, I had to think of a way to save Corrine as soon as possible. After my attempt to save Colette, though, I wasn't feeling awfully confident about the whole thing. But that was no reason to just give up, as much as I wanted to.

"Hey." A voice caught my attention, and I looked over to see that Sheena had fallen in step with me.

"Hello," I said in a rather flat tone.

It was very difficult for me to control my emotions this morning. As a result, it was pretty much blatantly obvious that something was up. Everyone in the group knew by now; the tension between Zelos and I hung in the air like an ominous cloud, and Zelos' frequent attempts to pretend nothing was wrong only made it worse.

The ninja frowned at me. "Listen...can we talk? When we get to Mizuho?"

"What about?" I asked dubiously.

Her frown grew and she leaned in closer, glancing up ahead to make sure no one else was paying attention. "You and Zelos were yelling at each other this morning. I heard."

My back stiffened. "Did anyone else...?"

Sheena shook her head, lowering her voice to a murmur. "I don't think so. I just saw that your room was empty and came looking. Then I heard shouting, but by the time I saw you, you were already storming away from him."

"...Ah."

"What happened?" She asked, pausing to be sure Zelos was still distracted at the front of the group. "You guys were getting along almost nauseatingly well up until now."

"Maybe I realized you were right all along," I remarked quietly. "He's a shallow prick and he can go fall in a goddamn ditch for all I care."

...But I did care. If I'd really hated him, this wouldn't have hurt so much.

"What did that idiot do?" Sheena hissed, instantly bristling.

I realized where this conversation was going, and forced myself to relax and heave a sigh. "It...It doesn't matter. This is between me and him. Promise me you won't say anything to him about this, okay, Sheena?"

She was tense for a few seconds, but finally relented. "...Fine. But you have to tell me everything once we get to Mizuho, okay?"

"I guess," I replied, having no intention of doing so. I just didn't want to discuss it any further out here, where anyone else could hear.

The discussion was pretty much over after that. Sheena left me alone and I continued to mope at the back of the group, trying not to think. Since all of my thoughts were pretty negative right now, I just watched what everyone else was up to at the moment.

Regal and Raine were having a conversation about Sylvarant and its differences from Tethe'alla. The convict seemed pretty interested in the other world, which I guess wasn't too surprising. Their conversation sort of faded into the background for me, though; they were discussing boring things like the different temples and the sizes of cities and how the Sylvaranti economy had gone down the crapper. Though I was technically an adult, I still had trouble keeping up with those kinds of conversations. I had a lot more maturing to do, that was for sure.

Zelos was walking on his own for once, not bugging Sheena even though she was being pretty quiet. He probably sensed the unfriendly aura radiating from her. I hoped he didn't realize I'd told her something...agh, what did I care? Screw him. I didn't give a damn what he thought about me.

Lloyd and Genis were walking a little too far ahead, but Raine was too distracted with her conversation to say anything. They seemed to be engrossed in some important conversation, because they were talking in quiet tones and Genis kept looking back at the rest of the group every few seconds. Hmm...what didn't they want us to hear? Actually, it was probably nothing. It was pretty easy for childhood friends to get caught up in their own world; I remembered from my own experience.

Man, I missed my two childhood friends...nothing beat sharing that many memories with someone. Riding our bikes around town, exploring the woods, making snowmen and drinking hot chocolate, hanging out at school, watching movies, laying out on my old trampoline and looking up at the stars on clear nights, high school graduation...

Those were people that really understood and trusted me. I missed them like hell. I was sick of people questioning my every move and calling me out every time I made a mistake. People who heard my dirty jokes and assumed my sense of humor reflected my lifestyle.

Goddammit...there went the last of my optimism. I really needed to stop thinking altogether. Maybe this group wasn't always warm and fuzzy towards me, but most of them had been pretty good to me considering everything that had happened. Most of them.

Fuck! Stop thinking about Zelos! Stop it!

Presea was walking alone. Not wanting to be left with my thoughts any longer, I inched my way over to her.

"Hi, Presea," I said, trying to keep my tone casual.

She looked over at me. "Ah...hello."

Wow, it was still weird to get that kind of reaction. I was so used to being ignored whenever I tried to make conversation with her. Maybe this was the perfect opportunity to bond! Presea wasn't suspicious of me or anything. Not that we could really relate well because of the (er, mental) age difference, but I was willing to work past that.

"So...how've you been doing?" I asked. There wasn't much I could think of to say, so I just went with whatever came to mind.

She hesitated. "Better. I...I like being busy."

"I know what you mean," I said with a nod. "Keeping occupied makes it easier not to brood. But don't push yourself too hard."

"Thank you for your concern," Presea replied in a quiet voice. "I'll try to be careful."

"And if you ever need someone to talk to, I'm here," I offered. Presea didn't know me well yet! We were gonna be friends, dammit. "I mean, we're all in this together, right?"

"Lloyd said the same thing to me," she remarked. Her lips turned up slightly, but it wasn't quite a smile. "The two of you are very much alike."

"Me and Lloyd?" I blinked, surprised. The boy in question was still walking up ahead with Genis, so at least he wouldn't overhear. I lowered my voice a little. "...I don't think so."

"Why not?" Presea asked, looking over at me now. The look in her eyes was genuinely curious, and I had a feeling this conversation had backfired. My problems always seemed to come back to smack me in the face. At least now Presea was distracted from her own.

"I dunno," I said helplessly, feeling awkward. "He's just...got this strength of character, you know? He can run headlong into danger without thinking once about himself. Lloyd's got more than enough crap on his shoulders, and yet he still finds time to worry about everyone else. And it's all just second nature to him. He does everything I wish I could do like it's no big deal at all."

"I see. So you admire him," Presea noted. Then, in a lower voice, "Why is Zelos staring at us?"

My head snapped up. Zelos was already turning to look up ahead again, but I could tell he'd been looking over his shoulder. Had he overheard all that?

"Uh...no clue," I replied quietly, feeling self-conscious all of a sudden.

_You put up a pretty good front, but inside you're about as empty as the noblewomen that I used to take to bed._

I had to swallow hard to get rid of the lump in my throat. I still couldn't stand to be reminded of this morning. Was I really as selfish and fake as Zelos said? Even as I had spoken to Presea, I had been more seeking out to distract myself than to help her. Was that what he'd been talking about?

"You and Zelos are...fighting?" She seemed to test out the word, as if she was unused to using it in a sense that wasn't related to battle.

Dammit, why couldn't I avoid this topic? "I guess so."

"I remember...the two of you getting along well," Presea said, tilting her head a little. "Why do you not go talk to him?"

"He hates me." I felt my shoulders slump. At this rate, I was just going to sink right back into depression.

"Why does Zelos hate you?"

"Because I suck. I don't know," I replied, having trouble concealing my frustration. "Can we not talk about this?" I couldn't help but notice the way Regal and Raine had quieted down ahead of us. It was embarrassing; I didn't want this to turn into some kind of ordeal.

"...All right." Presea relented, still looking puzzled.

We fell silent after that. Now that I had been reminded of my problems, I just couldn't think of anything else to say. Instead I just stared straight ahead, focusing on getting to Mizuho. Just one step at a time...I had made it this far. If I could just keep going, then someday I would be able to go home. Then I wouldn't have to think about miserable days like today.

More than once, I found myself staring at Zelos' back as we made our way through the winding paths of Gaoracchia Forest.

* * *

An hour or so later, we had finally arrived at the hidden village. The walk had felt way too long; I was glad that it was over. But now that I thought about it, we had even more traveling ahead of us before we could get the Rheairds...I needed to find some way of occupying myself now that I couldn't talk to Zelos. Maybe talking to Lloyd would make me feel better.

Right now, though, we had other things to take care of. The guards at the gate nodded us in, and we made our way deeper into another part of the village I hadn't seen a lot of. I hadn't come this far because I didn't want to arouse suspicion by wandering too close to the Chief's hut. It looked like now I was going to see just what the inside of it looked like.

A great deal of people stopped and stared at us as we walked toward the back of town. Now that I thought about it, we probably were a strange sight. There was eight of us, all of varying ages, hair colors and clothing styles. Even walking through Meltokio, we had gotten looks.

The guards at the chief's place saw Sheena and stepped aside, albeit a little warily. They probably found the random shackled muscular guy a little sketchy. Poor Regal, he just couldn't catch a break.

Regardless, we were allowed inside. We followed Sheena down a long hallway, and I couldn't stop myself from looking around at everything and noticing how different it all was. It still felt like I was in Japan. I almost wished I really was; then I'd be off locating the nearest U.S. Embassy instead of trying to figure out how to save the damn world.

But I wasn't in Japan. I was in Tethe'alla, and I seriously needed to focus already. So I silently followed the others as we were led to a room at the back of the building. Sheena paused at the door, saying a few words to someone before going in. We filed in one-by-one after her. Since this was the first time I'd actually been here, I just mimicked what everyone else was doing and knelt carefully on the tatami floor.

The man I presumed to be Tiga was wearing a small, diplomatic smile. "Impeccable timing, all of you," he remarked, seeming satisfied. "We determined the location of the Rheairds just yesterday."

"R-Really?" Lloyd blurted out, surprised. He looked over his shoulder at the rest of us, as if to gauge our reactions.

"It's just like Kratos said," Genis commented in a murmur. "But why would he help us?"

"I can't help but wonder if he has some ulterior motive," Raine said. Her eyes were calculating, but also troubled.

"But now...we're able to save Colette," Presea pointed out.

"Exactly," Zelos added in his usual carefree tone. "So what's the problem? We'll just worry about it later."

Next to me, Sheena let out a sigh, clearly trying to keep her face neutral. I wasn't an expert on Japanese etiquette, but I was pretty sure starting a random hushed discussion in the presence of the village Vice-Chief was a little rude. Common sense and all, y'know. I was proud of myself for being polite and not contributing.

Lloyd seemed to take notice of the slightly bemused look on Tiga's face, but he didn't seem embarrassed. Oh, how I envied his obliviousness sometimes.

"Where are the Rheairds?" the brunet finally asked, straightening his posture a little.

Tiga held up one hand and we all grew silent, listening. "Before I disclose their location to you, there is something else I must ask you to accomplish. A test, if you will."

"A test, Vice-Chief?" Sheena piped up, frowning.

He fixed his eyes on her. "Yes. You know as well as I do that without a constant supply of Volt's mana, the Rheairds will simply crash again. That is why, Sheena, you must form a pact with Volt before recovering them."

She suddenly stiffened, going white. All eyes were now on her. "But..."

Tiga's gaze softened a little, but his face remained stern. "I understand that it's a difficult task for you. But it's a test you must overcome. If you continue to live in fear, you will lack the resolve it takes to finish this journey."

Sheena was shaking. She seemed to fight with herself for a moment, opening and closing her mouth and yet saying nothing. Finally, she got to her feet.

"I...I can't!" She shook her head vehemently, turning and running out of the room.

Aaaand cue awkward silence. I chewed on my lower lip, fidgeting. Everyone else (aside from Zelos) was staring at the door with different levels of surprise, listening as Sheena's footsteps faded out of hearing range. Lloyd was the first to turn back to Tiga, a questioning look on his face.

"...Sheena was nervous the last time we asked her to make a pact," Lloyd said, "but not like this. Why is she so upset?"

The Vice-Chief lowered his gaze, his mouth set in a grave frown. "Sheena failed to make a pact with Volt once before. It was twelve years ago...Volt went out of control, and as a result exterminated over a quarter of Mizuho's population. The Chief was hit with a particularly powerful electric shock while protecting her. He has been in a coma ever since."

My eyes were drawn to the bed in the back of the room when he mentioned this. There was a sudden twisting feeling in my gut. I clenched my fists lightly, only half-listening to the rest of the conversation as I sank into my thoughts.

Seeing that bed and knowing there was someone sleeping in it, the man who had been the closest thing Sheena ever had to a father...it just made this all so real. I couldn't even begin to imagine how painful Sheena's past must have been for her. To be responsible for that many deaths, and then to be shunned for it for twelve years...

Jesus Christ, what was wrong with me? I had spent the entire day today thinking about myself, how I felt alone, how life just plain sucked and I wanted to go home. But compared to Sheena, I didn't even know the meaning of loneliness. So Zelos had said a few nasty things to me, and yeah, it still stung. That didn't even hold a candle to the things she'd been through.

She didn't ask for it either. No one in our group had asked for their painful pasts; it was just what they'd been dealt. And most of them had had it a hell of a lot worse than me.

Oh god, was Zelos actually right? Had I been focusing too much on myself? Was I really arrogant, thinking I was somehow special and that my problems were all that really mattered?

Everyone was getting up; the conversation had ended, though I'd missed the tail end of it. I got up as well, following the others out of the room. We walked down the hallway in relative silence.

Finally, Raine sighed. "Considering the sensitivity of the issue, we shouldn't rush her. Let's prepare lunch in the place we stayed before and give her some time alone."

The others seemed to agree, so we headed out of the Chief's residence, moving back to the other end of town.

* * *

We had been sitting in here and watching Genis put lunch together for the past ten minutes, and it was boring. Not that the boredom bothered me; it was my previous train of thought that was still nagging at the back of my mind. I still couldn't rid myself of the image of that bed, the one the Chief still slept in.

It had really happened. Hearing about it was one thing, but as always, solid proof felt like a punch to the stomach. Seven years old...Sheena had only been seven. I couldn't even imagine. Up until a few months ago, I'd had a perfectly normal and peaceful life. I had long ago accepted that this wasn't a game anymore, but it looked like even now I sometimes forgot that these people had real pasts, that it wasn't all backstory that someone wrote.

So that was why I was the first to stand up and head for the door leading out of the hut. Nobody stopped me; everyone looked, but no one said a thing. I walked outside, determined to become a better person. I was going to talk to Sheena-not because I wanted to prove anything to myself, but because she was my friend and friends were supposed to support each other.

It didn't take long for me to find her. She was sitting near some gardens at the edge of the village, her face buried in her knees. It was now that I noticed how people simply passed by as if she wasn't even there. This was her home and she was an outsider.

She didn't look up when I approached, though I was sure she heard me. I just sat down next to her and leaned back on the palms of my hands. The sky was clear, almost absurdly blue. We hadn't seen much gloomy weather since coming to Tethe'alla.

When it was silent for a few seconds, I spoke up. "Let's talk. Tell me what you're thinking, Sheena. I'm all ears."

Sheena lifted her head a little so I could see her face. That was a start. "...I guess you heard. I can't do it, Brittany."

"You didn't think you could make the pact with Undine, either," I pointed out.

"But this is different!" she protested, looking at me. Her eyes were overbright-she'd been crying. I hadn't seen her cry since that time so long ago at Lake Umacy. "People died because of me! I can't get you guys killed too. I...I would never be able to forgive myself."

Sheena got to her feet, hugging herself. "I'll fail again. I'm just not good enough."

"Don't start saying stupid things like that," I told her, standing up as well. "Sheena, this was twelve years ago. You think you haven't gotten stronger and smarter since then?"

She didn't reply or meet my gaze. She just continued to stare at the ground, looking miserable and clearly fighting tears.

"You're a lot tougher than you think, Sheena. And the rest of us are pretty strong, too. We've survived a hell of a lot; we're not going to die now." The words came, and I didn't even have to think. I had always thought comforting people was difficult...I guess that changed when you were determined enough.

"But I..." She hesitated. I didn't give her a chance to finish the thought; instead I stepped forward, reaching out and gripping her shoulders.

"Hey. Look at me."

She did, and I held her gaze as well as I could.

"You can do this." My tone was firm. "I know you can. I have zero doubts."

Sheena's eyes widened; something in my expression must have gotten through to her. "Brittany..."

"I know it's scary," I said earnestly. "But don't worry, because you're not alone. We're a team, remember? You helped me out at the Tower of Salvation, and I'm returning the favor. I've got your back."

I finally let my hands fall to my sides, watching her. She stared at me for a few seconds with a look of surprise on her face. Then her expression wavered a little and she rubbed at her eyes.

"Thanks..." Sheena said quietly. Her voice was unsteady. "I just...I need some time."

I patted her on the shoulder, knowing she didn't want me to see her cry. That was one thing I could understand perfectly. "I'm gonna head back. Think about what I said, okay?"

Without waiting for a response, I left. When I looked over my shoulder, she was back in that sitting position, hiding her face in her knees. The villagers continued to pass by, indifferent to her suffering. The world was cruel.

* * *

On my way back from talking with Sheena, I saw Zelos standing with his back to one of the buildings. His arms were crossed and he was staring out over the river, a serious expression on his face. He hadn't let his real emotions slip through since we had fought this morning; it was strange, as always, to see him wearing a look like that. Was he worried about Sheena?

The thought of Zelos worrying about Sheena clashed with the memory of his words earlier today. If he was such an asshole, then how could he have a side to him that was so understanding? It didn't make any sense.

Zelos suddenly turned his head, and his cool blue eyes met my own. I almost flinched, immediately breaking eye contact and marching off without saying a word. Great, he'd caught me staring...

After a minute or so, my marching came to an abrupt halt when I bumped into something.

"Wh-Whoa!"

I recognized that voice. Stumbling backwards, I looked up. "...Lloyd? Uh...sorry."

He raised his eyebrows. "Oh, Brittany. I was just coming to get you. Lunch is finished...hey, where's Sheena?"

I jerked a thumb over my shoulder. "Back there somewhere."

"Did you talk to her?" he asked, frowning.

"I tried," I replied with a shrug. "I'm not sure how well I got through to her. Why don't you try talking to her, Lloyd? Bring her some lunch, too. You're good at this kind of thing."

"...Yeah." He smiled weakly. "By the way, Zelos went out earlier, too. Can you tell him lunch is ready?"

"Zelos? Uh..." I blanched. "Well, I mean...h-he's close by, right? You can't just tell him yourself?"

The smile fell instantly. "Okay, now I know something's up. Why is it such a big deal? You've been avoiding him all day."

"I had a fight with him this morning, okay?" I snapped, looking away.

"Huh?" Lloyd asked incredulously. "You two?"

"Who else?" I huffed. "So that's why. I think whatever friendship we had is pretty much over, so...so I don't want to see him."

"That's the most idiotic thing I've ever heard," he growled. "Go talk to him. Right now."

"Did you even hear a word I just said?"

"I heard just fine." Lloyd crossed his arms. "Are you gonna let one stupid argument ruin everything? If all you do is avoid each other, nothing will change! You're happy with that?"

"No! I..." I clenched my fists, feeling tears threatening to come. "You just don't get it. He hates me."

"Brittany..."

It took an effort, but I was able to compose myself. I looked up and met his gaze. "Go to Sheena. She's the one who really needs a friend right now. I'm just..." I trailed off, shaking my head. "I need to learn to handle my own problems anyway."

And then I continued walking to where the rest of the group was. Lloyd didn't stop me, but I could practically feel him staring. Dammit...why couldn't I just avoid thinking about that stupid problem, no matter how much I tried?

Genis had just made some sandwiches for lunch, so it was easy enough for Lloyd to take one for himself and for Sheena. I sat down with everyone else, watching him leave. No one asked me how it had gone with Sheena; we were just going to avoid the subject for now, apparently.

"Where is Zelos?" Presea asked me as Genis passed out food.

I shrugged. "I think Lloyd's gonna get him. He should be here soon."

Raine just gave me a knowing look; I avoided meeting her gaze. Genis sat down next to Presea, frowning at the rest of us.

"He can eat after. It's his own fault for wandering off in the first place. Besides, I don't mind if it's just the five of us."

Wow. Considering the fact that our group usually numbered nine, five seemed like a pretty small number. Then it occurred to me that I was eating lunch with all of the more mature (well, Genis was most of the time) members of the group. Hopefully that meant everyone would know to avoid certain other subjects.

"Seconded," I agreed with the young mage.

"...I suppose it will be considerably more peaceful," Raine finally relented with a sigh.

"Hmm..." Regal swallowed a bite of food, frowning thoughtfully. "This is an interesting flavor."

Genis relaxed a little. "Oh, you noticed? I couldn't find any mustard, so I bought some stuff called wasabi at the market here. They said it was pretty close."

I froze with the sandwich halfway to my mouth. "...Oh boy."

"What? What is it?" he asked, confused.

"You...you didn't put a lot of it, did you?" I stared at the sandwich suspiciously. Yup, there was that green paste...my worst enemy.

"I don't know, just the normal amount, I guess."

"Is something wrong?" The Professor watched me. I noticed that Regal was the only one that had touched his food so far.

"Wasabi is evil," I mumbled.

"Oh." Genis rolled his eyes. "For a second, I thought there was an actual problem."

"H-Hey!" I protested. "It's the truth!"

"It tastes fine to me," Presea remarked, having finally taken a bite.

Raine tried it as well. "Yes, it seems a bit strong, but I don't see what the issue is."

"Are you kidding me?" I whined. "It makes me feel like I inhaled a gallon of water through my nose!"

"You're just exaggerating. You haven't even tried it," Genis pointed out. "Maybe the last time you had it, the cook used too much."

"Maybe," I said doubtfully.

I really didn't want to experience that burning feeling if I didn't have to. It was like...the worst thing ever. I loved most Asian food, but wasabi to me was physically painful to consume. But then again, I hardly ever disliked anything Genis made, no matter what the ingredients were.

I finally heaved a sigh, about to take a small bite, but I was interrupted when Zelos barged into the room.

"Heeeeey, hunnies!" he called, blatantly ignoring the males present. "What'd I miss?"

"Oh, great," Genis grumbled.

"Hey." Zelos glared. "Was I talking to you, brat?"

"Sit down," Raine said with slight exasperation. "We're eating now."

"Right, right," the Chosen said, reverting back to his carefree tone. He took a seat next to the Professor. "What's for lunch?"

"Wasabi sandwiches," Presea answered.

"U-Uh..." Genis blushed. "Th-They're not just wasabi..."

"Eh?" Zelos raised his eyebrows. "Isn't that some weird Mizuho spice? I've never had it."

"Brittany seems to be quite familiar with it," Regal offered, glancing over at me.

"It's horseradish," I explained with a grimace; I'd taken a bite and was now severely regretting it. "It's an evil green paste that tastes deceptively like mustard at first, until a few seconds later it destroys your nasal passages and makes part of your soul wither and die-"

"Hey, not bad," Zelos cut me off, having tried it while I was rambling.

"Oh, bite me," I muttered angrily, a little hurt at being totally ignored. I had been half-joking, but still.

The redhead didn't give any indication that he'd heard my little remark. I could sense Regal and Raine's looks, though. Upset, I took a large bite of my sandwich to distract myself-and nearly choked when the burning reached a whole new intensity. How could anyone stand this stuff?

I was tempted to get up and leave with some bullshit excuse, but I had done that too much lately and I knew Raine would stop me. So I just sat there sullenly, forcing myself to eat what I could. I would need the energy, even if it was from disgusting horseradish paste.

The rest of lunch went mostly without incident. I just kept my mouth shut while the others made conversation. It was a big enough project trying to finish my food. Now I understood how Lloyd felt when he was forced to eat tomatoes...though I couldn't possibly understand how tomatoes could be anywhere near as bad.

After lunch, everyone pretty much drifted apart and kept themselves occupied. Genis was nervously flirting with Presea (what else was new?), Raine was flipping through one of her books, Zelos had wandered off again, and Regal had offered to check the market here and see if we needed anything that needed restocking. Lloyd and Sheena were still out; I hoped their absence meant it was going well.

It was awkward just sitting around here when everyone else was busy. I didn't want to risk running into Zelos, but I decided to go out anyway. Maybe taking a walk would clear my head or something. I really just wanted to kill time until we could head out. Normally I would be grateful for this little break, but right now I just wanted to go get all of this over with and rescue Colette. The more game events we got through, the closer I would be to getting home. Waiting around here just prolonged the whole damn thing.

I made my way out of the small building, walking down one of the town's many paths. Though I was a little stressed out at this point in time, I did have to grudgingly admit that Mizuho's atmosphere was pretty relaxing. I could see the dark trees of Gaoracchia along the village outskirts, but their gloominess didn't affect this place at all. And planted throughout the town were what I recognized to be cherry trees. If only we could've come here in spring...

Across town, a tall figure could be seen moving amongst the few shop stalls. That was Regal. Lloyd was walking beside him; the two of them seemed to be having a friendly chat. It was good to see they were getting along.

At the end of the path I was on, beneath one of those cherry trees, I saw Zelos. I noted with a pang that he was sitting alone on the same bench we'd used last time we were here. That was back when I'd been so conflicted...I had decided to trust him again, and he'd made me feel a lot better without even trying.

I couldn't help but focus on that memory. He hadn't been obligated to try and cheer me up, but he had given it a shot anyway. Was that the real Zelos, or was it the bitter, insensitive man from this morning? He was staring straight ahead with a distant look in his eyes; that seemed so unlike him. Was he upset? Did he regret saying the things he did?

There was an open spot next to him on the bench, just enough room for another person. I could do it. I could just walk up there right now, sit next to him, and tell him exactly what I was feeling. Maybe then...maybe things would stop being such a mess...

...I just couldn't bring myself to do it. What if he got up and walked away before I had a chance to speak? I didn't think I'd be able to take that. It'd just make things worse.

"You gonna talk to him?"

The sudden voice caused me to jump. I whirled around to see Sheena standing behind me; she looked a lot more composed than she had been earlier.

"Uh..." I stared at the ground. "N-No...I don't know what to do."

"You guys really had a bad fight, huh?" Sheena crossed her arms, frowning. "I can't remember the last time I saw him like this. He usually just shrugs everything off."

"We both said some nasty things to each other," I mumbled. "He made his feelings about me pretty clear. I don't think we can be friends."

"It hasn't even been a day yet. Don't start giving up already," the ninja said firmly.

I looked up at her, surprised. I had been expecting her to get pissed at Zelos and say I was better off. "Wh...What do you mean?"

Sheena's eyes softened. "I know Zelos acts like an idiot, but he's really not such a bad guy in the end. I'm sure if you wait a few days and talk to him then, it'll work out."

"What makes you so sure?" I asked sullenly.

She raised her eyebrows. "Well, because you're a good person. Show him that side of you that you showed me earlier. Trust me, Zelos has a tendency to say stupid things that he doesn't mean. He'll come through if you give him the chance."

I chewed on my lower lip. The way she spoke about Zelos reminded me that she'd actually known him for far longer than me. My prior knowledge didn't make much of a difference...just because I knew some of his secrets didn't mean I knew him through and through. He was bound to be a lot more complex than that. They might not get along all the time, but Sheena knew Zelos a lot better than I did.

"Hey...you really think I'm a good person?"

Sheena smiled weakly. "You even need to ask?"

"Sometimes I have doubts," I admitted.

"We all do," she replied with a sigh. "You know I do. Nobody's perfect. But do you think we'd even be friends if I thought you were a jerk?"

"Well...no." I rubbed the back of my neck, a little embarrassed.

"Exactly. You still came to cheer me up even though you're obviously still upset. If Zelos doesn't want to be friends with a person like that, it's his own loss."

"Sheena..." I was touched. It was hard to speak for a moment. "I...um...thanks. That means a lot."

"Don't mention it," she replied, and her smile was a little more earnest this time. "It's no fun seeing you depressed."

"So I guess Lloyd made you feel better?" I asked, honestly curious. Apparently their conversation was over with if he was out chatting away with Regal.

Sheena's cheeks turned pink. "W-Well...yeah. I'm still nervous about the whole thing, but I'm going to try." Then she shook her head, laughing a bit. "I don't even know how he helped. He spent most of the time complaining about the wasabi in his sandwich."

"Really?" I asked eagerly, and then burst out laughing. "Yes! I'm not the only one!" That was so like Lloyd. I could just imagine how their conversation had gone.

She put a hand to her forehead. "Jeez...I should've known."

"What?" I grinned. "Everyone else was acting like I was crazy. But Lloyd understands!"

"Uh...what do I understand?"

We both turned to see Lloyd and Regal, both of whom were carrying bags of supplies. Aww...he'd helped Regal with the shopping. What a good little boy he was.

"The evilness that is wasabi," I explained happily.

Lloyd's nose instantly wrinkled. "Ugh! That stuff was so gross!"

"I know, right?" I agreed. "Isn't it terrible?"

"Yeah! And it made my nose burn, too!"

"And it's green and nasty looking," I added.

"It's almost as bad as tomatoes," Lloyd remarked grumpily.

"Oh, please..." Sheena rolled her eyes. "It's not that bad!"

"It's horrible!" Lloyd countered loudly.

"I'm gonna die!" I said at the same time, clutching dramatically at my throat.

Then two resounding smacks could be heard, and in the next second Sheena was storming away and we were left to rub our sore heads. Regal stood between us, bemused.

"Uh...what'd I do?" Lloyd whimpered.

I smiled, laughing lightly. "Either way, I think she's in a better mood."

"Yeah..." the brunet returned the smile. "Yeah, she is."

* * *

Sheena wasn't the only one in a better mood. Her words to me, as well as Lloyd's similar hatred of a certain food, had pretty much made my day. I still felt bad about the whole Zelos thing, but I was a little more confident now. Sheena had outright told me I was a good person, and I knew without needing to ask that Lloyd supported me as well. How could I go wrong with friends like that?

I was trying to be the best person I could be. So...so if that stupid ass Zelos couldn't see that, then he was the one that had problems.

Currently, we were all gathered back in the building we'd been staying in. Everyone was sitting around the table as we discussed our next move.

"The Temple of Lightning is on an island north of here," Sheena explained. "If we leave around now and take the EC, we should be able to finish before nightfall."

Wow...it was still early afternoon, now that I thought about it. This day was going by incredibly slow.

"I see," Raine said with a nod.

"And the Vice-Chief said he'd send somebody to tell us about the Rheairds, too, right?" Lloyd piped up.

"Yeah," the ninja replied. "So by tomorrow, we should be on our way to wherever they are. Then we can go straight to rescuing Colette."

I suppressed a shudder. First Volt, and then Yuan. Lightning and more lightning. I really wasn't looking forward to the Renegade base. It seemed like there were too many ways for it to go wrong. Zelos was going to alert Yuan as soon as we got there, so how could I know for sure that things would happen correctly? He might not decide to wait for us at the Rheaird hangar. Maybe Yuan would just set off an alarm and we'd have to run like hell from a bunch of Renegade troops.

Ugh...if we got surrounded and thrown in jail cells, that would delay our rescue mission. Then we might end up being too late or something. Just thinking about it made my head hurt.

"Right," Lloyd said, a determined look in his eyes.

"Hey, uh, guys?" I spoke up, remembering something. "Not to change the subject, but I think there's one thing we should do before setting out."

"What is it?" the Professor asked.

"Well, Regal and Presea are with us for the long-term now, right?" I looked around at everyone. "We should probably at least give them a condensed version of what's happened with Cruxis and all that."

"Oh yeah, you're right," Lloyd remarked with a frown. "We haven't really told you guys anything yet, have we?"

Regal nodded. "I was prepared to wait for an appropriate time to ask...if you do not feel comfortable telling the tale just yet, I don't mind."

"No, I think Brittany has a point," Sheena said. "We should make sure we're all on the same page before anything happens. I don't think it'll hurt to stop and tell them now."

"All right," Raine agreed. "But we'll leave immediately after. Any objections?"

Nobody spoke up, so after a second or so we began trying to figure out who would start. Eventually the Professor began, and we all fell silent. Even Zelos seemed interested; he'd only seen Sheena's letter, which was probably an even more condensed version of events. I doubted he'd heard the entire story.

So, Raine told the story with some of us filling in at certain parts. She told of the Oracle and the Renegade attack, and of their first meeting with Kratos. Lloyd bristled visibly at this, but then he went on to tell the story of Iselia's non-aggression treaty and how he and Genis had violated it.

Then they told of the first days of the journey, all of the times I hadn't been there for: Triet, the Fire Seal, Palmacosta and Magnius' ranch. I listened closely, interested in hearing how things had actually happened in real life.

Then I began to speak, explaining my own first meeting with the group. Pietro and Luin, becoming allies with Sheena, our multiple trips to the Asgard Ranch, the Tower of Mana, Colette's slow loss of her humanity...

The hard part came soon after that. It was Sheena who picked up the story then; she explained the events at the Tower of Salvation pretty thoroughly, and in a relatively neutral voice. Regal's expression became rather grim as he listened. Presea still wasn't very expressive, but she did look a little downcast.

Finally, we revealed everything we knew about Cruxis, the Desians, the Renegades, and the relation between the two worlds. And Lloyd repeated the story of my own origins and how I had ended up in Sylvarant in the first place. I sent him an immensely grateful look; that story was one I hated to tell. I didn't expect Regal or Presea to believe it, but thankfully they didn't object or voice any skeptical thoughts as the story was being told.

After giving a brief summary of the things we'd accomplished in Tethe'alla, we finished the tale. Even while speaking nonstop and keeping it simple, it had taken us the better part of two hours to tell the entire thing.

"...And that's about it," Lloyd said, as if we'd just given them a summary of what we'd eaten for breakfast.

"That's quite a tale," Regal remarked.

"Yeah...a lot's happened in the past six months," Lloyd agreed.

And I hadn't even been around for part of it. I still couldn't believe I'd come this far...and we still had so far to go. Sometimes I wondered if the journey would ever end. The fact that it would be over someday just seemed unreal.

"And after all Colette went through...she has been kidnapped again," Presea added with a frown.

"There is a world where it is a common occurrence for people to lose their lives to Exspheres..." Regal shook his head, a dark look in his eyes. "Cruxis must be stopped."

"Exactly." Lloyd nodded, getting to his feet. "Now let's go save Colette!"

"I'm with Lloyd!" Genis piped up.

"We're still okay if we head out now," Sheena said. "Should we get going?"

"I'm ready whenever you guys are," I remarked.

"It's settled, then." Raine stood up as well. "Let's hurry. I'd like to study the temple afterwards if we have time!"

"...Professor..." Lloyd, Genis and I all sighed knowingly, shaking our heads. Some things never changed.

* * *

Not much worthy of note happened on the way to the Temple of Lightning. The trip actually went by pretty fast; all we had to do was head through Gaoracchia Forest for a little while until we reached the coast. Then it was mostly smooth sailing on the EC (the Professor lost some of her enthusiasm when she remembered we had to cross the ocean), and before I knew it, we were there. All in all, the journey only took a few hours.

The sky was beginning to take on a pink hue as we drew closer to the temple. It was early evening. If all went well, we'd be out of here in another few hours, with plenty of time for a good night's sleep. Then I assumed we'd be off to the Renegade base in the morning. One fun trip after another, of course.

An ominous thunderhead floated in the sky over the temple. The closer we got, the gloomier it became. Sheena grew more and more tense; Corrine, perched on her shoulder, continually murmured encouragement into her ear. I still hadn't come up with a plan regarding the little summon spirit, and dread was beginning to settle in the pit of my stomach. There didn't seem to be any way around it. What could I do other than tell everyone what was supposed to happen in the hopes of avoiding it? Even then, it might not even make a difference.

My first thought upon entering the Temple of Lightning was that it was dark. There were some lights (electric, unsurprisingly), but it was infuriatingly dim. It didn't help that we were walking on elevated purple pathways that floated over...I didn't know what. Dark clouds or something. It reminded me of the Tower of Salvation in that aspect, and that didn't do much for my nerves, either.

"Huh...we got in pretty easy," Lloyd remarked, looking around as we traveled further in. "I didn't see an oracle stone anywhere."

"This is the flourishing world, so it probably isn't functioning as a seal right now," Raine explained.

"Does that mean we won't have to deal with traps?" Genis asked.

"No," Sheena said. "I remember there being traps the last time I came here...but the people with me disarmed them all for me then, so I don't know exactly what we're going to run into."

We all froze as we saw a sudden flash, hearing a rumbling peal of thunder. Lightning had struck the platform up ahead of us. I felt myself break out in a sweat; something told me that lightning was a little stronger than the spells Kvar and Yuan used. I was in no mood to see what electrocution felt like.

"Uh...that's gonna be a problem," Zelos remarked.

"Whoa..." Lloyd breathed.

"Lightning strikes higher ground," Raine said. "We should stay on the lower platforms until we figure out a way around."

As we continued onward into danger, I found myself glancing repeatedly at Regal and his large stature. After a while, I inched my way over to Presea and Genis. Hey, if someone was gonna get struck, I wasn't standing near our group lightning rod.

With every step, I became more and more aware that the clock was ticking. If I didn't think of something soon, before I knew it there would be no time left. I sank into silence; thinking, calculating...

Lightning flashed again. I noted just how pale Sheena's face was. She was trying to hide it, but I could see that her hands were shaking slightly. She was about as frightened as I had been on the night before we'd headed to the Tower of Salvation.

I had to do something...just this once, I had to make a difference. For Sheena.

* * *

**A/N: And that's all for now! this chapter was borderline painful to write. I just had such a hard time with it. DX I think it'll get easier from here on out, though, so hopefully the next chapter won't take me two months. XD**

**Oh, and another thing I forgot to mention. OC Brit now has a Formspring, just because. XD If you feel like asking her anything, go right ahead. Maybe the right questions will inspire me or something. Who knows. :P Here's the link:**

**http : / /www .formspring. me /WannabeHero**

**Aaaaand as always, reviews are much appreciated! Review and maybe you won't get struck by lightning. Hurr hurr.**

**I'm a little curious, so I guess I'll ask this one last thing before I go: Pairings? It's been brought up once or twice, and I'm wondering what you guys think. Should OC Brit have any sort of romantic interest? Any of you shipping BritxLloyd or BritxZelos? XD I mean, I've considered the idea, but I don't know. It won't amount to much more than a few fluffy scenes here and there, but I'd like to know what my readers prefer before I start getting any solid ideas. XD**

**EDIT: I'm getting different answers from a bunch of different people, so I put a poll up on my profile. Go vote there, please. XD**

**Anyway, that's it for now~**

**Next time: Facing Volt.**


	46. Shadow of the Past

**A/N: Oh, hello there! Remember me? I'm that chick who never updates on time. **

**Wooow. Um...I blame SI plot bunnies. Really, they sneak up on me and make me write totally unrelated things. This time I got stuck writing some other Silent Hill fic (not even ItN!). Maybe I'll post that someday...but it won't be someday soon. Anyway, I'm going off topic.**

**Here is the new chapter! Hopefully the going gets easier after that...I seriously hate writing anything involving summon spirits, lol.**

**Disclaimer: I disclaim this!**

This place sucked hardcore, seriously. The Temple of Lightning was definitely my second most hated temple. Which I guess wasn't saying much, considering I'd only been to two temples so far...whatever! It was horrible anyway. There wasn't a weird bloody basement, which was good, but there was still far too much electricity around here. Sure, I had anticipated this, but that didn't mean I had to like it.

We had reached the end of a long pathway; it branched out to the left and right, leading...wherever. The large staircase directly in front of us was what had caught my attention. I had a feeling that one would take us where we needed to go.

...Unfortunately, the landing at the top of the staircase was being hit with lightning every five seconds. That didn't look terribly safe.

"...Man." Lloyd stared up ahead, shuddering a little. "This place is really dangerous. Why is there so much lightning?"

"Perhaps the building itself is electrically charged," Regal mused.

Ugh...it wasn't just the lightning, it was the noise accompanying it. The closer bolts emitted a loud crack when they struck, and the combined effect created a noise like a paper bag being crumpled. That, along with the sound of thunder rumbling in the background, wasn't doing much for my nerves. The inside of the temple was a lot louder than I'd expected.

"Either way," Raine said, breaking me out of my thoughts, "we should be careful. There's no telling just how powerful the shocks are."

"Yeah..." Lloyd murmured in a serious tone. "We can't afford to get hit before we've made the pact."

"I'd rather not get hit after we've made the pact, either," Zelos pointed out exactly what I had been thinking.

"...Seconded," Sheena muttered grudgingly. I was tempted to speak up as well, but I kept my mouth shut. Less talking! More thinking!

"What should we do?" Genis spoke up, gesturing to the staircase ahead. "We can't go up there, we'll get hit."

"It must be one of the temple's trials." The Professor frowned thoughtfully. "I'm sure there's a way to bypass it. Let's try seeing where these pathways lead."

"Right," Lloyd agreed. "Uh...left! Let's go left."

Nobody gave any protest to that, so that was the direction we went first. As we walked, I continued to avoid the taller people of the group, thinking quietly to myself. Right now I was attempting to remember what the puzzles in the temple had been like in the game. There had been a few of those Sorcerer's Ring pedestals scattered through the temple, right? Different colored lightning corresponded to all the colorful blocks placed everywhere.

...I wasn't seeing any colorful blocks. Okay, so that wasn't too helpful. But then again, if you needed the Sorcerer's Ring to get through this temple, then how would the ninjas of Mizuho have done it when they came? The colored blocks must have been another of the illogical game elements that didn't translate into real life. That meant that I really had no clue how to get through this temple now, and I would be of no help whatsoever. Sweet.

The path we followed wasn't all that long. It ended in a round platform with what looked like a switch in the middle of it. It was the kind that could be depressed by stepping on it.

"Ooh! I wonder what it does?" Lloyd grinned with sudden excitement, jogging up to it.

"Lloyd!" Raine hissed a warning, causing him to freeze and look back at us.

"...Oh." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Uh...sorry, Professor. Can I press it?"

She let out a sigh. "Next time, don't rush up to something without examining it thoroughly first. How many times have I had to tell you?"

"...A lot," he admitted.

Raine turned to Sheena. "Do you have any idea what this switch might do?"

The ninja shook her head, looking downcast. "No...sorry."

"What do we do?" Genis grimaced. "It could just be a trap. What if the person who steps on it gets struck?"

"Perhaps it would be all right if one of us were to use a protective spell," Presea remarked.

"My cute little rosebud's got a point," Zelos said with a grin, earning a glare from Genis. "Guardian should do the trick, right? Even if lightning strikes the person standing on the switch, it won't kill them that way."

"Fine, why don't you do it, then?" Genis asked with a scowl.

Zelos was unfazed. "Me? No, no. Can't risk my hair getting singed. Besides, Bud already volunteered!" He patted Lloyd on the back, who was looking considerably less enthusiastic.

"...If no one else is willing, I will do it," Regal said. Man, I was liking him more every second. He had to have nerves of steel to volunteer for something like that.

Lloyd just shook his head. "It's okay, I can do it." On second thought, Lloyd was pretty damn brave sometimes, too.

"If you're sure," Raine said. "Be careful."

He nodded, and then walked up to the switch on the floor. After a moment of concentration, he brought up the green shield that I recognized to be Guardian, and maintained as he stepped on to the switch. It depressed into the floor with a quiet click. Several seconds passed...and nothing happened.

"...Well, that was anticlimactic," Zelos remarked.

Lloyd let the shield fall, stepping off the switch and looking disappointed. "Nothing happened..."

"Look." Genis pointed. "It rose back up."

Surely enough, rather than staying depressed like a normal switch would have, it had reverted back to its original state. Just stepping on it like that was clearly ineffective.

"Hmm...we might be missing something," Raine murmured thoughtfully.

I raised an eyebrow. Jeez, this was easy as pie. Pressing the switch hadn't had any immediate effect on the area around us, which meant it wasn't one of those switches that had to be constantly pressed down by a weight in order to work. According to my gamer's intuition, that left just one other obvious option.

"There's probably another switch at the end of the opposite path." I finally spoke up, causing everyone to look at me. "If they're both pressed at the same time, I bet something will happen."

"I guess that makes sense," Genis said.

"Not bad, spitfire. You sound almost like you've done this before." Zelos glanced over at me, smirking.

I rolled my eyes, irritated with how easily he'd caught that. "Whatever. I'll go press the other switch."

Regal and Raine followed me down the other path; it would have probably been okay for me to go alone, but we had seen some monsters flying around through the thunder clouds in the distance. Come to think of it, we'd been seeing monsters more often lately. It had to be one of the more immediate effects of the shift in mana flow.

After a few minutes of walking, we reached the end of the pathway. As I'd predicted, the two paths were pretty much symmetrical; a switch rested in the center of this one as well.

"Be careful," Raine said when I took a step forward. She glanced over one shoulder. "It seems Lloyd is already on the other switch. We don't know what will happen."

"Got it," I replied obediently, though I wasn't too worried. I brought up my own Guardian to satisfy the two adults that were watching, and then stepped on to the switch. It sank into the floor under my weight.

Movement on the edge of my vision caused me to turn. I tensed, suddenly wondering if a monster was going to drop down, but it turned out to be something else entirely. On either side of the central staircase were two raised platforms that had strange looking pedestals on them. When I saw a long metal rod rising from each pedestal, I realized that they were actually lightning rods. Stepping on the switches had triggered them to activate.

And just like that, almost every bolt of lightning I saw now flew towards one of those rods. They were the highest points in this area, meaning that I didn't have to worry about getting struck anymore. And the landing at the top of the staircase was now clear, making it safe to proceed.

"It seems your theory was correct," Regal remarked.

I shrugged, trying to seem casual. "Simple logic. Shall we go?"

Raine nodded, and the three of us walked down the path to meet up with the others. Thankfully, neither of them seemed suspicious. I had a feeling Zelos had just been shooting his mouth off for the hell of it...still, even if he didn't realize it, I hated that he managed to catch on so often. I didn't want to slip up to him of all people.

* * *

The rest of the temple went in a similar manner. Most of the time, we found that the path we needed to take was impassable due to lightning, but that dilemma was easily solved via switches and lightning rods.

...Well, sometimes it was easily solved. As we got deeper into the building, more and more switches appeared. Some of them were traps and it was practically impossible to tell which ones were the right ones to press. And unfortunately, Lloyd's strategy was to press all of the goddamned things and see what happened. He tended to do this before any of us had a chance to protest. That was Lloyd for you.

And he was doing it again. This time a shrill whine split the air, causing most of us to wince. And then a trio of old, abandoned swords on the floor suddenly floated into the air, revealing that they were not actually weapons left behind by previous visitors.

"Shit! What the hell?" I yelled with dismay as one of the blades flew right at me. I lifted Kerberos to retaliate, and did so just in time. The sword clashed with my own; I felt myself pale a few shades when I saw that the other blade was electrified. It emitted a low hum as electricity danced along the metal.

"Not more monsters!" Lloyd expressed his own frustration, parrying strikes from another of the swords.

Sheena rolled her eyes, throwing one of her cards. "This is what happens when you press buttons left and right!"

"Try not to get us killed, eh, Bud?" Zelos called good-naturedly, fending off the third monster. With his fluid fighting style and lightweight sword, he seemed to be having the easiest time of it.

As Regal helped keep the blades busy, Presea hung back to guard the mages. It looked like Genis and Raine were the only ones that could really make a difference; physical attacks weren't doing much of anything to these things. Jesus, I hated monsters you couldn't hack away at.

I was having a hard time fending off my own monster, since I lacked a second weapon or a shield to defend with. And seriously, how the hell was I supposed to fight a floating weapon? In a swordfight, you're supposed to aim for the person holding the thing! Since I had no idea how to really proceed, I found myself constantly on the defensive, using the flat of my blade to block the weapon's attacks.

Regal saved me by aiming a good kick at the thing, successfully distracting it long enough to recuperate. For such a big guy, he was surprisingly flexible; he lifted his knees high, using his metal greaves and the thick iron of his shackles to defend himself.

I found myself out of breath, my shoulders burning. This was the most fighting I'd done in a while. We had been battling monsters rather frequently ever since entering the temple, and it was beginning to feel like we'd somehow gone back to Sylvarant. Now that I was hurting from all the physical exertion, I found myself regretting not keeping up the morning training routine. Maybe it was time to force Lloyd back into it...we couldn't afford to get out of shape.

Swinging Kerberos again, I successfully caught the monster's attention and gave Regal a break. My arms were really starting to burn, too. It wasn't just that I was out of practice. Kerberos was heavier than Loki had been, and now that I was using it for an extended period of time, I was feeling the difference. And holy crap, was it a difference.

The battle ended when Genis and Raine cast their own spells at the same time, the combined effort hitting all three of the swords. The monsters clattered to the ground, reverting to their original state. Zelos gave them a good hard kick, sending them over the edge of the platform and into the abyss below.

And with that over with, it was time to move on to more areas with more monsters. Lloyd thankfully found the right switches to press this time. The next room we headed into was enclosed...and pitch dark. Genis and Zelos each brought up a small flame for illumination, but other than that, the flashes of lightning were our only means of seeing the path ahead.

I found myself clinging to Lloyd...not a surprise. Heights and lightning were just a bad combination for me. There was nothing but darkness below us...if I fell, how long would it take to hit the bottom? Was there a bottom? These stupid temples never made any sense.

"You okay?" Lloyd asked me quietly. He was close enough that I could hear him over the constant rumble of thunder, but I doubted any of the others were even aware that we were speaking.

"I'll live," I replied with a small chuckle. My body was contradicting my words completely; I had his arm in a death grip. He didn't seem fazed by this, fortunately. He was probably used to it by now...that was embarrassing.

"I'm kind of worried about Sheena," he confided to me, leaning a little closer to be sure our conversation was private. It was also easier for us to see each other's faces that way. "She's been really quiet."

I nodded. "She's scared. It's like I was before the Tower, remember?"

"Exactly." He seemed satisfied that we were on the same page. "So what should we do?"

"What do you mean?" I asked with a frown.

"We're the meat shields, remember?" Lloyd grinned. "So it's our job to back her up directly. We can hold Volt off while she beats him to a pulp."

I couldn't help but snort at that, feeling some of my general unhappiness fade. All that worrying, and five seconds with Lloyd was enough to make me feel better. He made it all sound so easy, so simple...and I liked the way he said 'we'. Sometimes he just made me glad to be part of all this, part of the team.

"Meat shields...haven't heard you say that since the Asgard ranch," I remarked with a small smile. "Though our 'plan' last time was to flail our swords around and hope Kvar's attacks missed."

"We're stronger now," he shot back immediately. "And we've changed a lot since then, too. Besides, we've got time now, right? Let's think of something good."

My smile faded. I hadn't even really thought about the strategy to fight Volt...I'd been so enveloped in my worries about Corrine. But if Lloyd and I could keep the summon sufficiently distracted, then maybe...

"Remember Undine? She's practically made of water." I grimaced. "I think Volt might be the same way...it's probably going to be dangerous to hit him."

"Right." To my surprise, Lloyd took this in stride. His eyes were full of determination. "So we use longer range techs, like Demon Fang. Oh, you know Hell Pyre, right? I bet that'll be more effective. I think Beast might work okay too..."

My eyebrows flew up. "Whoa, Lloyd, you're actually strategizing."

His grin came back. "I told you, we're different now. So what do you think?"

I paused for a moment to concentrate as we moved up a staircase with no railing; it was difficult to do so with such a small amount of light. When our group was moving on a predictable straight path again, I spoke.

"You're right about longer range techs, I think. We'll have to move fast, too. I don't think we'll be able to make much difference damage-wise, but we should be able to keep Volt distracted. Shit...but my sword's heavy. I don't know if I can move quickly enough."

Lloyd shook his head. "You're faster than you think, even with that sword. Besides, we know each other's moves pretty well. We can cover for each other, too."

After a moment of thought, I smiled. All that training together did have its benefits...if there was anyone I was accustomed to fighting with, it was Lloyd. Out of everyone in the group, Lloyd and Sheena were my best teammates in a battle. Wow...was he actually making me feel a little more optimistic about this? I'll be damned; Lloyd was a miracle worker.

"Okay," I said. "Long-range techs, move fast, cover for each other. I can remember that. We just won't give Volt time to attack anyone else." Then I hesitated, making a face. "Are you sure you're not putting too much faith in me as a fighter? You know I'm still not up to par with everyone else-"

"You're stupid." The deadpan look he gave me told me his thoughts on the issue, and I laughed.

"I know. Thanks for reminding me, Lloyd."

His eyes softened and his good humor returned. "Okay, so don't forget the plan."

I nodded, giving him a serious look. "Yessir. Commence Operation: Meat Shield!"

Now it was Lloyd's turn to laugh. "Dork."

"Says the dude with floppy hair and suspenders," I shot back.

"This is just my personal opinion, but I really think you kids should just get it over with and make out already." A third voice interrupted us, and I found my entire body tensing when I realized that Lloyd and I had been leaning a little too close to each other during our discussion.

Lloyd immediately backed away, and I could see that his face was red even in this poor lighting. The brunet rounded on Zelos. "I-It wasn't like that! We were just talking!"

"Uh huh." The redhead was wearing a self-satisfied smirk. "You keep telling yourself that, Bud."

The others were now glancing over at us, and to my dismay I felt my own face heating up as well. Jesus! Did Zelos have to make everything some kind of spectacle?

"What about you, hunny?" Zelos crooned, placing a hand on my shoulder. "Y'know, I can't say I approve of you preying on poor, innocent little Lloyd here."

"H-Hey!" The brunet shouted in protest.

"Ugh...do we really have time for this?" Genis groaned, exasperated. For once, I could completely sympathize with the glare he sent in Zelos' direction. Why did the guy have to be so damn obnoxious at a time like this?

Not only that, I hated the way he'd worded that last statement. As if I wasn't innocent at all. That smug bastard thought he had me all figured out. Dammit, why couldn't I ever form a consistent opinion on him? One minute I was ready to apologize as if I was the one at fault, and the next I just wanted to deck him all over again!

No. I wasn't going to let myself get worked up over that when we had a way more important problem to worry about. I had to focus on Volt, not my own steadily building anger at Zelos' implications.

Since I couldn't think of anything good to say other than snappy retorts, I did the next best thing: imitated Kratos.

"Well, hunny?" Zelos winked, but his look wasn't all that playful. He was being an ass just because he could.

"It's dark in here, and the footing is treacherous. Let's just focus on making it to the next area." When Kratos was being pressed with a question he didn't want to answer, he tended to blatantly ignore it and move on. Maybe that strategy would work for me.

"Ouch. Pretty cold," the Chosen remarked, pouting. But he dropped it after that.

Everyone fell silent once more and there was nothing to distract me from my fear of heights. I tried to make my face neutral, taking in a breath and letting it out slowly. Though I had moved away from Lloyd when Zelos had spoken up, I realized that at some point I had reached out to grip his coat sleeve. I needed some kind of reassurance.

He didn't even seem to notice. Instead, his expression was dark and brooding; I couldn't help but wonder what he was thinking about.

After a moment, Lloyd looked over at me. "...Is my hair really that floppy?"

A loud smack could be heard as my palm connected with my forehead.

* * *

Time after that seemed to pass too quickly. By some miracle, we were able to make it to the deepest part of the temple; there came a point when we entered a large room, and I didn't see any other passageways connected to it. It was then that I noticed the altar at the very back of the room. We'd arrived at the seal.

The altar was on a raised platform, bringing back sickening memories of the Tower of Salvation. It was then that I realized that this was the first seal we'd gone to without Kratos. Had he been with us this time, what sort of things would he have said? Surely we would have avoided all of those traps. If he were with us...wouldn't he be that extra strength we needed to protect Sheena, to prevent Corrine from sacrificing himself?

I had to push those thoughts away. Thoughts of Kratos weren't going to do anything but distract me. And we were better off without him, anyway. We needed to learn to fight on our own, not to rely on his immense strength. Lloyd was right; we had changed. After losing our mercenary, we'd been forced to become stronger. And I had to draw upon that strength now.

Everyone hesitated for a second upon noticing the seal. Then we slowly climbed the stairs to the platform, each step seeming to take a lifetime. My legs felt like they were weighted with lead. I fought to control my fear.

"It's finally time," Lloyd said quietly when we all gathered before the seal. I glanced over at him and we made eye contact, exchanging a look. Then, being as subtle as possible, we came to stand on either side of Sheena at the front of the group.

My heart was racing. I thought of all the times I had failed up until now. Elena's death. The massacre at Luin. Lucian's crippling injury. Colette losing her soul. Raine and Genis, publicly scorned and arrested. Colette's kidnapping.

All things that had been preventable. If I hadn't gotten caught by the Desians, if I hadn't taken refuge in Luin, if I had at least tried to warn them...so much carnage could have been avoided. And what about everything else? I had stood by and watched, accepted the events at the Tower as inevitable. And the two things I actually had tried to stop...I had screwed it up.

I was going to start making up for it now. I had to. To hell with the plot; Corrine was Sheena's best friend, and I couldn't just stand by and let this happen. Lloyd would agree with me if he knew.

Sheena was shaking, her face deathly pale. I could see it in her haunted eyes-she was reliving that terrible day.

"Sheena," Lloyd said gently. She seemed to snap out of her trance.

"Here I go," she announced with feigned confidence as Corrine murmured reassurances into her ear. The summoner approached the seal. Lloyd and I inched forward a little behind her.

When she came to a halt, the room seemed to fall completely still. But there was something else there...a certain tension in the air. An electric charge. That feeling you get just before an enormous thunderstorm. I suddenly felt incredibly vulnerable, like I needed to take shelter somewhere, but there was nowhere to hide. This entire building was a death trap.

The sudden heaviness of the air was having an effect on the others too. I could see them behind me, shifting uncomfortably in my peripheral. Genis had moved a little closer to Raine, for once not distracted with Presea, who was busy watching the surroundings carefully. Zelos was clearly trying to give off an aloof vibe, but I could see the way his eyes were focused solely on Sheena, on that platform before her. Regal was like a statue. His muscles were tense, like those of a cornered animal about to lash out.

And then it was time. A purplish sphere of light appeared at the altar, crackling loudly and looking remarkably like the ball of lightning Yuan enjoyed summoning whenever someone pissed him off. The comparison only served to set me even more on edge. The sphere suddenly brightened, letting out a flash that caused most of us to cover our eyes. When the flash of light faded, Volt was hovering in its wake.

He-it?-was exactly as the game portrayed. The summon spirit was nothing more than a giant ball of lighting energy with a pair of sinister looking eyes. Far scarier than Undine had been. At least Undine had actually resembled something human. Jesus, how the hell were we supposed to fight this thing? I didn't even want to get near it! Even from here, I could hear the ominous crackling of electricity.

...Wait. There was something else starting to drown out that crackling, a strange voice. And then the voice was forming words, though they were words I couldn't hope to ever understand.

Sheena's breathing had become irregular and her trembles were worsening. Having been in that place millions of times before, I could easily tell that she was about to start hyperventilating. It was frightening to see her like that; she wasn't always composed, but she had never come this close to breaking down in front of us before.

"It's just like before!" She panicked. "Wh-What the hell is he saying?"

"That's..." Raine murmured from behind me. She then came forward a few steps. "Sheena, calm down. He's speaking in an ancient pre-angelic language. I'll translate."

Some of them turned to look at the Professor, but I kept my eyes firmly fixed on Volt.

"'I am one who is bound to Mithos. Who are you?'"

"Mithos again?" Lloyd spoke up, troubled. "How could he have made pacts in both worlds?"

"Hmm...maybe he went back and forth with a Rheaird as well," Genis suggested.

"But such an individual would have to be affiliated with the Renegades..." Regal mused. "Unless..."

He didn't finish his thought, trailing off in favor of watching Sheena. The summoner had taken another step forward.

"I am Sheena! I ask that thou annulst thy pact with Mithos and establish a new pact with me." She repeated the same statement she had used with Undine, the waver in her voice beginning to subside.

Volt was silent for a moment, staring down at us. Then that strange voice began again, speaking in that incomprehensible language. The voice made my head ache; it was almost like a low hum, similar to the sound made by an electrical current. It made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. That voice communicated nothing but danger to me.

Raine, who had come to stand next to me, was frowning. "He says that his pact with Mithos is broken...but he no longer desires a pact."

"What? Why?" Sheena immediately tensed, what little confidence she had gained immediately vanishing.

"'I will have no more dealings with people,'" the Professor translated, "'therefore I desire no pact.'"

"No!" Sheena protested, pulling out her cards and running forward. "We need your help! We can't-"

"Sheena! Be careful!" Lloyd yelled, following her.

I panicked. In this split second, I forgot what I was supposed to do and what was supposed to happen here, and I froze up with terror. Then Volt was glowing and suddenly lightning was raining down from everywhere, the platform rumbling and a steady roar building up in the background, becoming deafening.

Blinding white light. I was flying through the air.

Thankfully the fall wasn't very long. It hurt like hell, but the sudden impact cleared my head enough for me to realize that I had been thrown off the platform along with everyone else. Everybody was scattered across the floor, about as winded as I was. Sheena, however, was getting to her knees and looking back at us with horror.

I was reminded once more of the Tower, how I had thought I was going in on a suicide mission, how Kratos had cut everyone down until I was the only one left standing. That horrible moment...was that the same moment Sheena was experiencing right now? She was frozen, completely frozen.

"E-Everyone...!" She cried. "This is...n-no...it's just like before!" Her composure had crumbled. She was breathing heavily, her cards falling from her hands, completely forgetting about the looming entity behind her. The one that was building up an attack.

The others were stirring. Everyone was alive, but Sheena couldn't see through her terror. She was reliving the worst day of her life. Even if no one was dead, the horror in her eyes told me that she was certain history would repeat itself. The summoner looked over the entire group, the desperate look on her face just begging for help from someone, anyone.

Corrine had been thrown from her shoulder but he was getting up. Now was the time, I realized. My mind worked frantically. Where was Lloyd? He was still dazed from the shock. What could I do? Charge at Volt? There was no time! Th-This wasn't like we had planned! Why hadn't I done anything earlier?

What...what was I supposed to do? Images from the Tower flashed through my mind again. That was right...that moment when I had been the only one left standing, staring at Kratos as he prepared the final attack...this was the same. When there was no time to think, the only answer was to act. Follow instinct. Charge in without hesitation. If I moved fast enough, maybe we'd both get out of harm's way.

My mind was made up. If all I could do was let people protect me without doing anything in return, then I was just a worthless waste of space, anyway. I wasn't going to be a spectator. I was going to do my part.

I had pulled myself up on one knee, and now I suddenly tensed my muscles and launched myself to my feet, running forward. Sheena continued to stand frozen in place, panicking even as I barreled towards her. Her eyes flickered to mine for a split second. I tried not to let her fear affect me. I didn't have time for doubts.

"Guardian!" I yelled.

And then I was tackling her, shoving her out of the way as hard as I could. The greenish shield glowed brightly as I poured mana into it, even as I was falling, trying to throw myself out of the line of fire.

It wasn't enough.

The next few seconds seemed to pass in slow motion. Sheena fell out of harm's way just as Corrine had begun his sprint over to her. Everyone's eyes were on the summoner, on me. They were all pushing themselves to their feet, but I knew there was no way they could make it over to me in time. Lloyd was yelling something; my pounding heartbeat drowned it all out. I saw Raine raise her staff.

My shield seemed to glow even brighter for a split second. And then things sped up again, suddenly going far too fast for my mind to process. Everything went white. Now even my heartbeat sounded far away. My muscles all contracted so quickly that red-hot pain lanced into my joints and I flew backwards. I didn't feel the impact. I couldn't think. I couldn't breathe.

For a moment the world was nothing but colors and shapes, and then everything was shrouded in darkness.

...

I was only numb to everything for a minute or so. It didn't seem that way at the time. I was so disoriented. It was too hard to fight against whatever was pulling me under, because in those seconds there was nothing left to remind me of what was happening. All that I could see, hear, and feel was an endless void, which in actuality meant I wasn't really functioning at all.

And then, like flipping a switch, I was aware again. And it was hell.

Though I was inexplicably cold, I could feel myself sweating. The pain hit me like a wall and each breath was a battle against the residual shock, a fight to regain control of my muscles and force air into my body. I was probably gaping like a fish. Had I been able to think clearly, I might have found this humorous.

Instead, all I could do was stare at Raine as she hovered over me, her lips moving rapidly as she spoke. A warm green light dulled the pain, but didn't do away with it completely. Behind her, I could see Sheena giving me a wide-eyed stare, tears streaking down her cheeks. Zelos, too, was giving me a similar look, minus the tears.

Lloyd was running around doing...something. I felt a vague sense of alarm when I saw him dodge a lightning bolt. I wanted to warn him, to tell him not to end up like me, but I couldn't seem to remember how to translate my thoughts into words. A phrase suddenly came into my mind and I latched on to it, trying to shout it out. My voice came out in a croak and Raine just shushed me, her hands shaking as she held her staff over me.

More warmth flooded into my system and I found that I could breathe properly again. My muscles were responding, though each movement hurt. I still couldn't find the strength to sit up, but now I could think straight, and my mind worked frantically to catch up. Absurdly enough, I realized that the phrase I had uttered moments ago had been French. The fact that my own thought processes had gone haywire like that frightened me a little.

"Sheena!" Lloyd's voice was the first I registered. I managed to turn my head to see what he was doing more clearly. "Snap out of it!"

He took just enough time to cast a worried glance in my direction before jumping to avoid another attack from Volt. He was doing his best to distract the summon spirit long enough for everyone else to recover. It suddenly became hard to breathe again; what if Lloyd got himself killed? What would I do if my actions somehow indirectly caused that?

"Relax," Raine murmured to me, sounding like she could stand to take her own advice.

"Unnhh..." I groaned. My lips still moved sluggishly. It was infuriatingly difficult to take action.

"Brittany..." Sheena was shaking her head, as if denying everything that was going on would somehow make it all disappear. "Wh-Why..."

"Air Thrust!" In the background, I heard a terrified Genis beginning his own offensive. Regal and Presea were finally up, running to help Lloyd. Zelos was still frozen.

"M-Make the pact," I said in what sounded like a whisper. I took in a deep breath and tried again. "Make the pact, Sheena! I'm fine!"

Her eyes widened. "But you...!"

"Don't worry! You can do it!" I yelled. My throat felt like it was on fire.

"She was protecting you, Sheena!" Lloyd called, dodging another attack. "Don't let that effort go to waste! Subdue Volt by force. If you don't, you'll spend the rest of your life haunted by his shadow! You'll never overcome your fear!"

The summoner was slowly getting ahold of herself. She bent over to pick up her cards, and then looked at me again, uncertain.

"You have to promise me you won't die," she said.

"We're a team!" I yelled. "I did my part, now it's your turn! Hurry up and do it! Hayaku! Dépèche-toi!" I hesitated just long enough to consider how to say it in German, realized how completely pointless my multilingual emphasis was, and dropped it.

Regardless, my words seemed to have gotten through. Sheena was standing tall now, no longer shaking, and turning to face Volt. She got into a fighting stance, her eyes narrowed.

"All right," she said quietly. Then she threw a card; though it didn't have much effect, it got the summon spirit's attention.

"You can do it, Sheena," Corrine said, standing ready at her feet. The sound of his voice caused me to tense so much that Raine leaned over me again, concerned. I ignored her and focused on that small, furry body. He was still alive.

"For the sake of everyone that risked their lives to protect me..." Sheena clenched her fists and began to yell, her voice strong and determined. "Volt! I demand your power!"

The spirit paused for a moment, watching us. Was he...thinking, or something? Standing off to the side, Lloyd clutched his sides and caught his breath. I finally saw Zelos snap out of his own stupor; he walked over to the brunet, placing a hand on Lloyd's shoulder as the two exchanged a few words.

We all looked up when that strange language once again met our ears. The Professor cleared her throat, getting ready to translate.

"He says..." She frowned. "'Show me how dedicated you truly are.' Sheena, this is the same as the last pact. We have to prove our strength...but you may only battle alongside three others."

"Okay." The summoner nodded, taking a deep breath and looking around at everyone. Her eyes inevitably fell on me, and her expression changed to one of pain.

"Yo, Sheena," Zelos called before she had time to dwell on it. He gave her a casual smirk, as if none of the previous ten minutes had ever happened. "Lloyd and I have got this. Just let us take care of everything, mmkay?"

Sheena didn't even seem to have the energy to scowl at him. Instead she just gave him a look. But then she saw the way Lloyd was standing confidently next to the Chosen, and her eyes softened; Zelos wasn't joking. I found my lips turning up in a smile.

"M-Me too," Genis said a little nervously. "You'll need a mage. Besides, I was in the fight against Undine so I kind of know what to expect."

Lloyd nodded. "Yeah! We can count on Genis!"

The ninja smiled weakly. "...Thanks, guys. Okay...let's do this."

The four of them turned to face Volt, drawing out their weapons. The fact that Corrine was about to participate as well made me panic inside, but what was I supposed to do? It wasn't like I could run out there and act as a human lightning rod; just one hit had pretty much incapacitated me.

And then the fight began. I forced myself to look away, letting out a long sigh; there, it was over. I had done everything I could. Now it was time to just let things play out and hope for the best.

"Regal." The Professor called the tall man over. "I understand your movements are a bit...limited, but would it be possible for you to carry her? I'm feeling too weak, and we aren't exactly out of harm's way."

Wh-Whoa, what?

"Yes," Regal nodded, to my alarm. "It shouldn't be a proble-"

"It's okay!" I jolted into a sitting position. The sudden movement caused my head to spin, and I winced. "I can move just...ow...just fine..."

"Don't push yourself!" Raine snapped, sounding more worried than angry.

"B-But I said I was okay..." I forced a smile, despite the vertigo and the pain.

"You were hit with a very powerful shock," Presea unhelpfully reminded me.

Regal crouched down in front of me, frowning a little. "Can you stand?"

"Uh...yeah!" I told him. I would say whatever it took; I just knew I didn't want to be in close contact with that wall of muscle. I didn't think I would be able to control my embarrassment and the subsequent teenage hormone overload.

"See? My legs move just fi..." I trailed off, suddenly getting a bad cramp in my left calf. "Owowowow! Holy crap!"

And then suddenly I was being thrown over Regal's shoulder, and I just didn't have it in me to kick him. I had a feeling I'd just stub my toe on his rock-hard abs.

Oh Jesus...clearly I was perfectly fine if my mind was capable of conjuring up those images.

"I hate you all," I assured the small group of non-fighters.

"You...do?" Presea looked over at me with complete confusion.

Raine sighed. "Ignore her. She never means it."

After a few seconds of walking, I was plopped down near the entrance to the large room. The sounds of the fight echoed throughout the chamber; I hadn't heared any screams of pain or anything, so at least that was reassuring.

Regal, Presea and Raine all took a seat near me. I was immediately reminded of the fight with Undine; it had been me, Raine and Lloyd then. And we'd had to hold Lloyd back several times so he wouldn't jump into the fray. Man, that seemed like ages ago.

"That was extremely reckless," the Professor said in a quiet, stern voice. The tone set me on edge; it sounded like her 'time to smack my student' tone.

"...I know," I finally replied.

"Do you understand how close you came to being killed?" Raine asked, rounding on me with a glare. "Guardian wasn't enough. If I hadn't cast Barrier on you at the last minute, we wouldn't be having this conversation right now."

"I know." Though my replies sounded weary, inside my stomach lurched. I had come that close? "But...Sheena..."

"That was a bold move," Regal said solemnly. "You saved her life."

The Professor opened her mouth, looking angry, and then closed it. She stared down at the floor. "...You gave us a bad scare. That's all."

"I do that a lot, don't I." I chuckled weakly. "...Sorry."

"There's no need to apologize." She sighed. "...We've all survived up until now. I...I suppose I've started to take that for granted." As she said this, Raine's eyes hardened and focused on the battle going on up ahead of us.

"With such healing arts on your side, I'm not surprised you all made it this far," Regal commented. "I've never seen someone pulled from the brink of death like that. And neither of you are feeling any adverse effects?" He looked from me to Raine.

The Professor smiled weakly. "I'm just tired, but thank you. I've been using a unicorn horn as a catalyst for my magic. I'm sure it's at least partly responsible for the effectiveness of my healing spells."

"Or it could be that the Professor's just awesome," I offered with a grin. "By all rights, my brains should be fried right now. But look! I'm brilliant as ever."

"It seems your sense of humor is at least intact," Raine remarked dryly.

"My sense of humor's indestructable," I assured her.

"...The others seem to be faring well." Presea spoke up, catching our attention and reminding us of the battle. For the next few minutes, we watched the fight intently.

Part of me regretted not being able to fight alongside Sheena and provide moral support, but I knew I had already done as much as I could. I could barely stand right now, never mind wield a sword that still felt too heavy for me. Not only that, I noticed that Lloyd had teamed up with Zelos instead, and Zelos was actually a better person for the job. He was faster and stronger than me, not to mention he had the added benefit of being able to use magic to get Lloyd out of a pinch.

Sheena and Genis appeared to be the ones doing the most damage, as they were the only ones with weapons that were meant for longer ranged attacks.

Seeing all of the lightning flashes was making me a little woozy. I was suddenly immensely glad that I wasn't fighting in this battle.

"Hell Pyre!" I heard Zelos yell. He jumped effortlessly into the air, performing the tech with a fluid grace that I could never have mastered. Argh! It was as if he knew he was showing me up!

The attack hit home, pushing Volt back and stopping the summon spirit mid-cast. Okay, maybe Zelos being skilled wasn't such a bad thing...

"Always had trouble with that one," I grumbled.

"What?" Presea looked over at me.

"Hell Pyre. Zelos makes it look easy, but I always get screwed over somehow when I attempt it."

"Ah, I see," Regal remarked, nodding. "Turning your back on the enemy, even for a split second, is not an easy feat."

"Why do you not have Zelos teach you?" Presea asked, tilting her head.

I snorted. "Pass. Something tells me he'd make a terrible teacher...he'd probably try to grope me when showing me the correct form."

"...Unfortunately, I think you may have a point." Raine sighed.

We all tensed suddenly when Lloyd was thrown across the room by a particularly strong attack. He managed to right himself in the air and land on his feet; I almost clapped my hands and cheered. Didn't want to distract him, though.

...You know, watching these summon spirit battles never seemed right without Fighting of the Spirit blasting in the background. I always remembered turning up the volume during these fights. But then again, that was back when I could essentially button mash my way to victory. Those had been simpler days.

"Cyclone Seal!" Sheena yelled, throwing another card. She was going all out.

Genis backed her up with another wind spell. Zelos and Lloyd's team was very effective; between the two of them, Volt had no time to cast anything powerful enough to do serious damage.

Just as I had that thought, the summon spirit lunged forward, barreling into the pair of fighters. The contact caused them to be hit with electric shocks; they were thrown backwards, skidding across the floor.

"Shit," I hissed when I saw that they were too stunned to move.

"This isn't good," Raine murmured anxiously.

With the distractions out of the way, Volt immediately rounded on a panicked Sheena. A ball of concentrated lightning started building up in front of him. For a moment I couldn't breathe. Was this it? No matter how many cards she threw, Volt wouldn't be deterred.

"Stalagmite!" Genis yelled, thrusting his kendama into the air.

A huge pillar of rock jutted up and into the summon spirit just as the lightning spell was released. The rock absorbed the electrical attack and nullified it, saving Sheena.

"All right, Genis!" Lloyd called, having gathered his bearings. He clapped his best friend on the back and ran right back into the fray.

Even from here, I could see that the poor boy was white as a ghost. That had been a close one...but what a relief. Thank god for Genis' quick thinking.

Zelos had gotten up. He and Lloyd ran at Volt yet again...only to have the summon spirit actually warp out of the way. Volt reappeared out of range, suddenly seeming to pause. The others hesitated. That humming...what was I hearing?

Raine got to her feet. "Sheena! Make your vow." Realizing that the battle was over, the rest of us followed her example; thankfully, I was able to stand now.

Sheena paused, giving Raine a stunned look, and then turning towards Volt. "It's...over...?"

"See? You were strong enough to do it all along!" Corrine piped up, hopping on to her shoulder. "I knew you could do it, Sheena!"

"I..." She let out a shuddering breath. Then she looked up at the summon spirit, growing more confident. "...Like I said. For the sake of everyone that risked their lives to protect me, I want to...no, I have to save both worlds!"

There was a few seconds of tense silence before Raine spoke up again.

"'The vow has been made,'" she translated. "'I entrust my power to the pact-maker, Sheena!'"

Suddenly there was a flash, and Volt vanished. In his place was a ring, a symbol of the pact; Sardonyx. It fell into Sheena's outstretched hand, and she stared at it with a mix of disbelief and awe.

"I...I can't believe it..." She murmured.

Lloyd was so excited, he was shifting from foot to foot, practically dancing. He looked like a puppy on crack...or something. I had to contain my snickers. Especially as he bolted up to Sheena and practically glomped her.

"See? I told you it'd all work out!" He laughed happily.

Sheena's face turned crimson. "Hey! G-Get off!"

Completely oblivious, he just grinned and stepped away. Sheena coughed awkwardly and pocketed the ring.

"He's hopeless," I muttered, giggling hysterically.

"Brittany!" Oh crap, he'd heard me!

My head snapped up just in time to see a wall of red, and now I was being tackled by the overexcited teenager.

"Agh!" I cried, suddenly finding it hard to breathe. "S-Somebody put a leash on this kid!"

"Seriously, man, save it for the bedroom," Zelos called, smirking. Sheena remembered herself long enough to give him a good smack.

"I was worried you were going to die," Lloyd sighed, finally withdrawing and giving me a surprisingly sober look.

"We all were," Genis added, approaching the group.

I waved my hands dismissively, uncomfortable with the sudden attention. "Oh, well, I'm fine. You know me, expert at getting my ass handed to me, heh..."

"That's not-" Lloyd started; he was cut off by a sudden flash.

Volt and Undine appeared before us, eliciting confused looks from everyone. That was right...this was when the whole mana- link discussion took place. That meant we'd be going back and forth between the worlds soon to make all the pacts...assuming we survived the Renegade Base and the Dragon's Nest. What a pain.

"'The two opposing forces of mana were...severed just now?'" Raine translated when Volt began to speak.

Undine nodded. "It is as Volt says. A link between the two worlds has been severed."

As the others asked questions of the two summon spirits, I had a thought. Summon spirits...

My eyes turned to Corrine, who was still perched on Sheena's shoulder. His head was tilted inquisitively at the two new arrivals, and his tails twitched a little. He had been helping Lloyd and Zelos distract Volt during the fight, but even now, he barely had a scratch on him. Alive...very much alive.

I almost expected Volt to randomly strike him down, but nothing happened. I had prevented it. For the first time, I had actually managed to prevent something.

My shoulders relaxed, and I allowed myself to sigh quietly with relief. That was one step. I wasn't powerless. If I could manage to make things even a little better...then maybe everything would turn out all right after all.

Maybe there was hope.

* * *

**A/N: Hnnngh, I don't particularly like this chapter. I want to chop it up into little pieces and feed it to my cat. Except my cat would probably vomit that up, and nobody wants to clean up cat puke.**

** Alas, it was either edit/mess around with this for another month, or post it. Maybe it's not all that bad. I'll let you guys be the judge of that.**

** Since it was inevitable, I figured I'd make myself a formspring, too. If you wanna drop me a line, ask me something, or just harrass me about updating my damn stories on time, this is the place to go. XD**

** http : / / formspring. me /noa748**

** Speaking of formspring...a lot of you seem concerned about the ordeal with Corrine. XD Relax, guys. Deep breaths. While OC Brit might not know what she's doing, you can rest assured that I have plans. XD Many many plans...yesss...**

** The pairing poll is still up! It seems people are pretty evenly divided between Zelos/Brit and Lloyd/Brit, amusingly enough. Currently Lloyd's in the lead, though. Feel free to vote if you haven't yet~**

** Next time: All your base are belong to us! **


	47. Renegade Base

**A/N: I'M SORRYYYYYYYY**

**aaand that's about it for my apology. XD I know I've already apologized enough, and I'm running low on time, so uh...here's your chapter! It took me two months to write! XD**

**real life has been a bitch. I'll try to update sooner next time. DX My laptop won't connect to the internet, so that's just lovely...I had to put the chapter on a flash drive and use my sister's computer to upload this. Why does the world conspire against meeeee? ;_;**

**I don't love this chapter...was going to make it longer, but I'm going to have a busy schedule this week and I'm working overtime next week, so here ya go!**

**Disclaimer: Don't own! **

* * *

The discussion about the mana links went about the same way I remembered. My thoughts drifted a little, partly because I was already aware of what was being said, and partly because my skin was kind of tingly and it was hard for me to focus. Tingly skin? My nerves were probably still a little messed up. Thankfully, I didn't seem to be permanently numb anywhere.

The summon spirits explained how making pacts on both worlds would cause them to separate. Zelos pointed out how that was the perfect plan, since it would save both worlds. Lloyd agreed on this point, and even after the summon spirits disappeared, everyone continued to contemplate the new developments. They were getting ahead of themselves, I knew. At least Regal and Raine seemed a little reluctant to believe that everything could be solved so easily.

"What do you think, Brit?" Lloyd was speaking to me. "You've been pretty quiet."

I looked up. "Huh? Oh...um...I just want to get out of this building. Eat some food...go to sleep..."

The Professor sighed. "She has a point. We should be discussing this back at camp. If we're going to continue as planned, Brittany needs her rest."

"Someone's supposed to meet us about the Rheairds, too," Genis pointed out. "We shouldn't keep them waiting."

"All right!" Zelos stretched, sounding far too carefree. "I can't wait to get out of here and crash. Hey, brat, what's for dinner?"

"I'll make yours special," the twelve-year-old muttered evilly. "Jeez. Can't you be serious for two seconds?"

"Hmm?" The Chosen was unfazed. "And deprive the world of my dazzling smile? Don't be silly." He grinned. "Anyway, are we going? C'mon, no sense in standing around!"

Everyone sighed as Zelos started walking on ahead. Slowly, people began to follow. It was easy to see that the redhead was having one of his overly cheerful moods, so walking too close to him would just be inviting him to talk your ear off. I couldn't see a reason for him to be so upbeat...so I suspected that he was hiding something. Again.

Part of me wanted to march on ahead with him and joke around - god knows it would make me feel better - but I knew we couldn't do that anymore. It was hard to believe that our argument had happened just this morning...Jesus, we had done a lot today. I was exhausted.

Just as I was about to file out of the room with the others, Sheena grabbed my arm and held me back. I turned to face her, giving her an inquisitive look; she was staring down at the floor, her bangs shielding her eyes from view.

Then she looked up. Tears glistened in her eyes. And the next thing I knew, she had stepped forward, wrapping her arms around me in a tight hug.

"...Thank you."

For a moment the urge to cry threatened me as well, and I slowly returned the embrace. I could tell this meant a lot; Sheena had never been the type to dole out hugs left and right.

Then the summoner pulled away, sniffling a little. It was easy to see that she was still a little emotionally fragile after the whole ordeal. I fought to think of some words that would make her feel better, move her past all of this.

"Um...no problem?" Okay, so I wasn't always so eloquent. It didn't help that I still felt a bit dizzy and unfocused.

My response did cause her to let out a small laugh. She shook her head. "...Stupid. Why did you do that for me?"

I rubbed the back of my neck, looking away. "Because...I said I would have your back. And I just...I knew it was what I had to do. That's all."

Sheena managed a smile. "Thanks. You and Lloyd...you guys woke me up. I couldn't have done it without you. So...I know we've had this conversation a million times, but just know that I'll always look out for you, too."

Suddenly I was reminded of the time I'd spent on Welgaia, and the deal Yggdrasill had offered me. The deal to help Cruxis capture Sheena in exchange for my own freedom. The deal I had actually considered, when I should have instantly turned it down. Even after what I had pulled today, I still felt like a cheap friend. Not some kind of hero.

"Yeah," I replied weakly, smiling back. "We've always made a pretty badass team." Was I being unfair to myself? Maybe. But that didn't really change how I felt.

"What a beautiful trust you two have."

The new voice caused us both to turn, only to see a smirking Zelos standing in the doorway.

Sheena scowled. "Way to ruin the moment."

The Chosen held up his hands defensively. "Hey, don't get mad! I'm totally serious. The way you guys are able to count on each other like that is really something. I mean, you couldn't put your faith in me that easily, right? But you two have a beautiful trust built from all the time you've spent together."

"Oh..." The ninja's eyes softened. "...Well, we have been through a lot since we met in Sylvarant. But..." Her brow furrowed suddenly. "...Hey, didn't you march on ahead?"

Zelos heaved an overly dramatic sigh. "Well, since you guys held us all up, I took it upon myself to come get you. Aren't I a nice guy?" Then he flashed a grin. "I was kinda hoping to find you two making out, to be honest."

Sheena instantly bristled. "You're disgusting," she spat, and pushed past him to walk out the door.

The redhead chuckled, turning to walk out the door as well. I slowly began to follow him.

His joke had flown way over my head; I was too busy brooding over what he'd said before that. A beautiful trust, huh...I wanted to tell him that I was willing to build that kind of thing up with him if he would just let me, but I knew that I couldn't. After what had happened between us, saying something like that would just piss him off. He wouldn't believe me.

But I couldn't take it, dammit! Just one day of this silence between us had been torture. How the hell would I be able to stand a week of this? What if we didn't make up for months? What if we never made up at all?

"Um...Zelos?" I reached out, lightly tugging on the cloth of his glove.

"Hmm?" The Chosen looked over his shoulder at me, winking. "What is it? You want some alone time with me now, hunny?"

I knew instantly from his response that it was a lost cause. Giving up, I just shook my head. "Ah...never mind. I just..."

"Just what?" Now Zelos sounded confused. "What are you doing?"

Without even registering it, I had started to hug his arm. My dizziness had worsened and I realized now that I should have asked for someone to carry me before everyone set out. Why the hell was I so damn stubborn? I had nearly been electrocuted and here I was, attempting to leave this huge temple without any help. I was so stupid...

"Nngh..." I grimaced. "Could you...First Aid...?"

He didn't waste any time; within a few seconds, I felt the warm green light flood through me. Rather than making me feel stronger, though, it just made me relaxed and sleepy. My grip on his arm slackened as I leaned more fully against him.

"Oh, man..." Zelos caught me by the shoulders. "You gonna pass out again?"

"Fuck...s-sorry..." I whimpered, hating this. Of all the people, why did it have to be Zelos? If I could've just stuck it out until we caught up to the group... "Zelos, I...I don't...p-please, I just..."

He let out a sigh. "Quit trying to talk. I've got you."

As he said that last sentence, he pulled my sheath's strap over my head, taking my sword from me and slinging it over his own shoulder. Then he immediately leaned over, pushing me off balance enough so that he could scoop me up bridal-style.

I gasped a little, but didn't protest; there wasn't much else I could do, anyway. My cheeks heated up with embarrassment and shame at my own weakness. Thankfully, Zelos didn't look angry...but his face was unreadable. He didn't feel tense, but he stared straight ahead as he walked, making no effort to speak to me. I realized it was probably better this way, and kept my own mouth shut.

Eventually my exhaustion caught up with me and my eyes slipped closed, consciousness fading.

* * *

The next hour or so was a blur. A few times the sound of thunder woke me up, but I was too out of it to remain awake for long. I vaguely remembered one thing, though - at some point Lloyd ended up carrying me. When I did finally manage to stay awake for a while, I was on his back and Zelos was walking up ahead.

Well...at least I didn't have to feel so bad at creating an awkward situation earlier, seeing how Zelos had just gone and dumped me on the first person he could. I let out a sigh.

"You awake?" Lloyd turned his head slightly.

"Mm. Sorry about this."

He was walking near the back of the group; that combined with the constant crackling of electricity ensured that our conversation wasn't overheard. I liked it better that way...if the Professor knew I was awake, she would probably order me to go back to sleep and not waste my energy talking.

"Don't worry about it. You got struck by lightning, remember?" He rolled his eyes. "I should've offered to carry you earlier."

"I should've asked instead of keeling over on Zelos." I groaned quietly.

"Are you feeling okay?" Thankfully, Lloyd didn't press the topic of the argument.

"I'd say I'm doing pretty good, considering the circumstances," I replied.

"Well..." Lloyd faltered, shifting a little before letting out a sigh.

"What is it?" I asked, curious.

"Just..." He shook his head. "You saved Sheena, I know. But...promise me you won't pull something like that again. You could have died!"

"Lloyd..."

"I don't want any more sacrifices! There's no point if someone is going to die either way. Our whole reason for this journey is to find a way to save everyone, including you. Okay?"

"...Okay." I smiled weakly, leaning my chin on his shoulder. "I promise. No more sacrifices."

I couldn't help but find his words ironic...because if the situation ever arose, I knew Lloyd would take a bullet for any one of us. He was just that kind of person.

The rest of the walk through the temple passed in relative silence. Zelos made a few attempts at conversation, but everyone was too tired to even get mad at him at this point. Even after the redhead gave up, though, he still maintained the usual obnoxious cheer. I silently commended his acting skills.

At long last, we made it back outside. The cool autumn night air washed over me and helped to clear my head. The sky above the temple had cleared, and the view of the stars was a welcome change after those hours of gloom. It also served to remind me that this insanely long day was finally drawing to a close. The thought of a nice campfire and a hearty meal made me want to shed happy tears.

We hadn't been walking long before a few shadowy figures up ahead caused us to pause. I almost panicked, but then I saw Sheena stride up to the front of the group and I realized who our visitors were. When they came closer, I saw that they were clad in the typical ninja garb I'd seen in Mizuho.

"So you succeeded in forming the pact." One of the men spoke, and I recognized him to be Orochi. "Congratulations, Sheena."

Sheena smiled, seeming exhausted but happy nonetheless. Corrine sat proudly on her shoulder. "Thank you, Orochi."

He nodded. "Now, as for the locations of the Rheairds...come with me. We've got a small camp set up just ahead; I'll explain there."

After a few more minutes of walking, we made it to the campsite. There were a couple of other ninjas sitting around the fire, but other than that, Orochi's team was rather small. Everyone pretty much found a spot and collapsed; well, Lloyd at least had the courtesy to set me down first. I resisted the temptation to use his shoulder as a pillow and fall asleep right then and there.

When we were all settled down, Orochi gestured for us to come closer. He unrolled a large piece of paper that I quickly understood to be a map. I did my best to shuffle closer, looking at it with interest. The map looked handmade and all of the notes and markings were in Japanese. From what I could see, it was accurate, though.

Orochi paused to glance around at all of us. Then he began. "Southeast of here, there is a fjord-like area covered with ice bordering the Flanoir continent." He pointed it out with one finger. "The entrance to the Renegade base is here. According to our moles, the Rheairds are being kept in the hangar there."

"Moles?" Lloyd questioned.

"Spies," Zelos and I replied at the same time. We exchanged a glance without thinking and then immediately looked in opposite directions.

"Indeed," Orochi confirmed with a nod. "Fortunately for you, we've infiltrated the Renegades. Originally it was to investigate the declining world of Sylvarant, but now it will certainly make things easier when we retake the Rheairds."

"What will we need to do, then?" Sheena questioned.

He just shook his head. "For tonight, get some rest. I'll leave early tomorrow and make some preparations. All you need to do is meet us there."

Well, at least it sounded easy. But getting in wasn't the problem. Right now I was too exhausted to feel nervous, but I knew tomorrow morning I'd be freaking out. All I could think about was how our last infiltration mission had gone. While we'd succeeded in the end, it had been a close call...especially with Lloyd and I getting stuck alone with Kvar.

The rest of the night went by very quickly. We camped out with Orochi and his men, which was kind of awkward at first, but we got past it. It was nice to see Sheena so at ease, telling her friend about everything that had happened since they'd last seen each other. Corrine filled in the blanks whenever Sheena needed him to; hearing his squeaky voice join the conversation actually put me at ease. For once, everything had turned out okay. Raine still fussed over me every five seconds to make sure I wasn't going to short circuit or something, but that was all right because Corrine was alive.

Sometime after dinner had been finished, I laid down on the soft grass. The sounds of the crackling fire and banter between friends comforted me, and eventually I fell into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

...Why the hell did everything else have to go by so damn fast, too?

When I woke up at the usual time, Orochi and his men were already setting out. Two hours later, the rest of us had eaten breakfast and boarded the EC. It took about two and a half days for us to reach our destination, which thankfully was more than enough time for me to recover from my little run-in with death. I was really eager to get everything over with, though; we were running very low on rations now, so the sooner we got the Rheairds and saved Colette, the sooner we could spend the night in an actual town and buy new supplies. That and I was sick of all this crap looming over me. At least the rest of the summon spirit pacts wouldn't make me so nervous.

Anyway, right now we were standing on the shore of what looked like a large outcropping of rock, ready to enter the enemy base.

Orochi was conversing with a man in a Renegade uniform while the rest of us stood off to the side, out of sight of the main doors. It made me very tense just seeing that uniform again. I knew it wasn't an actual Desian, but seeing that getup just put me on edge. One of the best parts about being in Tethe'alla, after all, had been the lack of Desians.

Finally the two ended whatever discussion they'd been having and Orochi approached us once more. "The security cameras have been disabled. Hurry inside; we'll have to make this quick."

We did as he told us, walking right in through the front door. Thankfully Orochi immediately led us down a side corridor and into an empty room. The futuristic looking settings once again reminded me of the Desians; I had to keep reminding myself of where I really was. And even that didn't keep me calm, considering we were still in potentially hostile territory. The fact that the infiltration had been organized by Mizuho was a little reassuring, at least. But from the way Orochi was talking, this was going to be a race against the clock...

"It won't be long before we're noticed," Orochi said, immediately reminding me of my worries. "Listen carefully, because I only have time to explain this once. The Rheaird hangar is in the deepest part of this facility, and there's only one passage leading to it."

"Piece of cake," Zelos remarked.

He shook his head. "I'm not done. Even if you get to the hangar, the door will be locked. It can only be opened with the use of a pass code."

"And I suppose you weren't able to acquire it?" Raine asked, catching on immediately.

"I'm sorry," Orochi said. "We did our best, but you're correct. We were able to find out that there are three pass codes, each of them in the possession of a different Renegade."

"So we need to catch those three and get them to tell us the pass codes, right?" Lloyd spoke up.

The ninja nodded. "They're of a higher rank then the typical foot soldier, so you should be able to tell them apart by the color of their uniform. Once you have the pass codes, you should head for the hangar immediately and escape using the Rheairds."

"This sounds like it could get hairy," Zelos commented. "Should we split up to save time?"

"Yes," Orochi replied. "You're a large group. You'll be noticed immediately if you don't split up. There's a room just before the passage to the hangar; you should use that as your meeting place. I'll take you there now, so please start considering what your groups should be."

With that, he led us out of the room at a brisk pace. The way he was acting made me tense; we really didn't have much time to work with. And while this base wasn't nearly as big as Kvar's ranch had been, it was still pretty damn big. Great, now I was having flashbacks of my adventures back then...at least Kvar wasn't here. Nothing could be worse than encountering Kvar on your own. Well, other than being alone with Yggdrasill, anyway. Man, didn't I have the shittiest luck?

"All right," Lloyd said as we walked, "so we should be in three groups, right?"

Raine frowned, looking troubled. "Three groups...there are eight of us. One would have to be a group of two."

"Oh..." the brunet's face fell. "Well, I guess we'd just pick two strong fighters for that group, right?" He looked over at me. "Hey, Brit."

I blinked. "What?"

"You helped pick last time, and it worked out," he said with a grin.

I rolled my eyes. "Actually, it was kind of a disaster. Remember how I got stuck running around alone, and then Kvar kicked your ass?"

"That didn't have anything to do with the groups you picked," Sheena pointed out. "Actually, Lloyd's right. You picked pretty well last time."

"Are you guys seriously gonna make me pick again?"

Zelos smirked. "Hey, hunny. If you've got a good luck streak going, don't jinx it!"

"One time is hardly a streak!" I grumbled, but then a new thought came to me. If I didn't pick the groups, I might get stuck in a group with Zelos. Actually... "Eh...fine, whatever. Lemme think for a sec."

Lloyd nodded, while Regal gave me a curious look. The rest of the group didn't seem to mind...oh, well. We didn't have time to bicker over it anyway.

Okay, what would the best groups be...Lloyd was right about the two-person group. We'd need two strong fighters, or at least people that could fend for themselves. Genis and Raine were out; they would need that two-person buffer to cover for them while they cast. That left Lloyd, Regal, Presea, me, Sheena, and Zelos. Then there were other things to take into consideration...I didn't want Zelos in a group with me or Lloyd. It would just be awkward if he was with me, and I really didn't want to risk putting him with Lloyd.

...Did I just feel a pang of guilt? Fuck that! I wasn't even on good terms with Zelos right now, I didn't have to trust him! Besides, I knew he was supposed to report to Yuan at some point while we were here anyway. If Yuan caught Lloyd, everything would be screwed up.

Crap, this was a lot harder than last time. I wanted to put Zelos in a group with Raine, since she'd keep a sharp eye on him, but that put both of our healers in one group. But if I put him in with Regal and Presea, then the other group of three would have two mages and only one person to cover for them...

"Come up with anything?" Lloyd interrupted my thoughts, and I realized several people had been watching me for the past few minutes.

I pressed a hand to my forehead. "This is hard..."

"We're almost there," Orochi reminded us from up ahead, putting even more pressure on me. Awesome.

Raine gave me a stern look, and I let out a sigh. Okay, so she wanted me to get on with it. What I had in mind wasn't perfect, but it would work...probably.

"Lloyd, Genis, and Regal," I said, voicing the first group. "Lloyd and Regal can cover for Genis while he casts. Plus, y'know, it's better to have a level-headed adult in the group."

The best friends looked satisfied enough with my choice. Regal nodded slightly to me; I was glad to see that Raine also seemed fine with the decision. I knew she would want to have an adult in each group, if possible. She had been getting along with Regal rather well ever since he'd officially joined us.

"And the second group of three...that's gonna be Zelos, Raine, and Presea," I said.

Zelos smirked, probably amused with my decision to put him in with girls. I couldn't help but wonder if he'd actually noticed how carefully I'd placed him.

Raine just nodded, too mature to protest being grouped up with the redheaded pervert. "I see...and that would leave you and Sheena?"

I shrugged. "You let me pick, so...yup. 'Sides, Sheena has Corrine, so it's kinda like we have three people."

Sheena was smiling at me; I gave her a thumbs-up, and she returned it. Hey, if I was allowed to choose, of course I'd pick Sheena. We'd teamed up enough in the past, anyway. Besides, none of the other combinations seemed to work for the group of two. Lloyd couldn't be in it because then he'd be too vulnerable, Zelos couldn't be in it because I didn't want him alone with anyone, Genis and Raine were no good for that group...putting Regal and Presea together might not be a good idea...Sheena and I were the best combination.

Not that I was extremely keen on the thought of being in the weakest of the three groups, but whatever. I was feeling a lot better today, anyway. Besides, it didn't matter how many were in your group or who you were paired with - if something went wrong, it went wrong. Kratos had been in my group last time, and look how that turned out.

I had figured it out just in time. We had just entered a more open area; there were corridors to our left, right, and directly in front of us. Orochi gestured to the one we were facing.

"This hallway leads to the entrance to the hangar. Don't head down there until you have all the passcodes; it would be all too easy to get cornered otherwise."

Everyone nodded in agreement. Orochi spent the next minute or two repeating a few important points and stressing that we had to utilize as much stealth as we could, since there was a possibility that the Renegades could more securely lock down the hangar if they were to figure out who we were and why we were here.

Finally, the ninja offered a few parting words before vanishing into another part of the base. Unlike in the game, he wasn't going to stick around; it was just too risky at this point. Once he was gone, we decided on two meeting places, the second one serving as a backup should the first become unsafe. This open area was the first; the room Orochi had briefed us in was the second. They were the only two places we'd be able to find in this place, after all.

"Be careful, guys," Lloyd said, one hand resting on the hilt of the blade on his right hip. Genis was standing at his side, clutching his kendama and looking apprehensive. Regal was a statue behind them, almost completely unreadable. At least he seemed calm.

"Hey, no worries, Bud!" Zelos grinned. "We'll be fine. Won't we, my bewitching Professor?"

Raine sighed in reply. "We shouldn't waste any more time here. Sheena, Brittany, you're certain you'll be all right?"

"Yeah," Sheena answered with a nod. "It'll be okay. I'm trained for this sort of thing, after all." Then she smiled and added, "And even though Brit always gets into trouble, she always manages to get out of it somehow, anyway."

I offered a thumbs-up. "If all else fails, I'll just tackle Yuan!"

Regal and Presea gave me strange looks while the rest of the group just deadpanned.

"Dork." Lloyd broke the silence, snorting. "Let's go while we still have time, anyway."

That did seem like the next logical option, so we left. Sheena and I took the left corridor. Lloyd's group went to the right, and Raine's group went back the way we came. Between our groups, hopefully we'd be able to cover most of the base. I didn't want to think about how suicidal this seemed. It sure as hell wasn't the first time we'd pulled off something stupid and crazy, at least.

"Okay," Sheena murmured as we walked down an empty hall. "We have to try to keep track of our route. I've...I've been here once or twice before, but I don't think I'll be much help if we get lost."

"You've been here?" I asked. A split second later, it clicked. "Oh, right. To get your Rheaird."

"The plan to assassinate Colette was mostly orchestrated by the Renegades," Sheena explained. "They just got the King to agree to it. So I came here to get briefed on the mission, too."

"So does this ominously deserted hallway ring any bells?" I inquired hopefully.

"No," she replied with a shake of the head. "But you're right, it's too quiet. I guess we should stop talking now."

"Oh." I attempted a grin. "Right. Stealth-mode activated."

Sheena rolled her eyes. "Let's just try this room over here."

She gestured to a nearby door and we headed for it without another word. It really had been a while since I had seen these electrically operated doors...even in Tethe'alla, they weren't commonplace. Hell, on Earth they weren't common, either. Who had doors that looked like this? High-security military bases? I wasn't even sure about that; I was just guessing from what I'd seen in movies.

The door was unlocked, and slid open without any problems. A small break room was within, containing some tables and chairs and...was that a coffee machine? Oh, this just seemed absurd. Another day at the office, eh, boys?

Two Renegade soldiers stood next to a counter on one wall; they both turned to face us when we entered, wearing surprised looks on their faces. I noted immediately that their swords weren't strapped to their belts. They had dropped their weapons and helmets on one of the tables, probably looking to unwind and relax for a few minutes.

I wasn't used to seeing the soldiers like this. The Renegades and Desians wore those damn helmets almost religiously, and even though I knew they weren't just faceless grunts, it was still easier to attack them when I didn't have to witness the pain in their eyes.

These two didn't even look that much older than us. They both possessed the same bleach blond, almost white hair, though the man on the left had it cropped shorter than the one on the right. Their features were similar...they had to be brothers. No, no, why was I thinking about that?

"What the...?" The Renegade on the right spoke, his expressive green eyes meeting mine.

Sheena was the first to act. She whipped out her cards, quickly stepping forward and holding them out in an openly hostile gesture. "Don't move."

Then I realized that the man on the left was wearing a different colored uniform, and his equipment seemed to be of higher quality. The truth of the situation hit me. Holy crap, we'd stumbled upon the right person so soon?

"Huh?" The same guy spoke again, his eyes growing even wider. "Wait...you're humans!"

The one on the left elbowed him hard, scowling. Then he turned to glare at us, slowly putting his hands up. "What do you want?"

I waited for Sheena to say something else, but then I noticed that she was sending hesitant glances my way. Clearly she wasn't sure how to proceed, either. Crap, why hadn't we discussed this beforehand? Were we supposed to just kill them? These weren't Desians! Knock them out or something, then? But they were unarmed...it seemed cruel to just attack them outright...

...Kratos would probably have a million things to say to that argument, but that didn't change the way I felt. Maybe we could just...

"The passcode for the Rheaird hangar," I finally said in a surprisingly firm voice. "Just tell us and we'll be on our way."

He snorted. "What makes you think I know it?"

"Your uniform!" I snapped.

"Just because I'm of a higher rank-"

"You're not really in a position for backtalk," Sheena cut him off, discreetly elbowing me.

I remembered myself and drew my sword, pointing it at the man's throat. My hands wanted to shake. I wouldn't let them.

"So this is how humans behave, huh? You just barge in and take what you want by force?" The one on the right growled.

It was very hard not to flinch at that. Instead I attempted to keep up a neutral facade. "Just give us the code and we'll go."

"Oh, and you'll let us go on our merry way then, won't you?" The same guy scoffed. "Please. You really think we're that stupid?"

"Enough, Kohl." The other one sighed. "You aren't helping."

Sheena sent me an uncomfortable look. We were wasting too much time with these two, and I was sure they knew it, too. The longer we stood here, the higher the chance another Renegade would stumble upon this scene. If someone else came into the picture, this whole thing would easily fall apart. I didn't want to have to kill anyone...especially since the Renegades were really after the same goal as us in the end. I didn't feel any hostility towards them aside from the fact that they wore Desian uniforms and put me on edge.

"What the hell am I supposed to do, then?" Kohl snapped. "You're not gonna just give them the passcode, are you, Freyr?"

"For the love of god!" I groaned. "Stop stalling!"

"I'm not giving them anything," Freyr answered with a roll of his eyes.

"So you'd rather die?" Sheena tensed, her eyes narrowing.

"Tell me something, kid." His eyes were fixed on me now. "Do you really have the guts to slaughter an unarmed man?"

It was an honest question. He wasn't taunting me or mocking me; this guy was actually waiting for an answer. And it was an answer that I couldn't give. I had never killed someone except in self-defense...could I really finish this guy off when he hadn't even had the opportunity to draw his weapon? He wasn't even a Desian. I didn't have any reason to hate him.

"...Do you really want to risk finding out?" I croaked.

Freyr smiled thinly. "Risks make life interesting."

"Brother, don't start-" Kohl spoke up, but was silenced with a wave of his sibling's hand.

I sneaked a glance at Sheena, wishing she could offer some helpful input, but she seemed to be at a loss as well. Come to think of it, she might have been trained as an assassin, but her heart was too big for the job. It wouldn't be the first time she went in with the intent to kill and lost all of her resolve halfway through.

"Well?" The older brother was still watching me. I still hadn't given him an answer.

The logical part of me said that the only option left would be to attack. It wasn't like I could kill him until he gave me the code anyway, right? Just...hurt him, show him that I wasn't afraid, and then demand answers again.

...Who the hell was I kidding? I couldn't torture answers out of anyone! Agh, why the fuck couldn't these codes have been on key cards?

"...Maybe not," I murmured slowly.

Freyr raised his eyebrows. Kohl had opened his mouth to say something, but he immediately stopped upon hearing my words, instead choosing to stare at me. Sheena was giving me a look, probably wondering just where I was going with this.

I wasn't sure where I was going. I was just telling the truth.

"We'll bring them back," I told Freyr. "The Rheairds, I mean. We just need them. To save our friend. She'll die if we don't get to her in time."

"The Sylvaranti Chosen?" Ah, crap, he knew what I was talking about. "She is a danger to us alive."

"Yeah," Kohl added. "You're expecting sympathy or something? You people are the reason Cruxis is so close to achieving their goal!"

"You bitch at me for not showing compassion, but then you think it's okay to go out and kill some innocent sixteen-year-old girl?" My hands were shaking now. Time was running out, and Sheena was too busy glancing at the door every five seconds to offer any valuable input.

"Sacrifice for a greater good," Kohl cut in.

"Funny, that's the same rationale Cruxis uses for the regeneration ritual," I shot back. The Renegade recoiled like he'd been slapped.

"Hmm." Freyr crossed his arms, not even seeming to notice the sword at his throat now. "You put up a good argument."

"Huh?" I blinked.

He gave me a look. "That was a compliment. Don't just gawk at me."

"Why are you...hngh," I resisted the urge to smack my forehead, exasperated.

"And you, Sheena of Mizuho...you risked forsaking Tethe'alla by sparing the Chosen," Freyr said, turning to her. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

She frowned. "Killing Colette is only a way of stalling. It's not putting an end to the twisted system. Traveling with these guys, I have hope for finding a way to save everyone...without sacrificing a friend in the process."

Kohl had fallen completely silent, looking between the two of us with a furrowed brow. He was obviously the younger brother; I could see it now that I was observing them more closely. Actually, he looked like he could be a teenager.

Freyr seemed thoughtful at Sheena's words. I could tell he was actually considering her side of the story, which caused me to lower my sword a little. Now that I had spoken to both of them, seen their faces, gotten a feel for their personalities...there was no way I could attack them, much less kill them. Not unless they forced my hand by attacking me first.

But Colette...god, what were we supposed to do now? Would he give me the code if I got on my knees and begged? Maybe he could be bribed with something valuable? Dammit, I didn't own anything valuable.

"Well, this is quite a fix. You two have an odd way of forcing information out of people. What to do..." Freyr offered a crooked smile, crossing his arms.

I sneaked another glance at Sheena. She had paled a little. It was obvious that she wasn't going to attack now, either. But I understood what she might be thinking; at this rate, we'd be caught and forced to defend ourselves anyway. She was preparing herself for that moment. It wouldn't be long before we'd be facing off against a mob of Renegades.

"You could just...y'know, tell us the code," I suggested hopelessly. If it weren't for Colette, I would've just given up and surrendered by now. Better than getting killed in battle when we were caught.

He closed his eyes for a moment. "Insurance."

"What?" Sheena asked, confused.

"Give me something important to you, with the promise that the Rheairds will come back unscathed, and I'll consider helping you out just this once."

"Freyr!" Kohl exclaimed with shock. "But Lord Yuan-"

"If he learns of my part in this, I'll take the necessary punishment," Freyr replied. "If it's to save your friend as you say, then I think I understand."

"That's great, but..." I looked away, gritting my teeth. "I...don't really own anything valuable."

"Me neither," Sheena admitted. "All I've got with me are my weapons and traveling gear. Nothing really sentimental..."

"All we really have is our word," I told him.

He gave me a hard, intimidating stare. Then he tilted his head and smiled. "Fine. But there's one condition here."

"What's that?" Sheena asked.

"There are two other pass codes in the possession of two other people. Are your companions planning on harming or killing these men?"

"I...don't know," I answered, feeling a little ashamed. Lloyd's group might spare them, but what about Raine's group?

"I'll tell Kohl here my pass code. He will escort Sheena back to whatever meeting place you people have, and he will input the code himself when the time comes." Freyr then looked over at me. "You, my friend, are coming with me. I know where these other two men are. I'll find a way to extract the codes from them peacefully, and you can call your companions off. Then we'll head back to the Rheaird hangar, whereupon all of you will get the hell out of here. As soon as you've finished your business, you'll deliver our vehicles back to us by any means possible. Is that suitable?"

"You're splitting us up," Sheena pointed out. "How do we know we can trust you?"

Freyr flashed that crooked smile again. "All I have is my word. Fair enough?"

He got us there. I chewed on my lower lip for a moment, indecisive. As we stood in silence, Freyr leaned over to murmur a few words into his brother's ear, but neither of us caught it. Kohl hesitated, and finally nodded.

The Renegades...despite the look of their uniforms, they weren't Desians. We had the same goals, but different ways of going about them. Was it so surprising to find two likeable individuals here? We'd be allies in the future, too...but still...

"I guess it's the best choice we've got," Sheena said with a sigh. And then, in a quieter voice, "Man, we screwed this up..."

She was right about that. What would Kratos have done in our position? Ah...taken Kohl hostage, probably. It was easy to see they were brothers, and the fact that they were together in their free time suggested they got along. Had we threatened Kohl, Freyr would've caved...but it was too late for that now. Doing something like that would've left a dirty taste in my mouth, anyway. Colette wouldn't have wanted us to do it that way. Actually...Colette would have been happy with this outcome, in which no one got hurt.

"I wouldn't say that," Freyr remarked, donning his helmet. "Compassion, friends. If the world wasn't so lacking in it, maybe it wouldn't be in such a sorry state."

Kohl was staring at the floor, seeming depressed. When his brother thumped him on the shoulder, though, he snapped to attention and sneaked a glance at Sheena.

"...Let's go," he said, gathering up his things. Odd, he seemed shy all of a sudden. Had he changed his opinion of us?

Sheena just nodded. She looked over at Freyr and I, her gaze lingering on me. "Be careful. See you in a bit, okay?"

"Got it. You be careful too," I replied solemnly. The fact that we were being split up made me uncomfortable, but it was all we could do. I just had to pray it was the right decision, and that these two had some of the compassion of which Freyr spoke.

The door slid shut behind Sheena and Kohl as they left the room. I was confident Sheena could handle herself; Kohl seemed like he could be a rookie. She was probably faster, not to mention she possessed a fighting style that was completely unfamiliar to most people. If all else failed, maybe she could pull some kind of Mizuho disappearing act.

Me, on the other hand...well, I was left to wonder what kind of adventure I was in store for this time around. There was no doubt in my mind that something would go unexpectedly wrong. Maybe I'd trip and faceplant into a couple of Raybits.

"Are you ready?" Freyr asked me once he had gathered up his own things.

I shrugged. "Ready as I'm gonna get."

He smiled, but I didn't like the way the helmet hid his eyes. "Don't look so worried. Everything will work out just fine."

"Sure," I muttered doubtfully. "...Lead the way, I guess."

So I followed him out into the hallway, which was thankfully still empty. Sheena and Kohl were long gone, most likely well on their way to the meeting place. Raine was going to give us the lecture of a lifetime when she learned about our little plan...

As the door closed behind us, I looked over at the Renegade. "What's the plan? It's not like we can be seen together."

"We won't be seen," Freyr assured me. "Over here."

He led me down the hall a ways and over to another door. It slid open after he input a long code into the keypad on the wall next to it. The door seemed to lead into another corridor, one that was thinner and more dimly lit. The interior was quiet; there didn't seem to be any soldiers in here.

"This is a passage reserved for the higher ranking officers," he explained as we stepped inside. "From here, we should be able to reach most parts of the base unnoticed."

Unnoticed. I let out a quiet sigh of relief as we walked; that word sounded rather safe to me.

Though the hall was a bit claustrophobic, our walk was peaceful enough. I adamantly kept my sword out, not wanting to be caught off guard in any circumstances, though Freyr hadn't even reached for his since he'd strapped it back on to his belt. I didn't miss the Exsphere on the back of his glove, though. He had to be pretty strong. Plus he had a good...seven inches on me? Ugh, it sucked being average height. And a girl.

Since there was little to do at the moment other than walk, I let my thoughts wander where they wanted. How old was Freyr? He looked...hmm. Early twenties, probably. And what kind of a name was Freyr? It sounded Norse. Everything around here sounded Norse. Those Desians back in the Asgard ranch had had unusual names, too...was it a racial thing?

"So..." I started awkwardly. "...You're a half-elf?"

Freyr snorted. "How tactful of you."

"Sh-Shut up." My cheeks turned a little pink.

"Yes, I'm a half-elf," he confirmed, probably amused at my discomfort. "What about it?"

"Uh...how old are you?"

He paused thoughtfully. "This coming spring, I'll be fifty." As soon as he finished the statement, he reached out and pushed up under my chin, snapping my jaw closed. "Don't gawk."

I made a face at him; he'd nearly caused me to bite my tongue. "You don't look fifty. You look...twenty-two at the most." It was hard to fathom; my dad was fifty!

"It's the elven blood," he said, waving a hand vaguely.

"So how old does that make Kohl?"

"Now he actually looks his age in human years," Freyr told me with a wry smile. "He's sixteen."

"Only sixteen?" I repeated with wide eyes. "Um...your folks waited a while between kids, huh?"

"We're half-brothers," he explained. "Our father seems to like finding different human mistresses every couple of years. I've got five half-sisters as well, and we all share the same physical traits as our father. Kohl and I seem to take after our mothers personality-wise, though."

"Five sisters?" My eyebrows shot up. "Are they in the Renegades too?"

"Oh, they have varied interests, it seems," Freyr said breezily. "One is stationed in the Sylvarant base. Another is living in Exire, taking care of the youngest, who is six." Then his voice darkened a little. "The other two are with the Desians."

"...Shit," I murmured, unhappy with that news.

"My sentiments exactly."

"Where are they...?"

"Iselia."

I silently prayed I'd never run into them.

"But that's enough about me. Actually, I'm more curious about you. Where you obtained that sword for instance."

That caused me to raise my eyebrows. "This? I stole it."

"Stole it?" He returned the look.

"Yeah. I like stealing weapons from my enemies. Favorite pastime of mine."

I didn't fail to notice the way he suddenly pressed one hand protectively over the hilt of his sword. "Go ahead and keep your hands where I can see them, all right?"

As we reached the end of the hallway and turned a corner, I just rolled my eyes. "We're not really enemies."

"Hmm, I wonder."

"Cruxis and the Desians are my enemies," I reminded him. "The Renegades are...well, I dunno, we'd probably get along if your leader wasn't so obsessed with Lloyd."

"Yes, maybe we'd get along if your friend was a little more cooperative."

I rolled my eyes again. "I guess for now we can agree to disagree."

Freyr offered his usual crooked grin. "If you insist. Now, about the sword...I'm assuming you stole it during your stay up in Welgaia?"

"You make it sound like I went there on vacation," I grumbled. "What, you think I lifted it from my luxurious hotel bathroom?"

"Along with the complimentary shampoo and lotion bottles, I'm sure," he added, his grin growing. "You seem like the type."

"That has nothing to do with anything!" I threw my hands up with exasperation - mostly because he was right, I was the type. "I managed to steal it from an angel when I escaped."

"An escape from Welgaia...this base would be no problem for you, then," he mused as we stepped on to a warp.

As we came into a new hallway with a door at the end of it, I glanced over at him. "Uh...I wouldn't say that. It's not like I'm an escape artist. I'm just a teenager, y'know? We stumble into and out of danger more times than most adults could manage."

Freyr let out a laugh. "I hear that! And here I was beginning to wonder if Kohl was the only danger magnet."

I turned to smile at him as we paused in front of the door. He really wasn't so bad after all. And now that I'd gotten to know him a little, I couldn't help but wonder about Kohl. Maybe he and Sheena were getting along just as well. I privately hoped I'd get to see them both again the next time we ended up working with the Renegades.

"By the way," he said as he pushed the button to open the door, "your word wasn't good enough."

"Huh? What do you-?"

My words died on my lips when I saw the unique decor of the room, the familiarity of the furnishings. My eyes were drawn to the large oak desk on one end of the room, as well as the imposing man sitting behind it.

"Well," Yuan said, leaning forward and steepling his fingers, "this is an interesting development."

Oh, fuck.

* * *

**A/N: I didn't even get as far as I wanted to. D: Oh well...enjoy the cliffhanger! XD This chapter really got away from me. I don't think I planned most of this, it just sort of happened and I'm rolling with it. Awwyeah.**

**Reviewwww! Tell me what you think!**

**I'll try to get my internet issues fixed and update faster, but uh...yeah...XD I might be slow, but at least I'm not giving up on this!**

**...And now, I shall work on ItN, which has been gathering dust...XD**

**Next time: Renegade fun!**


	48. Escape Artist

**A/N: Ohhhh lord. It's been a while again.**

**I've been having some serious computer issues, so that kinda contributed to my lack of updating. ;_; my laptop won't get internet and I don't know whyyyy. And now the other laptop I was using, my sister's, has a virus. In other words, I have little to no internet access...ever. My dad just happened to bring his computer from work today and left it at the apartment, so I rushed to finish the chapter and upload it while I had the chance. XD**

**I'm hoping to get a Mac soon, which would probably remedy the internet situation. Unfortunately, Macs are expensive. And I just bought a car. And I have bills. But fear not! I have...$40 saved up so far! Only about $960 to go! XD Ah, adulthood...**

**Anyway, enjoy the new chapter!**

**Also, awesome fanart of awesomeness!**

**http : / / van-anh. deviantart. com /art/ Quit-trying-to-talk- 211138424**

**Disclaimer: Doooooon't own anything.**

My entire body froze up as I found myself facing the Renegade leader - the one I hadn't been face-to-face with in a whole month. The last time we'd met, it had been in a clash of weapons. I probably would've gotten my ass handed to me if Kratos hadn't interrupted. The current scenario didn't exactly bode well for me.

Yuan's composure contrasted sharply with my own. He was completely composed; relaxed, even. That calm self-assurance set me even more on edge. The look in his eyes practically screamed that he knew something I didn't. And while I knew the seraph was far older and more experienced than the rest of us, I was still a little caught off guard by his demeanor.

But he'd ambushed everyone in the hangar in the game, though, hadn't he? So everything was still going as planned. It was...right? Right?

"Impeccable work as always, Major," the Renegade leader remarked just as Freyr snapped off a salute. I felt myself slouch a little in response. Regardless of how everyone else was faring, I was definitely screwed this time around. Standing here before Yuan made me feel a little foolish for even thinking I had a chance in the first place.

"Thank you, my lord," the soldier answered.

"However," Yuan's smile thinned a little. "I have to say I'm a bit disappointed not to find Lloyd in your custody as well."

"My apologies." Freyr's face was unreadable. "We lost his location shortly after they split up."

A raised eyebrow was his only response. "So he was conveniently placed in the third group...the one we were unable to keep tabs on. Hmm." The way Yuan's gaze met mine at that moment unnerved me a bit.

"...Yes, sir," Freyr replied simply. Though there was some curiosity in his tone, he said no more than was necessary.

The Renegade leader stared us down for another moment or so, before finally leaning back in his chair. "Sort things out in the control room and lock it down. I want all power to the Rheaird hangar cut off. We can deal with any repercussions afterwards. I'm not allowing these suicidal idiots to run off and crash our vehicles again. What?"

His eyes had fallen on me again, and I tensed a little. I had opened my mouth slightly to say something, but for once had thought better of it and bitten my tongue. Yuan apparently wasn't having any of that.

"Out with it," he told me.

"Uh...well..." I smiled nervously. "If we crashed them and died...then at least you'd be rid of us, yeah?"

As expected, he deadpanned. "Your logic astounds me."

Freyr had stiffened beside me, his lips twitching. At least someone appreciated my being a wiseass. Unfortunately that someone was the one who had also screwed me over.

"Freyr," Yuan said, immediately moving on. "You heard my orders. I'll be expecting a report from our little friend as well. Dismissed."

The soldier saluted again, then turned to leave. I offered him my best glare.

"Compassion, my ass," I growled in a low voice, catching his attention.

"Insurance," he mouthed back. Then he smirked, speaking aloud. "Let's see you get out of this one, escape artist." He had the nerve to clap me on the back like an old friend before heading out the door. It slid shut with a quiet hiss, leaving me alone with the leader of the Renegades.

...Okay, this was going to be uncomfortable. I instantly started fidgeting.

"Um..."

Yuan raised his eyebrows at me, waiting for me to blurt out whatever I intended to say.

"So...what happens now?" I asked, trying to brace myself.

"I wonder," he replied vaguely, in no way answering my question. Instead he just held me in place with a sharp gaze. "Lloyd is the one I'm after...though I did have a feeling you'd find a way to get yourself captured."

"Gee, thanks," I grumbled, feeling my face redden. Even this guy thought I was a joke.

Yuan's expression didn't change. "For a while I was willing to leave you to your own devices. I don't have the time or the patience to be babysitting anyone. But wandering into the woods alone, right into Pronyma's grasp...that's a level of stupidity even Lloyd would have trouble matching."

I felt the color on my face deepen even more, this time with indignation. This bastard ran his mouth off, but he didn't even know the whole story. He thought he was so damn smart...he had no idea about Zelos.

"I don't know the full circumstances of your capture this time around, but it's clear enough that you allowed yourself to be separated from the group again. Hmph...with this kind of a track record, the fact that you've survived this long is astounding."

"Are you done?" I asked tersely when Yuan stopped speaking.

In response, he frowned and stood. I felt myself inch back a little bit as he circled his desk and came to stand in front of it, his arms crossed. He was even more intimidating now that he was standing; now I had to look up at him, constantly reminded of how much older and stronger he was.

"Freyr brought up an interesting point...'escape artist.'" His gaze was penetrating. "How is it that someone so easily captured, so lacking in common sense, managed to escape from Welgaia completely unaided? Do you expect me to believe it was merely a stroke of luck?"

"I got away from your men back at Hakonesia Peak," I pointed out as defiantly as I could.

Yuan scoffed lightly. "My undermanned temporary base is hardly a fair comparison. And if I remember correctly, the entire reason you were captured-"

"Look, I don't know what you want me to say." I immediately cut him off when I saw the smirk forming on his face, not wanting to be reminded of that tracking device I had picked up. "Point is, I escaped from Welgaia. Who the hell would've helped me? I don't have any allies up there. Besides, I don't know what that has to do with our current predicament."

"I don't believe you," he told me in a flat voice, "and I want answers. But that will have to wait. I have bigger priorities at the moment."

My brow furrowed. "So what're you gonna do?"

"It isn't obvious?" He gave me an impatient look. And suddenly there was a Renegade on either side of me, holding my arms and effectively restraining me. My sword was wrenched from my grip along with all of my other equipment. There was no point in struggling.

"You're throwing me in a cell."

"Cruxis intends to use you. Your Exsphere's parasitic process has already progressed to an extent; as long as they know you're alive, they're going to pursue you," Yuan said in reply. "Think about it. You're better off here than anywhere else...and I'm saved the headache of keeping watch over you."

"What the hell do you care, anyway?" I finally snapped, frustrated. "Is my Crystal really that big of a deal? Would it really be that strong?"

"I wouldn't give you the time of day otherwise." He glared at me. "The creation of your Cruxis Crystal would be a breakthrough for Cruxis. Do you really want your world to become a supplier for host bodies? That is exactly what Yggdrasill has in mind: a far more powerful race of angels."

"Th-That's..." Now I faltered. This was more information I hadn't considered. What the hell was Yuan...?

"You haven't thought about this?" He practically read my mind. "Yggdrasill has access to your world - a world lacking in summon spirits, in magic, in mana itself. Earth wouldn't stand a chance against his power."

"Earth wouldn't fall that easily!" I protested. "We've got more advanced technology...and our weapons-"

"Your weapons are ridiculously overpowered," Yuan replied with disgust. "In their desperation to stop Cruxis, the humans of Earth will eradicate themselves. Isn't that what your 'last resort' weapon is capable of doing?"

I opened my mouth, hesitated, and then closed it. I hated knowing that he was right. What could we do against magic and the Eternal Sword? And it wasn't like we could just launch a nuke at Yggdrasill, however tempting that idea might be.

When I was silent, Yuan continued. "It would be in both of our best interests for you to stay put in a safe place until this is over."

Then he offered a thin smile. "Don't look so upset. I'm sure your friends will be joining you shortly."

"Ass," I muttered under my breath.

"Take her away." He ignored me, looking over to the guards restraining me.

As they began to drag me backwards toward a door on the other end of the room, I yelled out at him. "You won't look so smug when they fly off on your Rheairds!"

Yuan smirked. "We'll see about that. In fact, I think I'll go see them off myself."

I tried my best to maintain an expression of anger, but inside I was laughing victoriously at that final statement of his. Things were still following the plot. Maybe I'd be stuck in prison...but they would get away. Everything was going to be okay. I wasn't necessary for the plot to continue anyway.

It wasn't like they needed me to...to beat Yuan...

I hoped to god they wouldn't need me.

* * *

My cell was small and cramped and painfully bare. But it wasn't cold. There was a heating vent in the floor just outside the bars; of course, this was off the coast of Flanoir, so the base would need some sort of temperature control. I was grateful. My cell was comfortably warm and the guards were living, breathing, feeling beings. Compared to Welgaia, this was far more bearable.

In one corner of the cell was a bed with a thin mattress, a blanket, and a stiff feeling pillow. The toilet and sink were in the other corner. I still wasn't too keen on the thought of going to the bathroom in plain sight of the guards, but it wouldn't be my first time. Things had been worse back in the Asgard ranch. Half the time the Desian guards had watched for the sole reason of making me uncomfortable. At least the Renegades seemed relatively indifferent to me in general, rather than being out to make my life miserable.

The first thing I did upon being locked in was to go over and take a seat on the bed. The base was on high alert, so there was little hope for me to escape, anyway. All I could do right now was sit back and mull over everything that had happened.

Yuan had mentioned a few interesting things during our short meeting. Yggdrasill's plans for Earth...I hadn't given any of it much thought, other than the fact that bad things would happen to my world as well if he wasn't stopped. But what Yuan had said made sense. If Cruxis Crystals were evolved, stronger versions of Exspheres, then would my Exsphere grow into a stronger version of a Cruxis Crystal? If it did, then the next logical step for Yggdrasill to take would be to mosey on back to Earth and snatch up a whole new batch of host bodies - probably including other members of my family. He'd make more Crystals and strengthen Cruxis even further. Opposition would be crushed. The Age of Lifeless Beings would draw closer.

I shuddered. Cruxis was powerful enough as it was - after hearing what Yuan had to say, now I understood why he was keeping a close eye on me. The development of my Crystal was just another variable in this mess. The only option for me at this point was to stay alive and out of Cruxis' grasp. And now that I thought about it, wasn't that exactly what Yuan was helping me accomplish?

Yeah, Freyr had screwed me over, and I was disappointed that it had to be that way. But things seemed to have worked out okay; Yuan was heading to ambush everyone at the hangar, and hopefully they'd get there before Freyr managed to cut the power. From the way things looked now, the plot was still on track.

Of course I was worried they'd get their asses kicked by Yuan and Botta. But we'd pulled through all of the other crazy things we'd been through, right? They'd find a way past it. And best of all, they didn't need me to do it. I wasn't a part of the original story anyway, so I knew they could do it without me. That made me feel a little less guilty about giving up on any thoughts of escape.

Maybe it was better this way. The others would be fine on their own for a while, and though I'd be stuck here, I would be safe and hidden from Cruxis. Plus I wouldn't have to fight dragons and infiltrate Rodyle's ranch and meet Mithos! Waiting it out here wouldn't be so bad. It was practically my only option, so I'd might as well look on the bright side. Safety and security was a definite plus.

Even though just giving up and waiting around here seemed pretty cowardly...

I sighed, closing my eyes. Why the hell couldn't I ever be happy with myself? Was I so self-loathing that I had to overanalyze my every action in order to find something wrong with it?

Ugh. I worried too much about everything. Right now I just needed to accept my situation and wait it out, because that was all I could do.

And so I waited. Time passed painfully slowly; there was nothing to look at in the cell, so I watched a guard pace back and forth on the other side of the bars. He seemed rather stressed out and irate, and I couldn't blame him. All kinds of crap was going down and he was stuck here babysitting me, after all. Since I doubted he'd give me his name, I decided to call him Ted. Ted had a large scratch on the sheath to his sword; that was how I planned on telling him apart from the others. Maybe I'd get to know Ted pretty well over the next few days.

He didn't do very many interesting things other than looking unhappy in general, but I did learn one thing while watching him: the other guards had left. I was almost positive there had been at least three in the area when I'd first come in here, and now there was just Ted. Apparently the others had left their posts to see what all the ruckus was about. Crap...stealth had never really been Lloyd's forte, either. Hopefully he and the others were okay.

After what felt like an hour of sitting there and twiddling my thumbs, I leaned my head back against the wall and let myself relax a little. It had been a while; maybe things had quieted down a bit by now. Maybe soon Ted's friend Ned would come up and gossip with him at some point, and I could eavesdrop to see if the others had come out of it okay. I was sure I could gather at least that much information from listening to the conversation between guards. But would my dear friend Ted be the type to gossip? Hmmm...

I glanced over to the bars again. My guard wasn't in sight, but I could hear his footsteps echoing down the corridor as he patrolled.

And then there was a choked gasp and a sudden thump. The echoing footsteps ceased.

My eyes widened. What the...?

A new set of footsteps approached; this person sounded lighter on their feet, clearly not wearing the standard Renegade-issue combat boots. I tensed, uncertain. It couldn't be Sheena...I wouldn't have heard her approach. But who, then?

A shock of red hair came into view. No way...

"Did you just kill Ted?" Out of all the questions I could've voiced at that particular moment, that was apparently the best I could come up with.

Zelos raised his eyebrows. "...Ted?" Then he seemed to connect the dots, glancing over one shoulder. "I knocked him out. Ted, seriously?"

"I, uh...I named him," I replied lamely, my mind still a blank. Why was Zelos standing at my cell door? Was this really happening or had I hit my head somewhere along the line?

He actually snorted at that. "'Course you did." Then he reached up, inserting a card into the lock on my cell. "Anyway, come on. We're getting out of here."

The bars slid open, and I just stared. "Wait...how did you...?"

"Word got around," Zelos replied vaguely, shrugging. I wasn't buying it, but I let it go.

I walked out of the cell, still feeling like I was somehow hallucinating. The redhead was suddenly pushing Kerberos into my arms, along with my bag. He'd rescued my stuff, too? I glanced over one shoulder, seeing Ted lying in a heap on the floor. He'd knocked out a guard and come to save me?

"Sorry, babe, we can't keep him," Zelos said cheekily, patting me on the head. "Now c'mon, c'mon! The others are waiting!"

He grabbed my arm, and I allowed myself to be tugged along. It occurred to me that this might just be some kind of trap, that Zelos might be screwing me over again. But how would that make any sense at all? He couldn't do any work for Cruxis here without being caught, and if he were helping Yuan, he would've just left me in the cell. So even though this was undeniably strange, even though he seemed like he was being too friendly all of a sudden, I decided to go along with it. What could it hurt? Before this, I had just been planning to give up and leave the heroics to everyone else.

"This is weird," I finally said as we turned a corner and ran down another hall. "Why are we suddenly cool?"

"...We're not. Not exactly," Zelos replied stiffly after a long pause. "But I'm not gonna leave you behind just because we had a fight. Plus, y'know...I like to think you'd do the same for me."

"I would," I answered, probably a little too eagerly. But it was true. "Thanks, Zelos."

"Don't thank me," he said, not looking at me, and then forced some cheer into his voice. "Anyway, let's go rescue our little Colette! I can't wait to see her cute smile again!"

"Lead the way," I said, smiling despite myself.

And so we ran. It looked like I'd be fighting dragons after all. Funny how these things worked out.

Most of the next ten minutes were spent in silence; while part of it was because things were still awkward, I was also keeping quiet due to the look of concentration on Zelos' face. The different hallways we were taking seemed random, but his expression suggested otherwise. I had a feeling no one else in the group would've been able to follow this route with such certainty. Just how many times had he been through here?

There was no way for me to know if he was leading me into danger, so I just trusted him and followed along. Besides, the worst that could happen was that I'd get recaptured. Wasn't like they'd kill me. That knowledge alone made me feel a lot braver than I would have in other circumstances.

"We're close," Zelos finally said, slowing to a fast walk. "Could be Renegades around here, so try to step lightly." We'd had to knock out more than a few guards on the way here, but it seemed like the route we'd taken up until now had been mostly soldier-free. Just more evidence of Zelos' suspicious familiarity with this place.

After a minute or so of this, Zelos slowed to a more comfortable pace. I noticed how quiet he was keeping his footsteps, though, and tried to copy him as well as I could.

"So," the redhead said, breaking the silence, "what's the deal with that Yuan dude? Why'd he single you out?"

"He didn't. I just got captured because I fail at life," I grumbled in a slight monotone.

Zelos raised his eyebrows. "That's it?"

"Well..." I frowned. "That and he's trying to keep me from Cruxis because of my Exsphere."

We rounded another corner. It was getting quieter and quieter as we continued onward.

"Y'know, you and Colette are kind of alike."

"...How so?" I asked, puzzled over the subject change.

Zelos smiled thinly. "You're both caught in a tug-of-war with your lives in the middle of it...all because of some stupid jewel that was put on you against your will. Pretty messed up, huh?"

"No kidding," I muttered, instantly seeing how Zelos could relate. "That's why we've gotta rescue Colette as soon as possible."

"Not like it's gonna end there," he commented.

I shrugged. "Don't worry. It'll all work out in the end."

He gave me a humorless smirk. "What makes you think that?"

"'Cause we're the good guys," I replied simply.

Zelos threw his head back, letting out a loud laugh. "Gotcha. The good guys always win. Why didn't I think of that?"

I turned to grin at him, but then our eyes met and the atmosphere went right back to awkward. I wrenched my gaze away, my smile falling. Yeah, we could forget about the fight for a split second, but that didn't change the fact that it had happened. What were we supposed to do, move on just like that? After he'd called me a liar and a fake, after I'd punched him in the face? No, that wasn't something you recovered from without a hitch.

My insides churned uncomfortably at the sudden silence. Why did this whole thing have to be so goddamn hard? When I started this journey, I had never considered the fact that I might need to tack relationship issues on to my list of problems. I was a little more concerned with not dying.

Besides, it wasn't like I needed Zelos. I had good friends, didn't I? I was really close with Lloyd, and Sheena was kind of like a sister to me now. Then there was Colette, who was awesome, and Raine had been a little more trusting of me lately, too. Genis and I had been doing okay, Regal and I could keep up a good conversation, and Presea seemed pretty nice. I trusted a hell of a lot more people here than I had ever trusted back home. So who cared if Zelos and I were friends or not?

...I cared.

Maybe I was just being stubborn. Maybe I wanted to be friends just because of how impossible it seemed. Maybe that good person I saw in him had never existed in the first place, and I was just deluding myself. But that didn't change the fact that I cared.

"Zelos-"

"We're here."

I stopped short, blinking. "Huh?"

"This is where we were supposed to meet," he explained, looking tense. His eyes narrowed slightly. "But that's weird...why's that hallway so dark? And where is everybody?"

This didn't bode well for us.

It was now that I recognized the area we were in; it was the open room Orochi had left us in, the one we'd been in before we split up. Directly in front of us was the hall leading to the Rheaird hangar. It was pitch dark. Yeah, that wasn't ominous or anything.

"...Yuan gave out an order to shut down the power to the hangar," I said slowly.

"Well, damn," Zelos muttered. "Guess our Mizuho buddies have been flushed out of the control room. Security cameras might be back on too..."

In response to this, I cast an uneasy glance in the direction of the nearest camera. What if someone was watching us right now? Oh man...

"What do we do now?" I wondered aloud. "If the power's out, that means-"

Suddenly the sound of a door sliding open to our right caused us to whip around, readying our weapons. Great...now would be just the perfect time for Yuan to walk in with a smug look on his face.

Instead, to my immense relief, we encountered Lloyd. He looked exhausted and worried; that all changed the second he caught sight of us. His face lit up immediately.

"Brittany! Zelos! You're okay!"

"Hey," I smiled, waving. Lloyd was here. Maybe I was wrong, but I somehow felt like everything would work out now. He'd find a way to make it work.

"'Course we are, Bud," the redhead replied with a self-assured smirk. "The Great Zelos never lets harm come to his hunnies, after all."

"What happened?" Lloyd asked eagerly. "Brit, Sheena said you were captured - and Zelos! Where did you go? We were worried and I didn't know how to save you guys and-"

"Uh, Lloyd," I interjected, knowing perfectly well that he could ramble excitedly for a great while, "can we explain later? Something tells me we have to get the hell out of here."

"Oh, right!" He nodded, turning back towards the door he'd come in through. "C'mon, this way."

I glanced over at Zelos, but he had already started walking after the dual swordsman. Well, I guess Lloyd had to have some sort of a plan if he looked that determined. It wasn't like we had anything better in mind.

After a few minutes of walking, Zelos finally voiced my question. "Yo, Bud. Where're we going, anyway?"

"This way," he replied helpfully. "You'll see."

The Chosen just shrugged, and we continued on in relative silence for a minute or so. Then Lloyd turned and opened one of the doors in the hall, slipping inside. The two of us followed after him.

The interior of the room was decorated similarly to Yuan's office, though it looked considerably more cluttered in here. Part of it was because of the books, papers and other objects piled and scattered throughout the room. The cramped feeling was mostly due to the large group of people crowded in here, though.

My face broke out in a grin when I saw everyone; I couldn't help it. Less than an hour ago, I'd been sitting in a prison cell and pretty much giving up all hopes of escape. Now I was standing in this room, reunited with the whole group. Sheena offered me her own relieved smile.

"I told you they'd be there, Professor," Lloyd said triumphantly.

"It's good to see you both made it." Raine smiled, looking exhausted herself.

From the smirk on Zelos' face and the knowing look in his eyes, I could tell he'd arrived at the same conclusion as me. They'd been about to leave, hadn't they? If Lloyd hadn't stepped up and insisted on checking the meeting place one last time, everyone would've booked it without us.

...Not that I could blame them. It wasn't like I expected them to wait around and get captured themselves, especially when Colette's life was on the line too. And they'd moved on back when Cruxis captured me, too. Sometimes Raine's logic could be a little cruel. It didn't mean she cared any less...she was just making difficult decisions that no one else would've wanted to face.

"...What's going on?" I finally asked, my eyes drawn to the extra person in our group. Hold on...what was Kohl doing here?

The lanky blond was standing next to Sheena with his arms crossed, looking away from us intently. His sword wasn't drawn or anything...did that mean...?

"Kohl knows a secret way to get into the Rheaird hangar," Sheena explained. "It's protected by a passcode, but there won't be any troops waiting at that entrance. There's a lot of them down by the main entrance."

I frowned at the Renegade. "How can we trust him? You realize Freyr immediately turned me over to Yuan, right? Zelos is the only reason I'm not still sitting in a jail cell right now." I didn't miss the way Kohl gave Zelos a puzzled look, before catching himself and averting his gaze again.

Sheena balked. "What?"

"Is this true?" Raine asked, eyes narrowed.

"Yep," Zelos replied casually. "Turns out that this kid's big brother is the whole reason she was captured."

Now everyone was slowly turning to look at Kohl, who looked like he was fighting the urge to squirm. He lowered his head a little, causing a few of his shoulder-length locks to fall free from his helmet. I watched as he uncomfortably tucked them back into place.

"What do we do, then?" Genis spoke up. "If he's not really on our side..."

"I think we should trust him," Lloyd said immediately.

"What?" was Zelos' incredulous reply.

Lloyd remained firm. "You weren't here...you didn't see. Guys, think about how much he's helped us. Professor, remember when you were healing Genis and he saved you from that soldier?"

"Lloyd..." Raine frowned. "That doesn't change the fact that he and his brother are likely to be working together. This must be a trap."

"But would he have put in all that effort if he was going to get us killed?" the teenager insisted.

Sheena uneasily looked away. "...I don't know. Trusting the enemy is what got us into this mess..."

"It doesn't seem wise, but we're left with very few options at this point," Regal pointed out. "Remember that the hallway leading to the hangar seems to have lost power. A door with an electric lock won't open, regardless of whether or not we have the correct passcodes."

"...It's not the door that's the problem," Kohl spoke up. We all looked over at him again; he was taking off his helmet, allowing usto see his face. "I think I know a way around that. It's...I'm not sure, but I think there's an ambush waiting there. If they knew to power down the hangar, it means they know we're coming. They won't expect you to know about the other route. It's really only used for maintenance."

"Again, how do we know we can trust you?" Raine questioned.

The blond's eyes flashed, but then he just averted his gaze again. "Well..."

"It's like Regal said!" Lloyd interrupted. "Going the main route would be too dangerous, right?" The brunet looked over at me, a pleading look in his eyes. "Right, Brittany?"

"Why are you bringing me into this?" I whined. Then I bit my lip, crossing my arms and staring Kohl down. "...Your brother acted like he had higher moral standards and all that, and I fell for it. Why should I go making the same mistake twice?"

"Don't act like you know my brother!" Kohl growled, glaring at me. Then he fought to calm himself, letting out a huff. "He only let you get captured because then your friends would have to come rescue you."

"What...?" I blinked, remembering what Freyr had said to me - that my word wasn't good enough. And hadn't he mouthed 'insurance' to me before he left? Was that what he'd meant, that I was the insurance? That would mean Lloyd and the others could borrow the Rheairds to rescue Colette, and then return them afterwards in exchange for me. So Freyr had had a plan after all...one that he probably hadn't told Yuan anything about.

"You're lucky he even did that," the blond said with a scowl. "Now you went and screwed things up by escaping. And I still have to help you anyway, because he told me to!"

"...He seems sincere," Presea remarked quietly.

"Let's trust him," I said with a sigh. "I...I think he's telling the truth. It's either that or attempt to find an alternate route ourselves, and I doubt that'll go over well."

"...All right," Raine finally said. She gave the Renegade a hard stare. "Don't disappoint us."

Kohl's bravado crumpled under her sharp gaze. His shoulders hunched in a sudden gesture of meek submission. "I won't."

So we put our faith in the young soldier, following him onward to what could be our freedom or our downfall.

* * *

The maintenance passage turned out to be similar to the corridor Freyr had taken me through, albeit considerably less clean and well-lit. It was also kind of claustrophobic. We ended up following Kohl in pairs, since there was just enough room for two people to walk side-by-side in the hallway. The close quarters made me uncomfortable; I immediately opted to slink to the back of the group. Unfortunately, so did Zelos. Why did life hate me?

Rather than attempting awkward conversation (I'd done that enough already today), I just stared straight ahead and tried not to think. Genis and Presea were the pair before us in line. The mage was making his usual googly eyes at her, and of course she was completely oblivious. I could see Regal and Raine walking ahead of them; poor Regal had to duck down slightly every five seconds so that he wouldn't whack his head on the hanging overhead lights. That had to be uncomfortable.

"Tch."

That was Zelos. I glanced over at him, only to see that he looked rather irritated about something. It could just the fact that he got stuck walking next to me, but I was still a little curious. It wasn't often that he let his own negative emotions show through like that. Maybe he was letting his guard down because he thought no one was paying attention.

"Okay, I'll bite," I murmured cautiously. "What is it?"

"Has your group always been like this?" he murmured back.

"Like what?" I asked, brow furrowed.

"Trusting every idiot that walks their way. You guys have already been betrayed before, right? You're just asking for it again."

Oh. Now I understood perfectly. He was pissed off that everyone was willing to believe Kohl, when Zelos had to fight like hell just to get people to take him seriously for two seconds. Nobody trusted Zelos. Hell, most of the group didn't even really like him. And here we were, taking our chances on some Renegade kid.

"Maybe," I replied with a shrug.

He frowned at me. "That's all you have to say?"

"We don't really trust him. Everyone knows this is a huge risk. We just don't really have any other choice, do we?" I let out a sigh. "Colette's life is on the line. Whatever happens, we'll make it out of here."

Zelos didn't say any more after that, but he still looked unconvinced. Probably because even I didn't believe what I was saying; I knew we would fight tooth and nail to get out of here, but I also knew that things had a way of going horribly wrong. To be honest, I was getting worried. Nothing was going the way I remembered.

Much of the walk down the corridor went on in silence. After a few minutes, though, we eventually reached a point where the already dim lighting abruptly ended. Pitch darkness stretched on ahead.

"This is as far as I can take you," Kohl said, turning to face us. "I can't risk being seen. The hangar is just ahead. The passage opens up directly belowdecks, so you won't have to worry about any electrically powered doors."

"Belowdecks?" Regal questioned.

"It's what we call the room under the terminal," he explained. "The Rheairds are kept there when they're not being used. You'll have to use the computer above to elevate them to the runway, though."

As Kohl spoke, I remembered the last time we'd escaped from a Renegade base. Raine had messed with the computer in the hangar and caused the floor to open up, bringing the Rheairds up from below. So there was a whole room beneath the hangar where the Rheairds were kept...but they weren't any good if we couldn't get them out of the building.

"How are we supposed to do that when there's no power?" Genis asked.

"There's a backup generator somewhere in the hangar," Kohl replied. "But it's been disabled. You could override the security measures with a special key card, but..."

"But what?" This time I was the one who spoke up.

Kohl reached up to tap an earpiece that I'd failed to notice before. "I've been listening in. The system's been reprogrammed...my own card is useless now. Lord Yuan is carrying the only one that will work."

Well, shit.

"Dammit," Lloyd muttered, clenching his fists. "What do we do, then?"

"I've taken you as far as I could," the Renegade said, "so don't look at me for answers. I have to go. Good luck, I guess."

And with that, Kohl moved past us and started walking away in the opposite direction. We all turned to watch him leave.

"Are we just going to let him go?" Genis asked.

Raine shook her head. "If he's telling the truth, then it seems we've reached a point where we'll have to figure the rest out ourselves."

She didn't sound very optimistic. And considering the fact that we were all standing around in a cramped hallway with nothing but pitch darkness on ahead, I could kind of understand why.

"What now, then?" Sheena crossed her arms. "Seems kinda dangerous to just go in without a plan, especially if they're waiting for us."

"Sheena," Presea piped up. "Is Volt not the summon spirit of lightning? Perhaps we could use Volt as a temporary generator."

"Not a bad plan," Regal commented, pressing a hand to his chin thoughtfully.

"But sending a surge of electricity into the system would just blow a fuse," I reminded them.

"Yeah. It might work, but I'd have to really concentrate." Sheena looked over at Raine. "It probably wouldn't last long, either. Do you think you could get the Rheairds ready in less than two minutes?"

The Professor nodded. "I'm already familiar with the controls from last time. I'm sure I'll be able to do it."

"Okay," Lloyd said. "Let's get going, then. To save Colette!"

* * *

The Rheaird hangar was about the same size and shape as the hangar in the Sylvarant base. The belowdecks area had a set of staircases on the east and west ends of the room, leading up into the terminal. Unlike the hallway we'd taken here, the hangar itself was not pitch black; there were some dim backup lights lining the walls, giving us just enough light to see by.

Raine had no trouble finding the main computer. She waited by the console as Sheena and the rest of us made our way up the stairs. The plan was to get the Rheairds operational and to get the hell out of here as soon as possible; after all, the Renegades were going to notice if the power in the hangar randomly came back on. They were probably right outside the main door-

Or not. I was the first to see the tall shadow lurking behind Raine.

Fuck. No time to think. Yuan was there...where was Botta? In my peripheral...to my right. Advancing. Which took priority? No one else had noticed - if I yelled, one of them would lunge. I had to move first. Alert the others and take action, all in one swift motion. What had I said earlier? If all else fails...

...do the most idiotic thing you can think of, obviously.

Without any sort of a heads-up, I abruptly bolted right past Raine, diving at the shadow behind her and ramming my shoulder into it hard.

On the bright side, I received a startled 'hurk!' for my efforts. On the not-so-bright side...I forgot Yuan wore a breastplate. My shoulder now felt like one enormous bruise. Also, I didn't knock him over; he stumbled back a step and then swatted me down like a fly.

The others had been successfully alerted. Raine had retreated to the safety of the group, and they'd formed a circle with their weapons pointing outward. The Renegades had lost their element of surprise; Botta backed off a bit, but kept his weapon ready. A group of soldiers had us surrounded. Not good.

"How the hell did you get out?" Yuan's near-incredulous inquiry was accompanied by his best irritated scowl, and I would've laughed if I hadn't been distracted with a few other things.

For instance, how Zelos had actually come to rescue me behind Yuan's back. Was this his way of apologizing for the time he'd forked me over to Cruxis? Who knew. I was just happy he'd actually come through for me. Also, now Yuan couldn't interrogate me on how I'd escaped from Welgaia after I'd just waltzed out of one of his own cells.

"Escape artist," I told him, pointing to myself and raising my eyebrows as if it were an obvious fact.

When he sent me a glare and his swallow materialized in one hand, I hastily moved to reunite with the group. Now that I was facing our enemies fully and I had a little more time to think, I noted that we were very much outnumbered. There was no way we could stick around and fight this out; it'd be difficult enough with Yuan and Botta alone. Our only real option was to attempt to escape as soon as possible.

"Hmph..." Yuan seemed to regain his composure after my little stunt, and now he stared us down in a battle stance. "So you've come, like moths to the flame."

"Wow," Zelos remarked. "Seriously, could you have at least come up with something a little less cliche?"

"Oh, come on," I said. "I thought it sounded kinda cool."

"No way. That's like, the most cheesy phrase ever. It's like he's not even trying," the redhead countered.

"Well, what was he supposed to say?" I argued, fighting to sound completely serious. "I mean, not everyone thinks these things through. Maybe Yuan wants to go through life saying things like 'Prepare to meet your maker' or-"

"Thunder Blade!"

"Aaaagh!"

Several of us scattered, while others (Raine) were a little more prepared and threw up a barrier. Apparently Yuan wasn't having any of our nonsense; I had made the mistake of forgetting that he and Kratos were very different, patience-wise.

Also, apparently that first spell was a signal for the rest of the Renegades to attack. Now all hell was breaking loose as our group fought to stay together amidst the chaos.

Miraculously, everyone seemed to have a similar idea of what needed to be done. It wasn't long before Raine had managed to make her way back to the computer; Regal and I stood at her back, protecting her. Not a lot of the soldiers were willing to engage the blue-haired wall of muscle in battle. And fortunately, the slim girl wielding a big sword seemed to discourage them a little, too.

Not as much as Presea and her giant axe, though. She was currently standing in front of Sheena, while Zelos kept Botta busy. Lloyd, meanwhile, was fighting Yuan - and barely managing to keep up. The fact that he was able to keep up at all amazed me. How had the teen suddenly gotten so strong without my noticing? Had I missed something here?

Sheena cast a glance my way. I looked over at Raine, saw that she was ready, and then nodded to the ninja. Runes began to glow beneath her feet as she murmured some summoning incantations under her breath.

Yuan was beating Lloyd back and firing off lightning spells left and right at the same time. How he did it was a mystery to me; all I knew was that he had to be stopped, or one of those Thunder Blades would impale us before this was over.

"Genis!" I called, catching the boy's attention. He had been fending off some Renegades with an Eruption spell.

He looked over at me, having just barely enough time to pause.

"Use Spread!" I told him, gesturing to Yuan.

The mage made the connection - and grinned devilishly. About twenty seconds later, a flood of water hit the Renegade leader head on; he threw up a barrier in time to avoid the brunt of it, but he was still completely drenched in the process. And a drenched Yuan was not going to risk his attacks backfiring. The lightning spells stopped...but now he looked about three times more pissed off. Suddenly Lloyd wasn't able to keep up anymore, and he was sent flying backwards. Determined as ever, he just regained his footing and rushed back into the fray.

"Hammer of godly thunder!" That was Sheena. There was a flash of light, and I caught a glimpse of Volt; then the summon faded away just as the entire hangar buzzed to life.

All of the lights brightened suddenly, and the computer Raine was standing at flickered on. She instantly got to work. Yuan swore and headed straight for her; Lloyd and I ran to meet him while Regal engaged Botta. The other Renegades hesitated, as if uncertain who to attack first.

The Professor didn't give them time to decide. Her hands flew over the computer's keyboard and suddenly panels in the floor were sliding away, bringing up the Rheairds from the room below. The entrance to the runway opened up, revealing a light in the distance - the exit.

"Don't let them get to the Rheairds!" Yuan growled, batting the two of us away. His wet bangs were plastered to his forehead; he blew them away with an angry huff and then lunged once more, nearly cleaving me in two with his swallow.

Yuan's yell successfully broke his men out of their stupor; suddenly we had a wall of Renegade soldiers blocking us off from our only way out, and we just didn't have the strength to fight through it. The lights flickered; Sheena's concentration was breaking.

Raine moved away from the computer while the rest of us attempted to gather our bearings long enough to figure out what to do. What could we do, anyway? If only we could just blow a hole through that stupid wall of -

Wait.

Didn't I still have that dynamite I saved from the Toize Valley Mine?

"Genis!' Thankfully, the mage happened to be right next to me this time around. I frantically dug through my bag, locating a bundle of said explosives. Right where I'd left it...oh, it definitely never hurts to think ahead. I pulled it out just enough for him to see and then jerked my head towards the line of Renegades blocking our path. "Fireball on the count of three!"

He nodded.

"One..."

In the background, Lloyd actually managed to push Yuan back a little with a particularly powerful Beast.

"Two..."

Regal and Botta, both tall and equally muscled, were a more even match. The convict was just barely able to keep Yuan's second-in-command from interrupting what we were planning.

"...Three!"

Sheena's concentration broke and a surge of Volt's electricity caused all of the lights in the room to explode. At the same time, I chucked the dynamite at the group of soldiers. And with a carefully aimed Fireball from Genis, the bundle ignited and blew. A wave of heat rushed over us as the Renegade soldiers let out screams and scattered, leaving the Rheairds ahead wide open. Everyone recognized the opening; we made a run for it through the darkness.

There was no time to decide who was riding with whom; we all just clambered on to whatever Rheaird we were closest to and suddenly there was a rush of air and all of the noise from the hangar vanished. I was clinging to someone and it was dark and all I could hear was the sound of wind howling past my ears.

And then, suddenly, there was light.

The sky. We were outside. We were finally free.

I was so happy that I didn't even care how awkward it was that I was clinging to Raine. Yuan and the Renegade base were shrinking into the distance, and that was all that mattered.

* * *

**A/N: I apologize in advance for any typos/errors/crappiness in general. It's 2 am and I just can't keep my eyes open long enough to read this over again. Don't know how I feel about this chapter, so...review and let me know what you thiiiink!**

**Also, according to the NR timeline...the last week of May 2011 is when OC Brit is first chucked into Sylvarant! XD Weird...I can't believe I was 16 when I started writing this, and a lot of my predictions about my life were actually pretty close (except my car is sexier durrhuurrrr).**

**Oh crap...I'd better haul ass to finish this before we actually surpass that timeline. XD Right now in the story it's October of 2011...wow.**

**Anyway! Enough rambling. Review and...I don't know, something special will happen!**

**Next time: WHAT IS THIS OMINOUS LIIIIIGHT**


	49. Deep Thoughts With Regal Bryant

**A/N: Soooo I'm not dead! Just in case you were wondering. I'm also using a borrowed computer, so I don't have time to explain myself. This is totally not an excuse. Nope. ANYWAY. Much apologies if the format of this is screwed up in any way. My sister is literally waiting for me to get off sooooo...yeah. And I get in a good ten minutes of internet time a day. **

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: No own.**

* * *

The first few seconds of flight were dead silent - I imagined everyone else felt much the same as me. It was just so hard to believe we'd pulled off yet another suicidal stunt. Now we'd have to go battle some dragons...I could only pray no one would get chewed up in the process.

"...Is everyone all right?" Raine finally asked from in front of me. It was now that I managed to look up and take note of the current situation.

From what I could see, we had taken a grand total of seven Rheairds from Yuan. I was the only one paired up with someone; Raine had just been the closest, and there was no way I was piloting one of these death traps. At least I could trust her not to press random buttons just to see what would happen.

"I...I think so," Genis called back hesitantly. "Are you sure these things won't crash again?"

"Crash?" Regal piped up, understandably concerned.

Sheena shook her head. "We've got a constant supply of Volt's power now. It'll be okay, trust me."

"Good, 'cause I don't think I can handle another freefall," I grumbled, my teeth beginning to chatter.

Oh yeah, it was cold. That was one advantage to being paired up with Raine; her body heat was a definite help. The others were shivering violently. We were at a high altitude in a frigid region, so obviously it was going to be freezing. Really, really freezing.

"Everyone, let's head southwest," Sheena called. "It'll take us out of the cold faster."

No one really talked for the next twenty minutes or so as we raced to get away from the Flanoir continent. It was too hard to focus on a conversation at this point. We would have to invest in some winter clothes soon - if we tried making the pact with Celsius like this, we'd die of hypothermia before we even got close. Poor Genis was in shorts, too. And Sheena's boobs were probably cold. Ha.

After a little while, the air began to grow noticeably warmer. My goosebumps faded and the chill left my body. And gradually, everyone seemed to relax.

"That was a good idea, back at the Renegade base," Genis commented, looking over at me. "But where did you get those explosives, anyway?"

"I recognized them. You took some from the Toize Valley Mine, correct?" Regal cut in.

I shrugged. "Yeah, I may have pilfered a few. I figured I'd find a use for them sooner or later."

"You've been carrying around explosives for the past few weeks?" In front of me, Raine had pressed a palm to her forehead. "Did it ever occur to you the danger of such a thing? If there were some sort of accident..."

"Nothing happened, right?" I defended myself. "Besides, my bag's like a bottomless pit. I always put stuff in without thinking and find it three months later."

The Professor sighed. "Explosives aren't something to be treated so casually..."

"Okay, okay, I'll be more careful next time." It was no use arguing the point when she was right.

A few minutes passed. The ocean water below us grew noticeably lighter in hue and the clouds cleared up; soon I could feel the sun beating down on my shoulders. It occurred to me that we were moving a hell of a lot faster than when we rode the EC. I mean, to go from freezing my ass off to hoping I didn't get a sunburn in the same day just felt strange. Ever since leaving the frigid Flanoir region, we had increased our speed. I couldn't see the speedometer (if there was one) over Raine's shoulder, but if I had to hazard a guess, I would say we were going sixty-five, maybe seventy miles an hour. It made me wonder how fast these things could go if we really pushed them.

"Hey..." Lloyd frowned. "Where are we going, anyway?"

"Now that we're safely away from the base, we should stop in a town so we can rest and restock our supplies," Raine said. "We don't know what we might find when we go after Colette, and failure isn't an option. We have to make sure we're prepared."

"Agreed," Presea said.

"In that case, why don't we drop by Altamira?" Zelos suggested. "It's closest, anyway. The place is so full of tourists, chances are we won't be noticed."

"Please." Sheena rolled her eyes. "You spend every winter there. You're telling me nobody's going to recognize you, Zelos?"

"C'mon, it'll be fine!" He grinned. "Besides, it's still early afternoon. You wouldn't want to waste the rest of the day heading to someplace else when we could be rescuing Colette, right?"

"...I guess he has a point..." Sheena agreed grudgingly.

Meanwhile, I had to stop myself from letting out a groan. I was doing the math in my head; we had infiltrated the base this morning, and it had taken us a few hours to get out...which meant that Zelos was right. From what I could tell by the sun's position in the sky, it couldn't be later than one o' clock. There was a lot of time left in the day...and wasn't the Dragon's Nest near Altamira? Dammit. I had just tackled Yuan and I was NOT ready to tackle a bunch of dragons in the same day.

...But at the same time, I knew something could happen to Colette in the time it took us to rest up. If something hadn't happened to her already. And would any of us give a crap about that extra sleep we missed when we finally saved her?

Still, I really didn't want to fight dragons...it had been a long time since I had last played the game, but that battle stood out in my mind. It had been a hard one. And they were flying foes, so we couldn't escape on the Rheairds, either. If they ended up being too strong for us, we were basically fucked.

Hopefully Colette would be feeling well enough to fight with us, because we were sure as hell going to need her...

* * *

"I'm sorry. I'll wait here."

"Huh?"

Lloyd stopped, and the rest of us stopped with him; we all turned to face Regal, who was leaning against a nearby palm tree with his eyes closed. Less than a mile away was Altamira, the beautiful seaside resort.

"Why can't you come with us?" Lloyd tried again, taking a step towards the convict.

Regal just shook his head silently in reply. His face was blank...though I was sure he was fighting to maintain that indifferent facade.

"Not talking, huh?" Zelos watched him for a second, and then shrugged, turning away. "I say we leave him be. If Pops doesn't wanna spill it, that's his choice. Not like we can force it out of him."

Lloyd frowned, concerned. "...But I feel bad just leaving him here. Are you sure you don't want to come?"

"I'll be fine," Regal simply said.

"I'm sure he's got his reasons," I spoke up. "Let's just go. We'll be back soon, Regal."

"Hmm...all right," Raine agreed a little hesitantly.

And so we left Regal behind, making our way on foot to the city. The only downside to the Rheairds was the fact that they drew a lot of attention; we had to land them at a safe distance from civilization, or we'd be noticed in a heartbeat. It was still fun to see Altamira grow bigger and bigger as we approached, though. My excitement was building with every step. I hadn't been to a place like this since that trip I'd taken to Florida when I was twelve. I vaguely recalled hugging a palm tree within ten minutes of stepping off the plane. Good times.

"I wonder why Regal doesn't like Altamira?" Genis said, looking around at the rest of us.

"...I don't like Sybak," Presea murmured. "Perhaps...it has something to do with his past."

"Maybe..." Sheena pressed a finger to her lip thoughtfully. "Come to think about it, we don't know all that much about him, do we?"

"Hmm," was Zelos' helpful input. Judging from the smirk on his face, though, he had a lot more that he wanted to say. He probably realized it was useless. This group could really be clueless sometimes.

Then again, I wasn't one to talk. I hadn't been able to guess at Regal's nobility or relation to Presea or any of that beforehand. In my defense, I had been around twelve when I'd first played the game. Twelve...had that been the year I'd gone to Florida, too?

Huh...Florida...

"Brittany?"

"Eh?" My head snapped up and I saw Lloyd staring at me. "Wh-What?"

He just rolled his eyes. "Dork. You're just zoning out, aren't you?"

"Nope! Totally paying attention." I waved a hand dismissively. "Uh...Regal and his mystery past, right? Sorry, I don't have any theories. Yep, drawing a blank over here..."

"Heh." That was Zelos again. He paused just long enough to direct his smirk at me before looking up ahead again. The hell was that supposed to mean? He didn't believe me?

Lloyd and the others didn't seem to notice Zelos' amusement; that was probably for the best. I didn't press it. Part of me didn't really want to know, because I might not like whatever answers I got out of him.

No more than twenty minutes later, we stood at the front gate to Altamira. The barest semblance of a path had appeared about ten minutes into the walk, but for the most part, this entrance to the city wasn't anything special. The full grandeur of the resort faced the sea, where boats and ocean liners would be coming in from far and wide. I could see the docks and the enormous harbor from here.

Zelos was the first to set foot in the city. He walked on ahead a few steps, turned around to face us, and threw his arms out in a sweeping gesture. "Well, this is it, kiddies! Welcome to Altamira, the Seaside Paradise."

"Wow..." Genis and Lloyd echoed the same thought.

Sheena looked unimpressed, Raine vaguely interested. Presea was - well, I still couldn't really read her. Personally I was still mostly lost in my own observations. This place made me feel more homesick than ever.

The first thing I really noticed other than the harbor was the glamorous Hotel Lezareno, a massive, towering building that dominated the city's skyline. It was covered in the same reflective one-way windows I was so used to seeing in American cities, instantly catching my attention. The sheer modern-ness of the building surprised me; up until this point I was used to seeing a strange mixture of the modern and primitive (or in the Renegades' and Cruxis' case, completely futuristic), so it was strange to finally look upon something familiar after all this time.

It was decidedly smaller than what I was accustomed to seeing in American resorts, but the same elements were all there. The amusement park, the casino, and Lezareno's corporate building were all visible in the distance, the beachside lined with all sorts of stalls and shops and restaurants with outside seating. Hell, there were even swimsuit-clad waitresses running around wearing bunny ears - where was the sign welcoming me to Fabulous Las Vegas, anyway?

Looking at all this gave me a strange taste in my mouth. Earth was great and I wanted to get back to it, thank you, but Sylvarant and Tethe'alla had their own little charm, too. I wasn't sure I liked this odd melding of the two. Altamira made me think that maybe in a hundred years or so, when things had settled down, there might be quite a few more of these cities releasing pollutants into the air. Technology would advance and knowledge would spread, cures for diseases would be found, the population would grow and cities would expand along with the crime rate, people would get more paranoid, better weapons would be developed, wars-

"Claustrophobic or something, hunny? Tall buildings making you dizzy?" Zelos smirked at me, derailing my train of thought.

"I'm used to it," I snapped, probably a little more moodily than I'd intended. The others gave me looks.

Zelos, as always, shrugged it off. "Well, all right, then. Shall we start the grand tour?"

"We don't have time for a tour," Sheena grumbled. "Let's just go to the vendors in the hotel."

"Fiiiine," he sighed dramatically. "You guys are no fun at all."

We followed after the redhead, making our way up the hotel's front steps. At first the valets standing at the doors stopped us; after all, we were a bunch of travel-worn, grungy strangers attempting to walk into a high-class hotel. Then Zelos flashed them a sunny grin and offered a quick "they're with me", and before I knew it we were inside tracking dirt on their nice carpet. Ah, it certainly was nice to have connections.

Though under normal circumstances I wouldn't be caught dead walking into a place like this looking the way I was. Jeez...when was the last time I had actually taken a shower? The fact that I had trouble remembering was alarming enough. And it was worse knowing that the rest of the group wasn't much better off.

Zelos finally came to a stop at the hotel's front desk, working his magic on the blonde woman standing there. She seemed more than a little flustered, her cheeks pink; I began to theorize that Zelos could probably wander around covered in sewage and still manage to make women swoon.

"Hey."

I looked over to see that Lloyd had come to stand next to me. I just cocked an eyebrow in response.

"What's up?" He pressed. "You were acting kind of weird earlier."

"...This city just reminds me of Earth, that's all," I replied with a shrug. "What, you're not gonna spaz out over how cool and fancy this all is? I'm disappointed, Lloyd."

"Huh?" The teen blinked cluelessly before looking around. "Oh...yeah, I guess it is kinda cool."

"Okay, now you're the weird one," I pointed out.

He sighed. "I'm just...distracted. This is taking too long."

Oh. Colette...it would make sense that she'd dominate his thoughts right now. I was worried, of course, but in the back of my head I kept reassuring myself that things were supposed to turn out okay. Lloyd didn't have that small comfort.

"Hmm. You're handling it better than usual."

"Maybe I'm getting used to it or something. It feels like we're always waiting," Lloyd finally whined.

"Probably because we are." I snorted. "But if we waltz out to the Dragon's Nest now without at least stocking up on supplies, we'll get our asses handed to us."

He let out another sigh. "I just can't wait to get Colette back and know that she's..."

When Lloyd trailed off, I faltered and glanced over at him. "...You gonna finish that sentence, big guy?"

The teen met my gaze, his brow furrowed. "Hey, Brittany..."

I raised my eyebrows. "Hmm?"

He stared hard at me for a second or two, and then shook his head. "Never mind."

"...Okay?" Though I sent him a confused look, he was clearly dropping the subject. I just shrugged and went back to observing whatever the hell Zelos was up to.

The woman at the desk was busily writing away on a small pad of paper. Then she reached under the desk and retrieved a key, passing it over to Zelos. He winked at her and then finally turned back to us, a victorious smirk on his face.

"Is that a room key?" Sheena inquired. "Zelos, we don't need -"

"Just for now," he interrupted smoothly. "We only need a couple people to get supplies and all that, right? In the meantime, the rest of us can chill in our nice ocean-view suite and wait for lunchtime. Sound good?"

"We're just getting ready to rescue Colette," Genis grumbled. "This isn't a vacation."

"Hey, if you don't want to enjoy yourself, feel free to sulk," Zelos replied blithely.

And it was in that cheery manner we began our short stay in Altamira. I mimicked putting a gun to my head and pulling the trigger - but, of course, no one understood the gesture.

* * *

Raine, as usual, was the one to go purchase supplies. Lloyd went along with her, probably just for the sake of having something to do. The rest of us waited in the room Zelos had temporarily rented out. Room service would be bringing up some lunch soon.

The room really was ocean-view. The wall facing the sea was made up almost entirely made of glass, providing a breathtaking sight of the beach and the bright blue water beyond. The interior of the suite was luxurious enough that it almost reminded me of one of the bedrooms in Zelos' mansion. Though this room only had a single (enormous) bed, there was enough furniture in here for all of us to be able to seat ourselves comfortably. The bathroom was huge (and equipped with a jacuzzi!), and the suite even came with a kitchenette and a minibar.

"Not bad, eh?" Zelos asked once we were all settled.

"If you've got the money for it, I guess," Sheena commented in a relatively indifferent tone.

"Aw, c'mon! Not even a little impressed?"

"I find it very impressive, Zelos," Presea attempted to reassure him. "It is...big."

He opened his mouth, received a warning glare from Sheena, and then settled for a perverted little smirk. Oh, Jesus. Presea needed to be more careful with her words.

"Biggest hotel I've seen around here so far," I remarked.

"That's because it's the biggest one in Tethe'alla, hunny," the redhead told me. "It's haunted, you know."

"Don't even start with this again." Genis frowned. "You were saying that about Gaoracchia Forest, too."

"Hey, hey, it's true!" Zelos insisted. "This place has a lot of history. People come and go all the time. Sometimes they kick the bucket here, yeah? A place like this is bound to have a few suicides and mysterious deaths and all that fun stuff."

"Doesn't mean it's haunted," Sheena said.

The Chosen shrugged. "If you don't want to believe it, don't. I'm just saying I might have seen or heard a few things. Actually...I shouldn't tell you this, but the only reason we were allowed to stay in this room is because no one wants to stay the night in here. Ever since that night three years ago, you know..."

"Redrum," I muttered with a snicker.

"What's that, hunny?" Zelos cocked an eyebrow in my direction. Genis was actually starting to look sufficiently creeped out, but it looked like my little remark had eased the tension at least a little.

"I think I've heard this story," I said in a matter-of-fact manner, wiping the smile off my face. "One time the hotel was closed down for a few weeks and the caretaker stayed here with his family. But then he started to go a little crazy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, right? So he got an axe and tried chopping his wife and kid up into tiny little pieces. They got away, though. We don't really know what happened to the caretaker. Maybe he's out chillin' with the lady that committed suicide in this room's bathtub."

"I don't want to hear any more," Genis groaned, covering his ears.

"Pretty good," the redhead commented with a grin. "Except this hotel never closes down. I think I'll use it, though. What's redrum mean? Some kind of booze?"

"It's 'murder' spelled backwards," I told him, holding up a finger.

"Oh, please..." Sheena rolled her eyes.

Zelos' grin grew. "Lemme guess. Written in blood within sight of a mirror, right?"

"You know it." I nodded. "And also, this is all my creative prowess right here. Totally not ripping off a book I read."

"Said book wouldn't even exist here anyway," Zelos remarked flippantly, waving a hand. "So it's all you, babe. Now then, I wonderhow many times I'll have to tell this story before everyone thinks it's true..."

Presea tilted her head a little, confused. "Why would you tell it to others?"

"For the sole purpose of being irritating," Sheena grumbled. "He does this every year and the tourists always eat it right up because he's the Great Chosen One."

"...And because they're tourists," I added. Back in my lovely home of coastal Maine, I had sometimes wondered if going on vacation in a different place somehow automatically decreased your intelligence level. Even now I had a feeling it was true.

Zelos shrugged, grinning shamelessly. "Winter's long. I need some way of entertaining myself, you know."

"Aren't you kind of obligated to stay in Meltokio?" Genis frowned a little distastefully. "Or are you really that much of a figurehead?"

The redhead's grin dropped from his face so suddenly it was like it had never been there in the first place. For a moment he just scowled in the usual fashion, but then it was replaced with that cynical, sarcastic smile of his that I hated.

"Yeah. I guess I am. The Pope probably throws a party every time I leave, too. But I have my reasons for coming here."

"...Sure you do," Genis muttered, watching Zelos warily. His tone of voice suggested that he didn't believe Zelos, but that didn't seem to bother the Chosen.

Sheena frowned and exchanged a look with me - she sensed the odd change in his demeanor - but she didn't comment on it. The reason for the way he was acting hit me and I just let out a sigh.

Winter. He spent his winters here...because he couldn't bear to see snow in Meltokio. Not again.

It was at times like these that I almost understood Zelos and the way he was acting. He couldn't be a bad person, no matter what had happened between us. It had to have been a misunderstanding - the way Genis was misunderstanding him now. I knew what Zelos' reasons were in this instance, but that didn't mean I knew him through and through. There was more to him than that angry, bitter person I had argued with. There had to be.

Again...I was back on that subject again. The beginnings of a headache ate at me and I pressed a palm to my forehead.

At that moment, thankfully, there came a polite knocking at the door. That would be our food.

"Finally," Zelos groaned, stretching as he stood up. "I'm starving!" And of course, now he was back to his usual carefree attitude, and it was hard to believe that stupid grin had ever left his face. Trying to read that guy was going to drive me insane.

* * *

"Where are you off to?" Sheena had looked up from her spot at the table. All of the places had been set and the food arranged; the only thing we were missing was the last few members of our group. Lloyd and Raine hadn't returned yet.

I had asked the room service attendant if they had any sort of carry-out containers, not expecting any luck. This was a fancy hotel, not an Applebee's. But thankfully, after some fishing through her cart, the woman was able to find a small box that would function well enough. The question from Sheena had come just as I began placing a few choice food items into the box.

"Don't tell me..." Genis murmured.

"Regal and I are gonna have some bonding time," I replied with a noncommittal shrug. Sheena facepalmed, as expected.

"'Bonding time'? What does this entail?" Presea asked, blinking.

"Awkward silences, probably." I grinned.

Her brow furrowed slightly as she mulled this over. "...Does this mean Genis and I are well-bonded?"

The roar of laughter that came from Zelos at that moment was sufficient cover for me to make my escape with the food - though it was difficult to keep a good hold on the box, since I was laughing pretty hard myself. Genis' face just then had been completely priceless. I was beginning to really like Presea and her strange mixture of innocence and maturity.

I was still giggling about it ten minutes later as I made my way out of the city. Lloyd and Raine hadn't come back in time to see me leave, which was another plus, since Raine would've undoubtedly stopped me. Even I knew it was a little risky for me to be walking around alone right now - but I also knew enough to be able to deduce that at this point in time there wasn't much to worry about.

The place we'd left Regal at wasn't too far from the city, for one thing. Yuan was probably pissed at me and would undoubtedly recapture me if he could just to make my life miserable, but that still didn't change the fact that he had bigger things to worry about. He also had Zelos here to keep an eye on us in the meantime. The Renegades wouldn't be after us again this soon. And as for Cruxis, I had a feeling they were a little too preoccupied with internal strife right now. Of course, with my luck, something bad might happen anyway.

But hey, someone had to bring Regal dinner. He couldn't fight on an empty stomach. And if me doing it earned me some brownie points, then it was worth it. For all I knew he thought I was a crazy Earth-girl...but at least now I would be a NICE crazy Earth-girl, right?

After a fifteen or twenty minute walk, I was able to spot the convict sitting cross-legged in the shade under a small copse. Part of me wondered if he had been in that meditative pose for the past hour since we'd left him. It wouldn't surprise me; Regal seemed like the sort of guy to have infinite patience. I would've been bored as hell in his position.

"Regal!" I called.

His eyes snapped open and he gave me a look of surprise. He definitely hadn't been dozing, but he obviously hadn't expected any company, either. Hopefully he wouldn't mind. I didn't feel quite comfortable enough around him to shove myself into his personal space. Not yet, anyway. Ha-ha.

"Brittany?" He frowned slightly. "Why are you not with the others?"

"Because I'm here bringing you food?" I tried. I set the box down in the grass, popping the lid open and showing him the contents.

"Figured I'd might as well eat out here, too. Um...I didn't know what you'd like, so I just brought anything that wasn't too messy."

The surprised look hadn't faded from his face. Finally he gave me an earnest smile. "Thank you. Though I chose to remain out here of my own volition, it was kind of you to think of me regardless."

"Oh, uh, no problem." I waved a hand in a dismissive gesture. "After everyone's done eating we'll be ready to set out, anyway. I can just chill out here with you until the others show up."

After a few minutes we had arranged a decent meal among ourselves. Though this was essentially a picnic in the grass, I wasn't surprised that Regal somehow managed to look dignified while he ate. His name suited him, that was for sure. The convict guise was growing more and more difficult to believe.

"...How do you like the city?" He asked quietly once the silence had stretched on too long. His face was carefully neutral.

It was a good thing I already knew a few important things about him; otherwise I might've asked the wrong question in return. Instead I offered a sheepish smile. "Not sure, to be honest. It reminds me of home...it's kind of weird."

Now Regal raised his eyebrows, interested. "Home? How is it similar to your home?"

"It looks like a mixture of some resort cities I've seen," I explained between bites of food, leaning back against a tree trunk. "The style of the buildings, the way everyone's dressed...it's just strange seeing all of that and knowing I'm still so far from home."

He closed his eyes and seemed to mull over this. "...I can see what you mean." When he opened them again, his eyes were wistful. Then he turned his head to look at me. "But this is no cause for sadness. You've come this far; someday, you'll be able to head home. I'm certain of it."

I smiled weakly. "Thanks. I just wish I had that kind of confidence." My gaze was drawn to the horizon, where the sea met the sky. Somewhere out there, Colette was waiting...and saving her was another obstacle to overcome. Another potential way to die.

The conversation wandered over a few different topics while we ate, though Regal did seem particularly interested in the ways of Earth and the different technolgies there. He asked these questions with a slight air of guilt; though I insisted I didn't really mind, he could still sense my homesickness. Talking about it didn't exactly help, but it was still nice to speak freely of something I'd kept secret for months. It was an enormous relief knowing that my origins weren't such a huge deal anymore. Somehow, the group had moved on and the suspicion had died down.

"...I apologize," Regal murmured with a sigh. "I shouldn't be asking so many questions while withholding information of my own."

"It's okay," I told him with a shrug. "You know I'm not gonna press it. If you want to tell us why you won't enter Altamira, you'll do it on your own time. I trust you."

I was so full of shit. The only reason I trusted him was because I already knew his secret. Otherwise I probably would've been suspicious as hell.

He smiled slightly, not noticing my inner turmoil. "Thank you. I'm not sure what I've done to earn such trust."

"You kicked a wolf in the face for me," I pointed out with a grin. "That act of badassery was enough to earn my loyalty for life."

Regal's face took on a bemused expression. "...I see."

I had to laugh. "I'm serious! That was awesome. Makes me wish I knew how to fight like that...it'd definitely come in handy. Did you teach yourself all of those moves?"

He nodded. "For the most part, yes. There was a time when I once fought only with my hands. When I learned to use my feet, I adapted similar principles and techniques. I was sloppy at first, but I like to think I've perfected it a little more over the years."

"Is it hard?" I asked, my brow furrowed with curiosity.

"Not so much anymore," he replied. "The motions come much more easily now and they take less thought. I imagine learning the sword was much the same for you."

I winced a little. "Yeah...I'm still not exactly graceful."

"You don't give yourself enough credit." Regal paused, seeming to size me up. "For someone who was a mere civilian less than half a year ago, I would say you're doing well."

That caused me to let out a chuckle. "I guess as long as it keeps me alive, I don't care how bad my swordplay is." Then my smile fell. "...Lloyd and I used to train every morning, but that was when Kratos was still with us."

Even on a perfect fall day like this, when the sun was shining and the sky was a beautiful blue, mentioning the seraph still made me a little edgy. Kratos, who I'd said far too much to. The harsh teacher, stone-faced mentor...and formidable enemy. The shades of grey were too hard to see through nowadays. I still didn't know if I had been right to trust him or not.

"...The man we encountered in Ozette?" Regal inquired. He seemed to be watching my expression carefully.

"Mm," I confirmed. "He used to force us to get up at five in the morning every day. Sometimes I wonder why he tried so hard to build us up...maybe he just wanted more of a challenge when the time came to cut us down."

Or maybe in his heart he had been hoping Lloyd would somehow win at the Tower, or at least have a fighting chance. Kratos' intentions were always hard to understand.

"Hmm..." The shackled man looked thoughtful at this. "I understand your bitterness, but it's important to take into account that even the worst of people have underlying motivations for their actions."

My lips wanted to tug up in a crooked smile, but I kept my face neutral. I was starting to really like Regal - he was reasonable and he didn't jump to conclusions. Calm and level-headed...definitely someone I could talk to.

"Yeah?" I gave him a sidelong glance, sizing him up. "Any guesses for Kratos' motivations?"

Regal frowned slightly. "I couldn't say. I know nothing about this man. Perhaps he truly took a liking to the two of you...but I imagine he would have kept his distance had that been the case. Maybe he simply didn't want any incompetent fighters protecting Colette. Or..."

I tilted my head, curious. "Or?"

He looked away. "...It could be that you reminded him of someone he once knew."

That comment gave me a chill. He was almost spot-on with that one...but how could he have known? He wasn't that perceptive, was he?

Oh. That far off look in his eyes...he was thinking of Presea. If not for Presea and her distinctive resemblance to her sister, Regal probably wouldn't have joined our group. He certainly wouldn't have seen any reason to do so, anyway. And Kratos...he had seen centuries' worth of chosens and sent them to their deaths. If Lloyd hadn't been with us...would Colette have been any different?

Without Lloyd, Kratos didn't have the motivation to stop Yggdrasill. His concern wasn't for himself - he wanted a peaceful world for his son to live in.

"You believe that is the case?" Yeah, Regal was definitely perceptive. He had noticed the way I had gone silent.

It took me a second to gather my bearings enough so I could respond in an offhand manner. "Who knows. Even if there's some sentimentality involved, that still means he's choosing Cruxis over us. Screw him."

He raised his eyebrows at that, but wisely chose not to comment.

I shrugged and looked away. "Besides...Kratos isn't the sort of person you can afford to fight with any doubt or hesitation."

"But you possess both."

"Hmm." I didn't confirm or deny anything, just keeping my gaze averted.

Regal seemed to understand that that particular subject was closed, so he fell silent, looking thoughtful. I couldn't help but wonder what was going through his head. Did he sense that the way I felt about Kratos was different than how Lloyd felt? Lloyd's case was different; he was completely in the dark. I just couldn't hate the seraph after he'd saved me...yet I had to pretend to, because no one could know of our secret understanding. And it was an understanding, wasn't it? Kratos must have realized by now that I knew exactly what he was up to behind the scenes.

Because I knew far more than I had any right to know...

He must have had plenty of time to think that over. I knew I had. Sometimes, though...I wondered how much of a difference it really made. I had spent so much time worrying about the game's plot and trying to keep it on track, but up until now I really didn't think I had ever managed to contribute much either way. It felt like I was just along for the ride - trying to change the timeline would be like fighting against the current of a powerful river. Maybe all I really had to worry about was staying alive, and the rest would work out on its own.

But then again, I had saved Corrine. And there were other things - like when Palmacosta was supposed to be destroyed. If I was capable of changing that, should I? It was so hard to figure out. Maybe that was why I'd told Kratos in the first place. I didn't want to bear this burden alone anymore.

I let out a sigh. "Hey, Regal...do you believe in fate?"

He frowned slightly, seeming to mull my question over for a moment or two. "...I believe that fate is something we resign ourselves to when we lose hope."

That was an answer I hadn't anticipated. It rang true in my mind, and I was impressed. Kratos was a strict fatalist, and his view on things did seem rather dismal at times. It was easier to attribute an event to 'fate' than to try and understand all of the other ways it could have happened - or could have been prevented.

"That's right...but you didn't answer my question, though," I pointed out.

Regal smiled thinly. "I'm sorry. I've been trying to answer that question for years, to tell you the truth. I'm not entirely certain even now. There are times when I believe wholeheartedly, and others when I despise the idea of fate."

"I guess I've been having the same conflict," I admitted.

"Hmm." Regal closed his eyes. "In the end, all we can truly control are the decisions we make. We all choose our own path - though there is no way of telling where it may lead."

I closed my eyes for a moment too, taking a deep breath as I thought over what he'd said. He was so mature, and every response he gave was genuine and thought-out; I wanted to confide in him almost right away.

A breeze blew through the tree tops, bringing with it the smell of the ocean. The sun was sinking a bit lower in the sky; early evening was beginning to set in. I tried to enjoy the peace while I could.

"Huh..." I let out the breath I'd taken and just shook my head.

"Something is bothering you?" Regal asked, giving me a sidelong glance.

I shrugged. "No, it's just...well, say there's two paths. You know one leads to where you need to go, but if you take it you'll lose something very important. The other path lets you keep that important thing, but you don't know where it'll lead. Which one would you take?"

"Sometimes the end point isn't quite as important as the journey itself," he told me. "I suppose I would ask myself if it was really worth giving up that important thing simply to have the comfort of knowing what lies ahead."

I opened my mouth to reply, but Regal cut me off.

"Hello, Lloyd."

"Whoa!"

When the red-clad swordsman fell out of the bushes, I had to smack my forehead.

"You were eavesdropping?"

"N-No!" Lloyd plopped down next to me, his cheeks pink. "I just got here! I was just trying to sneak up on you, but Regal ruined it."

The convict blinked cluelessly. "My apologies. I didn't realize you were trying to be subtle..."

"Hey!" the brunette whined.

I couldn't stop myself from snickering - forget the fact that I totally hadn't heard him coming. It looked like Regal was another one of those people that was impossible to catch off guard. Then again, after years of being in prison, that was probably a skill that he'd been forced to learn.

"Anyway..." Lloyd quickly regained his composure, glancing over at me. "So what's this important thing you lose, anyway?"

"You were eavesdropping," I repeated, rolling my eyes.

He suddenly seemed to be fascinated with his sleeve. "Well, uh..."

"By the way you were speaking, Brittany, I'd imagine it isn't something of material value," Regal remarked.

"No, I guess not," I said.

"I'd still take the second path," Lloyd declared with a confident nod. "I mean, why take the first one if you already know you'll lose something?"

"Because you don't know anything about the other path," I reminded him. "Hell, the other path might kill you."

His brow furrowed. "Then who cares about those two routes? I'd just make my own path and make it go where I want."

"That's a very optimistic outlook," Regal said, his lips twitching.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you're still good ol' idealistic Lloyd," I said, smiling and shaking my head. Make his own path, huh...come to think of it, he'd been doing that this whole time. Against all odds, too.

"Lloyd!" A new voice came. "I told you not to run on ah-"

"Raine, I think he found them."

"Oh hey, what's this? A picnic? Cute." That was Zelos' contribution, of course.

"...Yo," I simply said, raising a hand in greeting. The rest of the group had approached during our conversation, and judging from the way everyone was carrying their bags, it was probably safe to say they were ready to head out.

Regal seemed to sense this as well, for in the next moment he was already on his feet. I followed suit and mentally tried to sort out who I would hop on a Rheaird with this time. Lloyd would be the logical choice-

Well, I WAS trying to think until a sharp pain on the back of my head caused my brain to malfunction.

"Ow! Professor!"

"Shouldn't you know better at this point?" She glared at me. "Both Cruxis and the Renegades have made attempts at capturing you. The last thing we need is another rescue mission, understand? Stop taking unnecessary risks."

"Right..." I looked away guiltily. I probably should've seen that coming...I had wandered off on my own, after all. And if an enemy had shown up while I was with Regal, it probably wouldn't have ended well. Regal was a strong fighter, but he wasn't invincible.

Raine gave me a frustrated look before shaking her head. "...We'll deal with this later. Right now Colette is the priority. Is everyone ready to leave?"

"Do we know of Colette's location?" Regal asked.

"I checked with some of my people," Sheena explained. "They said there have been sightings of a strange object in the sky east of here."

"A strange object...in the sky?" The convict's brow furrowed.

"Kratos was saying we should head for the eastern skies...maybe he was telling the truth," Lloyd murmured thoughtfully. "But I still don't get it. Why would he...?" For some reason he shot me a quick glance at that moment. I watched him, puzzled.

"Well, we were tipped off by two different sources, and the stories match," Zelos pointed out. "What more convincing do you need?"

Raine nodded. "We'll head east. I'm certain we'll find something there. Zelos?"

"Got it," the Chosen replied, pulling the Wing Pack out of one pocket. In the blink of an eye, we had a set of Rheairds sitting before us.

"...I'm never gonna get used to that," I muttered.

Then it occurred to me that we were going to be flying again. And instead of fleeing from danger, we were going to be landing on a floating island full of vicious, carnivorous creatures with an aerial advantage. And hadn't I gotten a couple Game Overs in that particular battle before? Yeah...this probably wasn't going to end well.

Despite the fact that my knees were already shaking, I somehow managed to clamber on to a Rheaird with Lloyd. This seemed to be what he expected by now; he didn't even stiffen when I latched on to him in a deathgrip and buried my face in his back. The fact that he knew me well enough to be comfortable with that behavior made me feel a little touched...and really pathetic. But hey, at least someone was willing to put up with it.

"Don't worry," he said to me once we had taken to the air. "I've never let you fall, have I?"

"N...No, guess not," I managed. It had been easier coming back from the Renegade base - at least then I had been distracted with other things, like our extremely close call and how insanely cold it was.

"...Even if it is a Dragon's Nest," he added in a quieter tone. "It'll be okay."

"Yeah," I replied automatically.

Then his words sank in and I began to wonder where he had gotten the term 'Dragon's Nest' from. And why Zelos was staring at us.

...Goddammit. It was going to be a long day.

* * *

**A/N: So there you go. I...didn't get far at all plotwise this chapter. o_o; I feel like there are some good character interactions, but for the most part this chapter was me dicking around and trying to procrastinate on writing the Dragon's Nest part. XD Anyway...I've had a few ideas in the past day, so hopefully I'll be able to get writing again. My lack of internet access doesn't exactly help these endeavors of mine.**

**Review! Reviews are my inspiration! Review...even if you hate me for never updating. XD **

**About that - I'm a big girl now, guys. Living a far more adult lifestyle then I was when I was sixteen, so...yeah. That and my laptop issues are kind of the reasons why I've been having trouble getting chapters out. (...That and massive writer's block.) I bet when winter rolls around I'll have wayyy too much time on my hands, though. Because winter is boring.**

**Next time: maybe we'll actually get to Regal's infamous line! XD**


	50. Ominous Light!

**A/N: Yes, I'm still writing this. XD Real life sucks, so I have to find fulfillment somewhere, right?**

**Not much to say. I had to connect my useless laptop directly to the modem to get internet, and the cord I'm using is about two feet long, so I'm in a rather uncomfortable position now. XD I'll just get on with the chapter.**

**Once again, sorry this took so long. It's chapter fifty, guys! Halfway to a hundred! :D**

**Enjoy~**

* * *

It was hard to tell how long the rest of the trip took. It might have been an hour or two, or maybe only thirty minutes. It just seemed a bit long because it was so quiet. I spent most of the time keeping my face buried and trying to pretend I hadn't caught the significance of Lloyd's comment.

Dragon's Nest. What a thing to let slip, eh? I couldn't for the life of me remember when I had let it slip, and that was what bothered me. Now that the truth about Earth was out, I was getting too comfortable and dropping a lot of the old restraints. It was definitely nice not having to censor every word coming out of my mouth, but clearly I was subconsciously forgetting the things I did need to censor. Or maybe my memory was just going - it had been so long since I'd played the game, I was starting to lose track of what everyone was supposed to know and what they weren't. That meant I might have to start paying attention to plot-important conversations now. Damn.

Of course, it was a little after the fact now. Lloyd had noticed something was up, and Zelos - the one I really needed to worry about - was definitely on to me. Zelos might actually get me into some serious trouble. Cruxis would probably outright kill me if he told them. Yuan would force the entire plot out of me and then kill me just to be safe. So yeah, that might be bad.

Either way, I was going to have to be really careful. Or at least think of a flawless excuse for all of my suspicious knowledge. That didn't sound all that plausible.

Now wasn't the time to be worrying about it, though. A floating island I recognized as the Dragon's Nest was now visible in the distance, and we were closing in fast. Lloyd pointed it out, and everyone got pretty quiet from that point on. I started devising a pitiful survival plan.

Okay, okay. Dragons. What would work well on dragons? Shit, I couldn't remember if they had any elemental weaknesses in the game. The first logical thing to do would be to go for the wings, because fighting an enemy with an aerial advantage just sucked. And then...oh screw it, I was just spamming my strongest techs. My shoulders still ached...I hadn't gotten used to Kerberos' weight yet. This might pose a problem.

At first I was under the impression that we were almost at the Nest, but then it just...kept getting bigger. And bigger. And bigger. And...holy shit this thing was too big.

It wasn't the rock platform I was expecting. There were caves and crevasses all over its underside, and around the edges of the island were large, sharp rocky outcroppings. It looked about the size of a football field. Oh, and there was a big building smack in the middle of it.

...I was already getting a bad feeling about this.

The place looked deserted when we finally came to land. It was dead silent - nothing came out to meet us, so we ended up putting away the Rheairds and making our way cautiously to the sole building. Everyone had their weapons ready; there was no sense in taking chances, not in a place like this.

Okay, this tension was killing me. I had to speak up.

"Guys, something's wrong. It's quiet..." Dramatic pause, shifty eyes. "...TOO quiet."

"Cliche much?" Zelos retorted, as expected. "Next thing you know we'll be hearing that 'moth to the flame' crap again."

Sheena sighed irritably. "Can we be serious for five seconds? Being obnoxious and distracting isn't going to help anything."

"Ouch," the redhead muttered.

"...We're getting closer." Lloyd spoke, clearly not paying attention to the conversation. "Nothing's coming out of that building. It's almost like..."

"It's possible we're walking into a trap," Raine said.

"But we're here now. We can't leave without Colette." The brunet frowned, his mind made up. Well, it wouldn't be the first time we'd intentionally done something incredibly stupid, now would it?

"Yes. We must stay on guard," Presea murmured.

The group fell silent again as the building came ever closer. My earlier remark had been half in jest, but now I was really starting to believe it; the quiet was just too overwhelming. It didn't seem right at all, especially knowing just what we were supposed to encounter here. Those caverns on the island's underside...

"Oh, what's this?"

A familiar voice caused the whole group to pause. I jerked my head in the direction it was coming from, only to see Rodyle standing directly in our path. Where the hell had he come from?

"Have the heroes finally come to save their pathetic Chosen? Ahahahaha!" His mocking laughter rang out, seeming jarringly loud against the silent backdrop. It was harder on my ears than usual, and that was saying something.

"You will pay for using me," Presea said in an icy voice. "Let Colette go!"

She ran forward and swung her axe in what would have been a killing blow, if Rodyle had not immediately vanished upon contact. Presea, caught off guard, stumbled and nearly tripped. She used her axe as a crutch at the last minute and regained her balance, turning around in confusion.

"An illusion?" Raine murmured.

The Desian reappeared in a new spot, saftely out of reach and sporting an infuriating smirk. "Go ahead and take her! That is, if my darling pets don't take you first..." And with another bout of laughter, he vanished once more.

"...'Darling pets'?" Zelos repeated, and then shot me a sidelong glance.

I was about to glare right back at him - I really hated it when he gave me those looks - but at that moment something else caught my attention. I found myself looking past Zelos, to the island's edge a good fifteen meters away. There was something...was that a claw?

"Oh, Jesus," I whispered. Everyone heard me and followed my gaze. There was a flash of movement, and then a second set of claws was gripping the edge. Then their owner pulled itself into view, spread its wings, and let out a deafening roar.

The dragon was enormous - the ones we had ridden to the Tower of Salvation were nothing compared to this. Its mouth was a nest of wickedly sharp teeth, bearing a sickening resemblance to those of a shark. The dragon's eyes were bright yellow, contrasting so sharply with its dark scales that they almost seemed to glow. Its extended wings blocked out the sun for a brief moment and we were all caught in its shadow.

And then, as if the situation wasn't bad enough, I noted multiple other shadows passing over the island. Flying overhead were three smaller dragons - and they seemed to be getting ready to land.

"Dragons?" Genis' voice had a slight tremble to it. "We can't fight all of these!"

"Winged dragon, a subspecies of dragon," Presea said, as if reciting from a textbook. "Carnivorous. Excels at the pursuit and capture of prey. The probability of successful evasion-"

"We can't run!" Lloyd interrupted. "Colette is still here!"

"Are you crazy? That last one's as big as a house! We're completely outmatched here!" Zelos argued.

"If we try to flee on the Rheairds, they'll undoubtedly pursue us," Raine said.

I would've made some useful comment at that point, but I was a little too consumed by the fact that the dragons were closing in on us as we had this conversation. They weren't going to wait for us to figure out a solution.

Now that I was actually here, I had to agree with Zelos. The game had already proven to be unrealistic in the past; there was no way we could actually fight these things and win. And judging from the amount of caves I had seen on the Nest's underside, this was only an eighth of the actual population of dragons here. There was a high possibility that others would hear the commotion and come after us.

"Let's just find Colette and get the hell out of here!" I said, pointing at the sole building on the island. She had to be somewhere in there-and though it wouldn't provide much protection from the dragons, it was better than being out here in the open.

"I think Brittany has the right idea," Sheena hastily agreed.

We didn't have much time. The building was relatively close since we had been making our way to it initially, so all we could do once we had made an agreement was run for it. The dragons immediately gave chase, and their shadows gave me a hint as to how close they were. I was worried they'd swoop down and grab one of us like a bird of prey scooping up a mouse.

But then we were suddenly at the building's doors, and Genis blasted them open with a concentrated fireball. We plunged inside, sprinting down a long hallway and deep into the structure. I noted that the walls seemed to be made of stone...hopefully that would hold off our carnivorous friends for a little while.

Dim electric lights illuminated the corridor we headed down. The only sounds were those of our footsteps and our heavy breathing. My mind, which had been racing at first, now quieted - I just had to focus on getting to Colette. Lloyd wasn't leaving without her, and we couldn't leave without him. Just find Colette...just focus on that, and then worry about the giant man-eating reptiles attempting to kill us.

Several other hallways branched off from the main one, but we stubbornly continued straight. Everyone seemed to have come to the conclusion that Colette would be in the heart of the building. I was following my gamer's logic, so I automatically agreed. Hell, why not? It was something to go on, and we didn't have much time.

After what seemed like an eternity, there finally came to the moment where we left the main hall and came upon a large room. The walls were lined with strange machinery and computer screens - clearly Desian technology. And in the center of the room, standing on a platform raised about a foot off the floor, was Colette. Her wrists and ankles were bound; she was chained to the spot. And the moment I caught sight of her, it was easy to understand the pained look in her eyes. She was afraid we would die here.

"Colette!" Lloyd called out.

"Everyone, stay away!" she instantly yelled back. "It's a-"

"Oh, but they already know!" A familiar voice cackled, and Rodyle appeared once more. He smirked. "What a pathetic girl you are, luring your friends into a trap like this! If you had been able to fend for yourself, none of this would have happened."

"I..." Colette slumped a little, her composure crumbling. Even from here, I could see how pale she was. How had she been treated over the course of the past few days? A hell of a lot had happened, even for us...it may have only been a few days, but that could seem like a long time under certain circumstances.

"Shut up!" Lloyd instantly jumped to his friend's defense, his fists clenched.

Rodyle's smirk only grew. "A Chosen that couldn't save the world. Now I understand why Lord Yggdrasill left her alone! She couldn't even activate the Mana Cannon. You can have this sinful Chosen!"

"Stop it!" Presea yelled, showing genuine anger for the first time since I'd come to know her. "Stop blaming Colette when she is not at fault!"

"One who twists their words and passes on the blame..." Regal's glare was piercing. "You and I have a far more intimate relationship with sin than she. Don't try to drag her to your level - I'll drag you to hell with me!"

"Drag me to hell?" Rodyle laughed. "You inferior beings and your silly jokes. Feel free to try, but what you see is a mere projection. You didn't think I would actually remain here after unleashing the dragons, did you? They may be under my control, but once the bloodlust sets in, they'll eat any warm-bodied creature in their path." He seemed to take particular pleasure in saying this, looking towards one wall-we could all feel the foundations of the building shaking as the dragons attempted to work their way in.

"Of course, your beloved Chosen is here in the flesh," Rodyle said. "You can be together one last time before being ripped to pieces! Hahahahaha!"

And then, as quickly as he had appeared, the Desian vanished.

Well, fuck. I had known this would happen, but it still kind of pissed me off.

We were left alone with Colette, who was feebly struggling against her bonds. When she realized all eyes were on her, she just shook her head.

"No, it's too late! You have to run!"

"Colette, we can't leave without you," Sheena shot back, and then turned to Lloyd. "Look, she's chained. You can pick the locks, right?"

"Yeah, it won't be a problem," he said, fumbling through one of his pockets and pulling out a set of picks. "Colette, don't worry! The dragons-"

"It's not that!" She started to say something else, but then grimaced in pain.

Then the platform at her feet suddenly flashed, and a fiery red light seeped out from beneath her feet. It spread throughout the entire room; the moment it hit me, my entire body froze up. It felt like the air had thickened, like gravity had increased so much that just holding ourselves up was an effort.

"What the hell?" Zelos managed, his jaw clenched.

"What is this ominous light that threatens to engulf us?" That was Regal, dropping one of his best lines, and I was too distracted to even think of a witty retort. Damn it all! Somebody had to call him out on it, or laugh, or something!

...Okay, maybe this was hardly the time.

"It's Colette!" Genis exclaimed. "The mana from her body is flowing out towards us!"

"It's caused by that magic circle beneath her! At this rate..." Raine's face took on a pained expression. If Colette lost all her mana...

"Colette..." Lloyd squeezed his eyes shut, his entire body straining with effort. He managed to move one foot a few inches. The hand holding the lock picks was trembling, as if he was struggling just to hold them steady. I realized now that everyone had dropped their weapons - the effort it took to hold them was too great.

"I'm sorry, everyone," Colette said quietly, staring at the ground. "I...I ruined everything again. Maybe Rodyle was right...that's all I am, a 'pathetic Chosen'..."

"That's not true!" Genis yelled.

"I've only ever been a burden on all of you," she told us. "I deceived you during the Journey of Regeneration, and in the end I couldn't even save the world...and now, when you're all trying so hard to find another way, I just got captured and put you all in danger."

She was staring intently at the glowing floor - I realized with shock that she was near tears. When did Colette ever cry? Had I ever seen Colette cry?

"I'm so selfish," she sniffled. "Even now...I know you all would have been better off staying away. But still, I was hoping so desperately for you to come save me, even if it meant you had to risk your lives..."

"There's nothing wrong with that!" I called out, fighting desperately now to move. How the hell could she say that? Anyone would have wanted to be saved!

"If..." She hesitated. "If I stay like this, you'll be trapped here until the dragons come. But if I release all of the mana in my body at once, the light will fade and you'll be able to escape. Maybe then..."

"Don't do it! Don't even think about it!" Lloyd cried.

"Just because we're not all martyrs doesn't make us terrible people!" I added.

"Yes. Colette, don't delude yourself," Presea suddenly piped up, and I was amazed to see that she was actually making progress - and holding her axe up, nonetheless. "What's terrible is this system that demands the sacrifice of the Chosen - this way of thinking that you've been taught. The unwillingness to give up your own life does not make you selfish! Everyone has the right to be alive, including you!"

The girl lifted her axe, letting out a cry and bringing it down hard on the chains that held Colette. They snapped with a loud metallic clang, and Presea grunted and fell to the floor. Colette stumbled forward - and the moment her feet left the platform, the light holding us in place faded. Everyone swayed a bit, startled by the abrupt release. I instinctively bent down to pick up my blade.

"Presea...!" The blonde crouched over the younger girl, who seemed to have lost consciousness. "Thank you..."

Raine came over, placing one hand lightly on Presea's back. "...She's fine. I'm sure she just passed out from exhaustion."

"Everyone..." Colette hesitated, looking up at us, her blue eyes unguarded for once. The vulnerability I saw there was very real. "I...I'm sorry."

"There's nothing to be sorry for," Sheena offered with a smile. "I'm just glad you're okay."

"Yeah! We missed you, Colette!" Genis piped up.

"I may have joined only recently, but it's clear to me that this group holds you in very high regard," Regal said kindly.

"Stupid..." was all Lloyd could say; he was too busy grinning with relief.

I was very glad that everything had turned out okay, especially since Colette was obviously having a difficult time, but...there was still one imminent life-threatening danger waiting for us outside. Argh, and I really would've liked to get caught up in the sappy, warm-and-fuzzy moment, too.

Strangely enough, I found myself exchanging glances with Zelos. I really hated that we followed the same train of thought so often. It was interfering with the whole us hating each other thing. Why the hell did things have to be so weird? Ugh, this wasn't the time to think about it.

"So, which one of us gets to kill this lovely moment?" He murmured to me.

"Go ahead," I offered.

"No thanks. You knew about the dragons first," he replied.

I glared at him, trying to pretend I hadn't heard that, and then finally let out a sigh and held out a fist. He gave me that irritating smirk of his, and then held out one of his own in return. Then came the moment of truth.

"Rock, paper, scissors...fuck!"

Zelos would've won, anyway, but at that precise moment the shaking of the building suddenly increased - and the ground started to shake along with it. Everyone looked up in alarm as two large cracks opened up in the floor beneath us, the stone walls of the building groaning as they started to give way.

"The ground's shaking, too?" Genis yelled in dismay.

"We have to get out of here!" Lloyd exclaimed, gesturing to the door we had come in through. Everyone instantly began to head for it as well as they could, but I noticed that Colette had hesitated.

Lloyd turned to her, holding out one hand. "Colette! You have to live!"

She stared at him for what seemed like an impossibly long moment...and then finally nodded. "I...I know." She reached out to grab his hand, and then everything else was a blur.

We ran. The main hallway had caved in; we were forced to take detours through intersecting corridors, hoping for the best and having no time at all to think. Even as the quake continued, the dragons kept working at the outer walls; more than once, I saw a gaping hole we could potentially escape through, only to have it blocked out by the shadow of an enormous reptile.

Halfway through our escape, I noticed that Regal was the one who had ended up carrying Presea. Somehow he was balancing despite having his hands bound and a person slung over one shoulder - but if it was working, I wasn't going to question it.

Intersection after intesection came, and we took whatever open pathway was available. Then, finally, we found a weak point in the wall - Genis and Zelos combined efforts to blast it open. We all bolted outside, moving instinctively. The enormous crash I heard in that moment clued me in to the fact that the building had collapsed mere seconds after we'd escaped from it.

But of course, we had evaded one dangerous scenario only to be plunged into another. The sky, painted blood red by the light of the rapidly setting sun, was full of winged silhouettes. The sight of them made my stomach sink; there had to be at least twenty of them flying overhead. The enormous dragon I remembered was still grounded, and alarmingly close. Four smaller dragons were also grounded, and upon seeing us, they began to approach and make very threatening growling noises.

...In the face of all this, my sword felt considerably less lethal.

"Dammit..." Lloyd gripped his own blades, looking around every which way in search of an escape route.

"There's so many of them!" Genis cried.

Raine shook her head, her face pale. "We can't escape on the Rheairds like this. There's too many in the air."

"But we can't just roll over and die, either!" Zelos said, tensing. "Watch out. Here they come!"

The redhead was sending a lightning attack at one of the smaller dragons that had come our way. As it snarled and reared back, Sheena hurried in and threw a Pyre seal. Corrine, meanwhile, launched himself forward and clawed at its eyes, sufficiently distracting it for the time being.

Raine sent a Ray at two others coming our way, but they only seemed slightly discouraged. As Lloyd attempted to tackle the fourth alongside Genis, I found myself running to keep Regal covered as he set Presea down close to the center of the group where she wouldn't be in as much danger. What a time for her to be unconscious...dammit, why did the order of events have to be screwed up like this? We were already outnumbered!

Even as things were, it was obvious that no one was at their peak performance. We might have taken a breather after our adventure at the Renegade base this morning, but that hadn't quite cut it. Pulling off suicidal missions took a lot of energy, and two in one day was really pushing it. Lifting my sword hurt; my shoulders were killing me and my legs wanted to give way.

But there was no other choice, was there? Like Zelos had said, we couldn't just roll over and die. Not now, not after everything that had happened. I had come this far and I wasn't going to let it all be for nothing. I had to fight, even if the ground was shaking so bad I could barely stand up, even if we were facing off against so many enemies I could barely keep track of which one I was trying to fight.

The largest dragon had come within striking distance. It let out a roar loud enough to make me feel my heart vibrate in my ribcage, and then lowered its head to let out a jet of flame that we all had to dive in various directions to avoid. The other dragons easily maneuvered around the attack, using our momentary weakness to their advantage. I found myself crawling on my hands and knees, fighting madly to avoid the claws of a dragon that seemed intent on gutting me.

Regal had been doing his share to fend them off, but as the ground's shaking grew ever worse, he was forced to return to protecting Presea. Lloyd, Zelos, and Sheena had all backed up, doing everything they could to protect Genis and Raine while our two mages attempted to cast. This wasn't working. Jesus Christ, this was NOT working. And Colette - hold on, where was Colette?

...There. Behind Genis and Raine, perfectly still amidst all the commotion. Everyone was apparently far too distracted to notice the way her wings were out, the way her entire body was glowing. Her face was pale and strained and very concentrated. Wait, she couldn't be...!

"O Holy One, cast thy purifying light upon these corrupt souls..."

It was then that the others noticed the way the sky had suddenly darkened despite the sun not having completely set. The air grew thick, charged, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. My old scar from the Tower ached.

Even the dragons seemed to sense it; they paused slightly, looking around to find the source of the disturbance. But by then, of course, it was too late.

"Judgment!" Colette cried, her blue eyes snapping open as she held one hand high.

The world brightened as beams of impossibly bright light rained down from the sky and crashed into the platform. Rocks and debris were sent flying with the sheer force of the attack. I watched with amazement as every single dragon was hit dead on - and every airborne one that was hit immediately fell. The impact of falling bodies caused the shaking of the platform to triple.

I clenched my jaw, feeling my entire body tremble at the sight of the angelic light. I remembered that pain all too well - and even knowing I wasn't in danger from it this time around didn't help. It took an enormous effort not to take off and run.

An eternity later, the spell finally ended and the light faded. Relief flooded through my system...but when I really registered what had happened, shock quickly replaced it.

The dragons were dead. Every single one of them.

"No way..." Lloyd whispered, his eyes wide. Then he immediately turned to the blonde. "Colette, did you really do that? That was amazing!"

"You got all of them!" Genis added eagerly.

"I can't believe it..." Raine murmured.

"But how...?" Sheena shook her head, bewildered. "Come to think of it, this is the first time I've seen Colette consciously use her angelic powers since we left Sylvarant..."

Colette offered her usual smile, though it was weaker this time around. "Eheh...I guess I just don't know my...my own..." She couldn't finish the thought. Her exhaustion combined with the ground's constant shaking was too much; her eyes lost focus and she began to fall.

"Colette!" Lloyd shot forward, catching her.

"...How the hell did she do that...?" I heard Zelos mutter to himself, and looked over to see the redhead frowning deeply.

My thoughts were on a similar track. There was no way she could've pulled off a Judgment like that! It was the first time I'd ever seen her use that spell, and something of that caliber had to take a great deal of practice in order to be effective. That had been even more powerful than the Judgment I'd seen Kratos use at the Tower, and even if he had been holding back then, he still -

Hold on.

Catching movement out of the corner of my eye, I turned my head just in time to see a tall shadow disappear around the other end of the collapsed building. A single blue feather had come to rest atop some of the fallen debris; it glowed briefly, and then the light faded as its mana dissipated.

I wasn't seeing things, right? Had that really been...?

But the sheer power we had just witnessed...it couldn't have been Colette's alone.

"...Thank you," I whispered.

"What is it?" Sheena cut in, grabbing my arm and jolting me out of my thoughts. "Come on, we have to go! The island is starting to fall!"

My eyes wanted to linger on that spot, to see if I could catch another glimpse just to be sure, but I was being tugged away too quickly and all the confusion made it impossible to concentrate. I was suddenly acutely aware of a sick feeling in my stomach - the feeling of falling. That was when Sheena's words finally registered and I went from being pulled along to practically shoving myself behind her on her Rheaird and latching on for dear life.

Genis had jumped at the chance to partner up with Presea, and Lloyd had taken Colette with him on his Rheaird. The others, save for Sheena and I, rode alone. First there was a hectic scramble to get everyone situated, and in the next moment we were suddenly free, airborne. I mustered up enough courage to look behind me, and saw that the Dragon's Nest was already several hundred feet below us. It was sinking to the ocean at an alarming rate.

Finally I let out a quiet breath and rested my chin on Sheena's shoulder. "Nngh, I'm so glad that's over..."

"You and me both," she murmured back. "Can you let up a bit? I can hardly breathe."

"Oh, uh, yeah," I laughed and attempted to loosen my grip enough so that she wouldn't suffocate.

We lapsed into silence as everyone sped up, the wind rushing past us loud enough to discourage conversation. Raine yelled back to us that we were heading to a spot where we could rest - a place Regal knew of. Well, it probably wasn't going to be anywhere near Altamira, then. I didn't mind; I really wanted somewhere low-key and quiet. Hell, the middle of the woods would be great.

I closed my eyes to stop them from watering, and settled in for a long ride. Despite my exhaustion, I had no fear of falling asleep - it was growing dark fast, and the chill up here was more than enough to keep me awake. I couldn't wait to be safe on the ground, preferably under a blanket or three. Thoughts about everything that had transpired could wait.

The sun vanished below the horizon and the world grew dark. Relief rushed through me at the realization that yes, this terribly long day was finally over. Another series of events had ended, moving the plot I knew so well ever forward. For now, I could afford to relax.

* * *

"So, is everyone okay?"

The question came from Lloyd, who was the only standing person in the room. He was busy stripping himself of his gear - coat, swords and all - since we were all about to wind down for the night. By my estimate, it had to be around midnight.

"I'm still alive," Zelos chimed in.

"Yeah, I don't think anyone got hurt," Sheena remarked.

"Sorry for the trouble I've caused all of you..." Colette sighed. She had woken up moments after we'd arrived here, though she still looked like she could probably stand to sleep for another ten hours.

"Don't be sorry, Colette," Genis protested. "We're fine! And it's not your fault, either. Besides, we made it out of there because of you."

"That was pretty awesome." Zelos smirked, though it was obvious he still couldn't believe it. "Didn't know you had it in you, my little angel."

All she was able to offer in return was a nervous giggle - she was probably still bewildered by the whole thing herself. Somehow I doubted she would've been able to do nearly as much damage if she had been performing that spell alone. The fact that she had been able to pull off Judgment at all after having her mana sapped like that was pretty amazing in itself, though. Colette always did have an impressive amount of willpower when she set her mind to something.

As the others talked in low, calm murmurs, I took the time to look around and just enjoy the moment. We were in one of the main rooms of a House of Guidance, the one near the Toize Valley Mine. It really was just a glorified House of Salvation; being in a place like this reminded me of my first few months in this world, during the regeneration journey. The people at the Houses had always offered good food, a warm bed, and a kind word or two for weary travelers. Zelos had been recognized immediately, but we had been welcomed in regardless. The priests reassured us that this place was so far out of the way that we had nothing to worry about.

This room was comprised of several sofas and chairs situated around a large hearth. There were a few tables set up with board games around the room (I could've sworn I saw a checkers set upon walking in) and several soft carpets were spread out on the stone floor, giving the area a very homey feel. I had immediately taken a seat in front of the fireplace upon seeing that it was lit. Now I was sipping away at some tea, a warm blanket draped around my shoulders, and feeling quite at home.

Colette had followed my example and occupied the spot next to me. The others were lounging on the different pieces of furniture in the room. I couldn't help but notice that Zelos looked a little uncomfortable. Was it because Seles was kept holed up in a place like this? Agh, I knew too much about these people...he'd probably be pissed if he heard my inner train of thought.

Either way, I was too sleepy and content to care much about anything right now. Yeah, Kratos had possibly helped us back there. Lloyd and Zelos seemed to have caught on to me somehow. I had just infiltrated an enemy base and fought a bunch of dragons in the same day. Yuan seemed to be of the belief that I needed to be locked up somewhere, and apparently Yggdrasill was just going to fuck up my home after he was done with me. Right now, none of that really registered. What did register was the warmth of the fire and the tired smiles on everyone's faces.

Part of me was exhausted and just wanted to pass out, but the other part of me didn't want this moment to end...

"There is one thing we haven't discussed," Regal pointed out, bringing my thoughts back to the conversation. "Why is it that this Rodyle character kidnapped Colette to begin with?"

Colette shifted a little, turning to look at everyone. "Well...I'm not completely sure, but he said something about needing my Cruxis Crystal. He wanted to activate something called the 'Mana Cannon', but apparently my Crystal didn't work for some reason..."

"Mana Cannon...I wonder what that's supposed to be," Lloyd said with a frown.

"If Rodyle is in league with the people that experimented on Presea, then it's possible her Cruxis Crystal was being created for the very purpose of activating it," Raine mused. "But what could it be for...?"

"Well, I guess there's no use in worrying about it until we have more information," Sheena said with a shrug. "Maybe I can get some of my contacts in Mizuho to dig something up for us."

"...Hey, Brit?"

I looked up to see Lloyd staring at me. "Hmm?"

He snorted. "You haven't said anything in a while."

I offered a serene smile in return. "I like tea."

Zelos chuckled from his spot on the other end of the room. "Clearly she's been paying close attention."

"Says the guy who was probably staring at Sheena's boobs this whole time," I muttered, taking another sip.

"...Maybe a little," he admitted, and let out a yelp as he was forced to dodge a roundhouse kick to the face.

Well, it was good to see that our messed up group dynamic hadn't changed at all. If anything, I could always count on our own bickering to get my mind off the big issues.

Another few minutes of quiet conversation passed (after Sheena settled down, anyway) until finally Raine caught everyone's attention by standing up.

"It's late," she stated. "We should all get to bed."

"Yeah," Lloyd agreed with a yawn. "I'm beat. But Professor..."

She sighed. "I know. We won't be able to get an early start to the day...actually, I was going to propose that we take tomorrow off. We can afford to spare a little time to rest now that Colette is safe."

I felt my exhausted body let out a quiet victory cheer at this, and I couldn't stop the grin that began to form on my face. "I'm all for that idea."

"Besides, we don't know when Presea's going to wake up, anyway," Genis pointed out, always thinking of his crush. "She needs her rest."

"Well, I was kinda hoping we'd stop in a more...populated place, but I guess I can make do with this," Zelos remarked with a shrug. Ha, he was going to have trouble finding a woman to share his bed with in a place like this. I was just glad I wouldn't have to listen to anything going bump in the night. Or, well, you know.

"It's been a long couple of days. A little time to stop and clear our heads will do us some good," Regal mused.

"Then it's settled," Raine replied with a nod. "Let's get some sleep. I'll see you all in the morning." Once the Professor started to head upstairs, Colette immediately got up to follow; the two of them were sharing a room.

"We should probably go, too," Sheena said to me.

I nodded, hopping to my feet and smiling. "Whoo! I missed being roomies!"

We headed in the direction of our own room, and behind us the guys began to disperse as well. The comforting crackle of the fire faded and before I knew it, I was settled down in a dark room, under a heap of warm blankets. As my eyes slipped shut, I couldn't stop thinking about how I didn't want the moment to end - the moment where I knew everything was pleasant and safe and okay, and that nothing waited for me in the near future other than a good night's sleep.

But of course, my exhaustion soon drowned out my thoughts. Sleep took me and the brief time of contentment did come to an end, slipping unexpectedly through my fingers as those moments always seem to do.

* * *

"Hey."

Go away.

"Listen, I know you hear me, you dork."

Nope. Not listening. No sir.

"What're you even doing, anyway? It's almost one."

Finally I relented, letting out a dignified "hnnngh."

Unfortunately, he didn't consider that to be an adequate response; my reaction did seem to encourage him, though. I felt the bed sink a little with his added weight.

"Everyone else is out doing stuff, you know."

I would've rolled my eyes if they hadn't still been stubbornly closed. Instead I just let out a sigh. "Then go outside and play with your little friends, Lloydie."

There was a short pause, long enough for me to picture the look he was giving me. Then he just plowed onwards, the trooper. "Are you not feeling good or something?"

"Nope," I replied. "I just wanna sleep."

"Why? You already slept," he replied, confusion clear in his voice.

"Same reason you used to sleep in school."

"...You're bored?"

I almost smacked my forehead. "...No. Okay, whatever. I want to sleep because we ate breakfast and now there's a whole freaking day of free time and I am going to sleep until five pm and it's going to be glorious."

Another pause. He was probably frowning at me. "Huh...it seems like kind of a waste."

"I tackled the leader of the Renegades yesterday, Lloyd."

"That was awesome," he admitted, laughing. Then I felt his weight leave the bed, and he reached down to ruffle my hair. "Fine. Enjoy your sleep, then."

"Mmm." I smiled, listening to his footsteps fade as he left the room.

Well, that was nice. I had totally been expecting him to drag me out of bed. I couldn't remember the last time I had been able to loaf around without having anyone around to make me feel guilty about it. Now I was going to take full advantage of the opportunity.

I pulled the covers over my head, snuggled in, and let out a long, contented sigh.

* * *

"Wow, Lloyd wasn't kidding. You know it's almost two in the afternoon, right?"

"Meh."

Sheena laughed quietly. "How long are you planning to stay like this?"

"Five."

"You're timing yourself?" She asked, amused.

"Five's close to dinnertime," I elaborated, still half-asleep.

"Dinner? Then what?"

"Food coma."

I heard the sound her smacking her forehead. "Raine's gonna kill you if she figures out how unproductive you've been."

"Worth it."

"All right," she said, snorting. "I'll leave you to it, then."

"Yay."

As soon as the conversation ended, I fell right back asleep. I didn't even hear the sounds of her footsteps leaving the room.

* * *

"It's three o' clock."

"Why do I get an hourly wakeup call?" I groaned lightly, covering my face. "You're s'posed to be unconscious..."

"Ah...yes. I woke up approximately forty-five minutes ago."

"Oh. Glad you're okay," I mumbled.

"...Thank you," she said slowly. "Lloyd and Sheena say you are not ill. Why are you still in bed?"

"I like sleep."

Presea paused as she seemed to mull over this for a moment. "...But you have surpassed the standard eight hours."

"That's the whole point."

"I don't understand," she replied helplessly.

"You aren't a teenager."

"This is a side-effect of adolescence?"

"Or laziness," I said with a halfhearted shrug.

"...I'm sorry for interrupting your sleep," she finally said, seeming to give up. "But the others decided that tomorrow we will begin making pacts with the rest of the summon spirits. Lloyd and Sheena said you were busy, but I believed you would want to know."

"The rest of the summon spirits..." I thought this over briefly. "...Mmkay. Thanks for the news. Think I'll need to sleep some more to prepare."

"...All right," she said, clearly puzzled. "Um...good night."

"G'night," I replied pleasantly, listening to her leave.

Nope, not thinking about the pacts or the plot or anything right now. I shifted a little under the covers, and then proceeded to once more ignore the rest of the world.

* * *

"You missed it! Presea smiled and everything!"

We were all sitting around a dinner table in the House of Guidance, enjoying a meal the housekeeper had so kindly prepared for us. I was wide awake now, though I couldn't stop myself from yawning every now and then. Probably a side-effect from sleeping over...fourteen hours. Yeah.

Said pink haired girl had a perfectly clueless look on her face as Lloyd happily described the goings-on of the day to me. Come to think of it, though, that had to have been interesting. Even now I coudln't picture Presea with an earnest smile on her face. She'd probably look cute if she did smile, though. The fact that Genis was blushing a little at the thought gave me more than enough confirmation of that.

"Yeah?" I laughed. "Good to hear you're feeling well, then, Presea."

"Thank you," she said - and I could've sworn that was the ghost of a smile on her lips. I hadn't gotten to see the real thing, but that was better than nothing.

"It was a pretty good day," Genis agreed. "They even let me use the kitchen to bake dessert!"

"Dessert?" I asked, interested.

"Pumpkin pie," Sheena explained. "It's October, after all."

"Pumpkin..." A grin slowly formed on my face. "This is the best day ever."

"Speaking of which...I can't help but wonder where you were all day," Raine remarked, watching me intently.

My grin was suddenly a sheepish one. "Uh...you know, around."

"But..." Colette gave me a confused look. "I saw you in bed earlier. Were you feeling sick?"

Ah, crap. "...No...?"

It didn't take long for the Professor to put two and two together. "...You were sleeping."

"Uh..."

"You slept this _entire_ day."

"Well, not the whole day..."

Lloyd cringed, giving me a sympathetic look. He wasn't going to get involved, though; he'd probably get a frying pan thrown at his head if he did.

Raine looked like she was getting ready to punt me across the room. "...I certainly hope this means you've finished your homework."

I paled considerably. "...Homework?"

"The essay I assigned you back in August," she said, twitching. "The one that even _Lloyd_ has handed in. Do you remember now?"

Oh. Crap. I couldn't remember the last time I had even so much as glanced at anything the Professor had chucked in my direction. I vaguely remembered discovering a waterlogged textbook in my bag back at Thoda Geyser; but now that I thought about it, I also remembered sneaking said book into Kratos' bag when he wasn't looking so that I wouldn't have to carry it. Whoops.

"Uh...you see..." I fought to think of an explanation. "I, uh...I was writing it, but..." Panicking a little, I sent a pleading look to the others for help. For the most part I was met with blank stares, or in Genis' case, a facepalm.

"But she let me borrow the research for it and I lost it, Professor! I'm so sorry!" Colette piped up, looking earnestly upset.

Raine and I both gave her a surprised look, though I remembered myself suddenly and attempted to hide it.

"Colette..." The Professor stared at her, mostly with disbelief, and then sighed. Then she turned to glare at me. "I expect you to spend your free time a little more productively from now on. If that means I have to start giving extra lessons just to keep you occupied, then I will do it. Am I clear?"

"That's pretty harsh..." Zelos muttered, wincing.

"Very clear!" I replied, jumping to my feet. "Uh, and if you'll excuse me...I suddenly have to pee!"

Nobody stopped me from escaping, though a couple of them probably wondered why I was taking my food with me. Lloyd was too busy snickering to care. Oh, well. I had evaded the Professor's wrath, and I would live to be lazy another day.

...I'd have to sneak back in and get some of that pie later.

* * *

**A/N: mmmmm...pie.**

**Wow, I have nothing interesting to say here. All this time I was procrastinating on writing the Dragon's Nest...now I'll procrastinate on everything else. XD Seriously. More interesting things will happen next chapter, I hope. Including a heart-to-heart with Colette, since we haven't had one of those in a while.**

**Review and I'll...I'll...be happy? **

**Next time: Gnome! HOW EXCITING**


	51. Honesty

**A/N: Oh, y'know, just dropping by to let you know I'm still alive. :P**

**It's almost NR's third birthday! Holy crap! Anyway, this isn't one of my longest chapters, but it's been like three months and I really wanted to get **_**something **_**out. So here you go. Aaaaand I have to go to bed right now, so I'm going to shut up. Hnnnngh.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

"Heh..."

"What is it?" Lloyd glanced over his shoulder, trying to catch a glimpse of my expression.

I shook my head. "It's just...well, for once I actually feel up to this."

"Maybe it was all that sleep you got."

"There's no 'maybe' about it," I laughed.

This had to be the first time I'd ever had a relaxed conversation while riding on a Rheaird. I found that if I kept myself focused on the topic at hand, I could successfully ignore the fact that we were this high up. Also, holding Lloyd in the usual deathgrip tended to help.

I had no doubts that my day of relaxation had been worth it; it had definitely been nice to spend twenty-four hours without worrying like crazy. It had been a much-needed break. Not only that, the rest day seemed to have impacted the rest of the group in a positive manner, too. Everyone else just seemed so much less edgy. We had Colette back with us, and there seemed to be a solution to our predicament with the two worlds. I knew it wasn't the correct solution, but it was still a light at the end of the tunnel for everyone else. Facing summon spirits was also a bit less daunting than fighting Cruxis and the Desians - at least summon spirits weren't evil.

Also, Gnome wasn't exactly a terrifying, ominous figure. Hell, I had just dealt with an entire freaking Renegade base and countless dragons - I could handle some dorky looking summon spirit and his dorky gnomelette minions.

Speaking of which, I had gotten the recipe for curry from the House of Guidance's cook this morning, and made sure we were stocked up on red satay. It was gonna be spicy curry, dammit, and that gnomelette was gonna like it.

"So...the Temple of Earth?"

"Yeah," Lloyd replied. "It's on the same continent as Meltokio, I guess. It's the summon spirit Gnome."

"Piece of cake," I mumbled, quite comfortable with my chin on his shoulder. "I know the perfect strategy."

The teenager glanced over one shoulder, curious. "What's your plan?"

"Genis used Tidal Wave!" I replied, beaming. "It's super effective! The wild Gnome fainted! Genis gained over nine thousand experience points!"

Lloyd rolled his eyes. "You've lost me again."

"It's all right, Lloyd. You can't be expected to understand the inner workings of my strategic genius."

"...Dork."

That made me snort. He always had the same comeback.

A change beneath us alerted me to the extent of our progress; we had only been flying for a few hours, but we were already passing over a stretch of ocean. We wouldn't completely leave the continent for a while yet, but it was still surprising to see just how quickly the world was passing beneath us. Hopefully I could get used to this mode of travel quickly, because the Rheairds really were a lot faster. A journey that should've taken weeks instead was going to take a mere few days.

It was a lot less monotonous, but on the other side, it kind of felt like everything was being fast-forwarded. It occurred to me that once we decided on a course of action, we'd be able to get it done almost right away. Gone were the days of trekking over miles and miles of land, painstakingly rationing out supplies, and searching for good campsites. Half the time we'd be within flying distance of a town...

Well, here was something I already knew—technology makes you spoiled. Had I really gotten so used to uncomfortable conditions? Back on Earth, everything was always instantaneous and convenient.

I suppose it wasn't really so bad that I had lived the hard life for a while, though. It gave me some perspective.

"...Hey, Brit?"

"Hmm?"

"Uhh...what's an 'experience point', anyway?"

I laughed; had he been thinking about that this whole time? "It's a point of experience, obviously."

"That doesn't help at all," he grumbled, rolling his eyes. Then he turned his attention to the young mage flying just ahead. "Hey, Genis! How come using Tidal Wave on Gnome would give you experience points?"

"Huh?" Genis stared at him as if he'd just grown two heads.

"Gnome's element is earth, so it's safe to assume he'd be susceptible to water magic," Raine replied for her brother, cocking an eyebrow at us. "Battling a summon spirit would certainly increase his level of experience, though I'm not sure it's something you could assign a point value to, Lloyd."

"Brittany said it first," the teen shot back defensively.

"She's just babbling Earth nonsense again," Sheena commented.

"If you get enough experience points, you level up," I added sagely. Babbling Earth nonsense, huh...yeah, that sounded about right. Mostly I was bored and running my mouth off. I needed to stop doing that.

Lloyd turned his head to look at me, staring hard. "...Someday I'm gonna figure out what you're actually talking about."

The dead serious look on his face caused me to break down in a fit of laughter. Where would the fun be if I could never confuse the hell out of him? "Relax, Lloyd. It's just video game stuff."

"A what game?" Now he just looked more interested. Whoops.

"Nothing," I replied breezily. "Too hard to explain."

"Is it something we can play?"

That caused my smile to thin a little. I almost told him that we were playing one right now, but that probably wouldn't have been a smart move. Instead I just avoided the subject entirely.

"Wait, speaking of Gnome," I spoke as if I'd just thought of something. "Are there going to be gnomelettes in the Earth Temple?"

"Of course," the Professor replied. "Gnomelettes are loyal servants of the summon spirit Gnome. I'm certain we'll see at least a few."

"There are more of those guys?" Genis spoke up, exasperated. "Are we gonna need more Mizuho Potion?"

"Good question, squirt," Zelos remarked, smiling. He turned his eyes on me. "Got any convenient potions stashed in your bag, hunny?"

"No," I replied, giving him a flat stare.

The redhead turned back to Genis. "We're probably okay, then!"

"...What's that supposed to mean?" The half-elf grumbled, and then began to mutter insults as usual.

I, however, didn't miss the meaning behind his words or the way he kept looking at me. Nobody ever took him seriously or tried to read into anything he said, and that was what made him particularly dangerous. It was so easy to drop your guard around Zelos.

Also, Lloyd was clearly put out that I'd changed the subject on him. Rather than speak to either of them and try to resolve it, I elected to bury my face in the back of Lloyd's shoulder.

"Wake me up if I start to fall off," I advised him, and promptly pretended to ignore everyone and everything.

* * *

It was the afternoon of October 21st when we finally landed within sight of the temple—just a little over two days since we'd left the House of Guidance.

As I stared at the rocky crag that marked the entrance of the structure, I found myself repeating the date in my head. Friday, October 21st, 2011. Back home, the leaves were changing on the trees, and everyone would be getting ready for Halloween. Ash and I had been planning on carving pumpkins this year, but I had a feeling I wouldn't get home in time.

Last year on Halloween, my dad had taken me to a Patriots game at Gillette Stadium. They had played the Vikings, that was right. Tom Brady against Brett Favre. I remembered how excited I'd been over the whole thing, the anticipation over the matchup, the crowds of fans making their way to the stadium—some of them decked out in full-blown Halloween costumes. It was one of those good memories that warmed me whenever negative thoughts started to creep in to my mind.

Life had been simpler in 2010. Now, instead of making my way to a football stadium, I was heading into another monster-infested death trap. The worst part was knowing that this was just the first of many.

As I stared at the rocky crag, I remembered. Somewhere in the distant past, the Patriots were scoring a game winning touchdown, my father was pulling me into a fierce hug, and I knew what it meant to be happy.

The weight of Kerberos on my back was what anchored me to the present. Someday, I was going to be home, and I was going to feel that happiness again. Until then, I would endure and I would fight.

I was going to ensure that I had a world to return to, dammit.

The Temple of Earth loomed over us. Like everything else, we were going to overcome it. I just had to keep telling myself that.

After a short walk, we arrived at a wide staircase leading down deep into the ground. Raine led the descent, looking every which way and trying to absorb everything about the place. She hadn't had much chance to go into Ruin Mode at the Temple of Lightning, and apparently that meant she was going to make up for it now.

When we were deep enough in and the light from outside began to dim, torches started appearing on the walls. They were burning—probably with fire magic, because I had no idea who could have lit them otherwise.

At the foot of the staircase was an arched doorway, and I noticed an oracle stone to the side of it. We wouldn't need to worry about that now.

"Lloyd!" Raine suddenly halted, causing the teenager to stiffen.

"Y-Yes, Professor?"

She smiled, holding out her staff and tapping the slab of stone poking out of the wall in the doorway. Oh, so under normal circumstances that must have been the gate that would be blocking this place off...

"Let's see how closely you've been paying attention! I want you to tell me where we've seen this stone before and what it's called."

The blank look on Lloyd's face said it all. Not only did he not have a clue, he couldn't even seem to think of any wild guesses. "...Uh..."

Genis and Regal both obviously knew the answer, but neither seemed willing to bail Lloyd out. Probably because this was a common occurrence—for some reason the Professor seemed to think springing these questions on Lloyd was a good idea. Like she could catch some profoundly intelligent part of him by surprise.

"Oh!" Colette smiled, excited. "I think I remember! It was at the Triet ruins, right? It was called...um..."

"I learned about that rock back at the academy at some point, I think," Zelos offered, looking throughtful for once. "Poly...ah...poly-something. Yup."

A light seemed to go off in Lloyd's head, and he snapped his fingers. "That's right! It was polygamy!"

Everyone went abruptly silent as we all attempted to absorb the stupidity that Lloyd had just blurted out. Then I was bent over laughing, leaning against the wall for support. _Polygamy? _Oh Jesus, the things Lloyd came out with sometimes...

Zelos snickered, grinning widely. "Yeah, bud, that's exactly it. Good job—"

"No," the Professor interrupted, one hand on her forehead. She just kept shaking her head.

"Huh?" the teenager frowned at me. "What? Why is everyone looking at me like that?"

Regal frowned. "Erm...Lloyd, polygamy is the practice of having more than one spouse at a time."

"Husband or wife," Genis translated 'spouse' before Lloyd could get his second question out.

"...Oh. How was I supposed to know that?" Lloyd whined, elbowing me hard to get me to stop giggling.

"Well, you had the first syllable correct," Raine sighed. "Though Zelos was the one to first bring it up."

"It's polycarbonate, right?" Sheena finally spoke, giving Lloyd an exasperated look.

Raine nodded. "Correct. I was hoping Lloyd had been paying attention the first time we encountered it, but clearly those hopes were in vain..."

"Professor! That was months ago!"

"Regardless, there is some information I'd like you to retain while we're on this journey," Raine replied, frowning at him. "Information about the Ancient War in particular. What happened then resulted in our situation now, remember."

"It is important to learn from history, because it has the unfortunate tendency of repeating itself," Regal agreed.

She smiled, happy for some intelligent input. Then I found her eyes on me. "Brittany, are you paying attention?"

I blinked. "Um, yeah. Polycarbonate. Used in the Ancient War as a magic inhibitor, right?"

Her eyes widened with surprise. "That's right. Well, you _have _been studying."

"Yeah, I'm cool like that," I replied with a grin. I totally wasn't using my memories of the game or anything. No, sir.

"Hey, so if this stuff defends against magic, why don't we use it?" Lloyd piped up.

"And destroy a priceless artifact? Absolutely not!"

"There are probably traps to prevent anyone from dismantling this, too," Sheena commented. "It's a door meant to keep intruders out, after all. If it were easy to steal, it wouldn't be here. The method for creating polycarbonate doesn't exist anymore, so it's probably really valuable."

"Back home, polycarbonate is just another name for plastic..." I remarked. Was there a reason they shared the same name? From what I knew, the material got its name from what it was made out of. If they were made out of the same things, then how could the polycarbonate here be a rock? This world was still too confusing.

"Plastic?" Lloyd asked, frowning.

"...Definition unknown," Presea offered after a moment of thought.

Everyone was just giving me clueless looks, which told me more than enough. Come to think of it, I had never seen anything like plastic around here. Everything was made of traditional materials, like wood and metal. I was pretty sure the buttons on my coat were made of some sort of bone.

"Never mind," I said, shrugging. "Shouldn't we get going?"

Raine still looked interested, but she nodded. "Yes, we shouldn't linger for too long. Let's continue on."

As we passed through the doorway, I reached out and brushed a hand against the stone. Nope, it felt pretty rocky to me. Nothing like a typical polymer. Oh, well—logic was too much to ask for around here sometimes.

The inside of the Temple of Earth was large and cavernous, complete with stalactites and stalagmites and the faraway sound of dripping water. Thankfully it was well-lit with torches—actually, it seemed a little too bright in here. I had a definite feeling that there was some magic involved. Considering the fact that there were sheer drops on either side of the path we walked on, I was quite grateful for the light.

Eventually we came to an incredibly out-of-place looking pedestal that had the faint glow of magic coming from it. It was a pale blue color, with intricate carvings lining the sides of it in the Angelic language.

"Hey! Isn't that..." Lloyd started, but then Genis spoke up.

"It's a Sorcerer's Ring pedestal. We haven't seen one of those in a while."

"I've...never seen one," I mumbled, eyebrows raised. Actually, I hadn't been _expecting _to see one. Not after all this time.

"Really?" Lloyd glanced over at me, and then shrugged. "I think the last time we used it was on our first trip to Thoda Geyser. That was right before we met you."

"So what's so important about this thing?" Zelos asked, tapping the pedestal.

"It makes the ring do cool stuff!" Lloyd explained. "Colette, try it out."

"Okay!" The blonde pulled the ring out of the pocket she'd been keeping it in, and then walked over to the pedestal. I watched as she set it into a small niche, where the glow was emanating from. The pedestal's light seemed to flow into the ring for a moment; the jewel glowed brightly, and then faded. This seemed to be her cue to pull it out.

"Be careful," Raine cautioned. "We don't know what it might do this time."

"All right. Umm...everyone back away for a second?" Colette tried, smiling. We all complied.

As she fiddled with the ring, I found my eyes drawn to where the path ended ahead. There was a large crevasse, and then the path seemed to continue on to a doorway that probably led to another area. Then I looked up, and saw several large stalactites hanging from the ceiling. What did this remind me of...? The water temple in Twilight Princess! Now if only we had some arrows and bombs, then we could—oh, wait, I had a better idea.

"Colette," I spoke up. "Try pointing it at those stalactites."

"Is that really a good idea?" Sheena asked, skeptical.

"Let's see..." Colette murmured to herself, and then held the ring up. It glowed again, and the ground around us began to shake. Everyone reached out and held on to each other, fighting to remain upright.

The quake was strange—extremely isolated, something that shouldn't have been possible. The shaking didn't seem to affect parts of the cave that were out of range of about twenty square feet. That was probably good, or the entire structure might come caving in on us. Earthquakes underground just didn't sound safe at all.

Either way, my advice worked. The stalactites cracked at their base, and then came crashing down. Some of them turned and fell sideways, but a few came straight down, their points driving deep into the earth below. The round, uneven bases of the stalactites could now serve as makeshift stepping stones to the next part of the path.

"Not bad," Zelos remarked. His tone was a little too smug—he'd expected it to work, because it had been my idea.

…That was it. From now on, I was keeping my mouth shut, even if it meant we'd have to run around in circles for hours on end.

"Oh, I see..." Sheena walked forward, making a quick jump on to one of the stalactites. "They're pretty sturdy. We'll probably have to use the ring to clear paths like this in order to get to the seal."

"This is going to be treacherous," Raine mused, looking troubled. "If we create an earthquake in the wrong place, we could cause a cave in. Colette, please refrain from using the ring again until we investigate the area thoroughly."

"Yes, Professor," came the sheepish reply.

"Well, let's go, then!" Lloyd said, already getting excited. Sheena was already standing by the doorway at the other end of the room.

"Be careful," Raine called as her student began to make his way over there as well.

Now Presea and Genis began to head across; Regal followed. Amazingly enough, the convict didn't even come close to losing his balance after each jump.

"Ummm..." I gave the stalactites a dubious stare. It _looked _simple enough, and they were spaced at a distance that was easy to jump, but any misstep would lead to a pretty nasty fall. And the fall was all I could think about.

Of course, now the Professor began to head across, leaving me alone with Zelos. The redhead seemed to understand the predicament fully, even offering me a quick glance to show that he acknowledged the show of discomfort I had just made.

And then he gleefully shoved off as well, leaving me standing alone. Bastard.

As I watched Zelos make his journey across with a very familiar sinking feeling in my stomach, I began to ponder all of the different ways I could die this time around. I didn't doubt my physical _ability _to make it across...it was just my mental state I was worried about. Heights scared me so much that I couldn't keep a clear head when there was danger of a fall, and the worst feeling of vertigo overtook me. It wasn't so bad on the Rheairds, where I could just cling to Lloyd and wait for it to be over. But in situations like this...

"Hi!"

"Waaah!" I jumped at the sudden voice, nearly tripping and falling into the crevasse I had been so worried about.

Colette reached out and caught me by the arm. "Oh, I'm sorry! I thought you noticed me coming over..."

It was now that I realized she had flown back over to get me, and once again I had been so absorbed in my own thoughts that I was totally oblivious. I really needed to stop doing that.

"Anyway," she continued, "I'm not so good at carrying people for long distances, but I think if I stop to rest halfway, I can bring you across!"

Hop across, or be hauled across by someone who's not entirely confident in their own strength...awesome. I felt just fantastic about this now.

On the other hand, everyone was standing by the opposite doorway and waiting for me. Ugh, story of my life...I hated being that annoying person in the group that just couldn't keep up. I didn't want everyone else to feel like they always had to cater to my sorry ass.

So, I inwardly steeled myself and offered Colette the best smile I could manage (which probably looked insane to some degree). "All right. Um...let's get this over with, I guess."

"Okay!" she chirped. I could tell she knew how much all of this scared me, but she seemed to be acting her usual self just to cheer me up. It just bothered me how this stuff always had to be an ordeal.

She looped her arms around my waist, flapped her wings, and took off. Our lift into the air wasn't graceful, but it wasn't exactly clumsy, either. She handled the extra weight better than I thought she would. I knew she had the advantage of angelic strength, but it was still hard to fathom considering her smaller stature.

After we had gone about a quarter of the way, it was noticeable that she was putting a certain degree of effort into this. I felt her shift her arms a little bit to get a better grip on me, and my heart rate kicked up a bit. The flapping of her wings, causing us to bob in the air, was making me a little nauseous. Just great—everyone would get to see me puke, too. As if this wasn't already embarrassing.

An eternity passed and we were finally halfway. Colette dropped down—an action that made my stomach flop—and we landed on one of the stalactites.

I was immediately glad I had allowed Colette to help me with this. Just standing on this small platform made me extremely uneasy; unless there was something stable for me to hold on to, I just couldn't handle heights. The vertigo made me feel like I was constantly off-balance.

She took a deep breath, her wings fluttering slightly. "I think I'm ready—"

The blonde never got to finish her sentence, because it was at that moment that the ground began to shake. It was a more intense quake than the one Colette had caused earlier, and I noticed with dismay that the stalactites were beginning to topple. Rumbling filled my ears and I saw the others run to the edge of the platform they were on, helpless to do anything but watch.

"Colette! Brittany!" Lloyd yelled.

And then my fears were finally fulfilled. I fell.

* * *

"Hey."

Nnnghh...

"Hey! Hey!"

What the...hell...? Ugh...

"Hey, loser! You can't sleep here!"

"...Unnnh?"

Reluctantly I forced my eyes open, and immediately had to squint against the light of the torch burning overhead. My entire body felt like one enormous bruise. And not the yellow, hurts-if-you-poke-it kind of bruise. The nasty black kind that you show everyone because it's hilarious to see their reactions. Hold on, why was I thinking about his again?

"Hellooooo?"

Oh yeah. There was a lawn gnome—er, Christmas elf? No, no, they were called gnomelettes, that was right. Anyway, he was standing over me with his hands on his hips, looking...not intimidating at all.

"...Hi," I replied after a pause, trying to figure out what was going on. Moving hurt like hell, which was probably a bad sign.

"Humans aren't supposed to be here," the gnomelette pointed out. "Nap somewhere else!"

"I wasn't napping..." I mumbled helplessly. My clothes were covered in dirt and dust, and in a few places they were ripped with some blood seeping through. One of the cuts on my left leg had bled enough to create a small puddle on the ground beneath me. Had this guy honestly thought I would _sleep _like this?

"...Could you tell me how to get back to the entrance to this place?" I finally asked. That was the last place I could remember being, so it was a start, right?

He frowned, and then pointed up to where some tiny points of light were visible. Were those torches above? That looked really high up...

"You'd have to use our caves to get all the way back up there," the gnomelette mused. Then he took a good hard look at me, and shrugged. "You're cute, so I guess I could let you do it just this once. But don't come back here! And stop bleeding all over my rock!"

"Sorry," I muttered back. It was suddenly very hard not to laugh at the sheer absurdity of the statement. _He's an angry elf. _Oh god, why could I never think straight at times like this?

Thankfully, none of my inner train of thought seemed to be visible on my face, because the gnomelette left me alone after that. I fought to organize my thoughts in the meantime...and, of course, stop bleeding on his rock.

My bag was looking pretty beaten up, but it had ended up here with me. I had been carrying two life bottles and a panacea; both of them were shattered, coating everything in a lovely mess. The few lemon gels I had been carrying survived; I took one of the bottles that had cracked, and opened it to spread the contents on my leg wound. After sealing that up with some bandages, my leg was almost as good as new.

Now I turned my gaze back up to those points of light the gnomelette had shown me. That high up...how had I...?

Then the memory hit me. The earthquake, the terror, the fall...

I stared at those lights, realized how far I had fallen, and then my stomach finally rebelled. I began to retch, placing a hand over my mouth and turning over on to my knees. I felt vomit creep up the back of my throat and forced it back, squeezing my eyes shut. After a minute or so, the horrible sick feeling abated. The taste of bile lingered in my mouth.

How could I have fallen that far...? Just the thought of it...the memory of it...

From this angle, I could see that the crevasse I noticed earlier had actually been a full bridge, but it looked as if it had been knocked down at some point. The fallen stalactites had driven their points into this elevated stretch of earth, giving a false sense of where the floor actually was. What I had thought would be a nasty fall earlier was actually a _really _nasty fall.

I must have fallen to that elevated stretch, and then tumbled down the incline from there to here...the impact would have killed me otherwise. It certainly explained why I was so beat up, but I was amazed that I hadn't broken anything...

Blood trickled down the side of my face, and I absentmindedly wiped it away. Well, I was here. Time to assess the situation.

The gnomelette had said something about caves. Now that I was looking, I could see the opening of a cave not too far from here—it was where he'd headed off to after speaking with me. Torches on either side of the opening marked the entrance. That was definitely a start.

I gingerly pushed myself to my feet, making sure to test each leg carefully before putting my full weight on it. No, nothing was broken. I was a little dizzy from blood loss, but it was bearable.

What was my game plan, then? The caves were my only option. Hopefully I'd be able to meet up with somebody...if not, I was going to have to wait either at the entrance or at the seal, depending on which was more accessible. I just didn't want to get thrown off any more cliffs because of freak earthquakes. What the hell was up with that, anyway?

No sense in worrying about it after the fact. I did my best to brush off my clothes, and then began what I was sure was going to be a very long walk.

* * *

The caves were, for the most part, empty—or they looked that way, anyway. I saw gnomelettes here and there, but they left me alone other than a few muttered insults here and there. Such charming little people.

There were monsters, but they tended to shy away from the caves that looked like they were more used. Was it because the gnomelettes had adequate means of defending themselves, or because they were protected by Gnome? Either way, it meant I had a safe route of passage for the time being.

Since I had absolutely no clue where I was going, I took every path that seemed to lead upward. My battered legs were killing me after about thirty minutes of this; finally, I found a large rock and plopped down on it to take a breather.

That was when a ball of multicolored fur launched itself out in front of me, nearly causing me to fall over.

"Here!" It squeaked in a very familiar voice, "she's here!"

Now that the shock was wearing off, I finally realized that said ball of fur had an animal shape to it, and it was wearing a collar with a bell attached to it. Right, Corrine.

Running footsteps approached, but instead of Sheena, it was Colette who entered my line of vision. She looked pale and out of breath, but when she caught sight of me, her shoulders slumped with relief.

"Thank goodness," she breathed.

Corrine paused to sniff me for a few seconds, scrunching his nose up a little when he saw the slowly healing wound I'd patched up on my leg. Then he looked up at me. "Are you hurt badly?"

I shrugged, surprised that he had even bothered to ask. "Nothing I can't handle."

"Good." He huffed a little, tilting his head and watching me. "...You smell funny and I don't trust you—"

"Uh, thanks?"

"—but you saved Sheena, so I'm going to help. Stay here with Colette and I'll get the others!"

And before I could get another word in, Corrine had bounded off into the darkness, leaving me alone with the blonde. Well, he was as pleasant as ever. But he was probably the only reason Colette had been able to track me down in the first place...so I did owe him one. I wondered what he would think if he knew it was his life I had ultimately saved, not Sheena's. He probably still wouldn't like me.

"Um...I don't think you smell funny," Colette offered, sitting down next to me.

I snorted. "Good to know, Colette."

"Are you sure you're all right?" she asked, leaning over to get a better look at me. "You fell so far! I'm really sorry...I should have grabbed you, but I was so surprised by the earthquake, I—"

"You don't need to apologize," I told her with a sigh. "It was an accident. I'm fine, I think. Somehow. Everything hurts, but I don't think it's severe."

"You're bruised and bleeding all over," she murmured, reaching into her bag. When she withdrew her hand, she was holding a cloth and her canteen. Wetting the cloth, she reached over and dabbed at still-bleeding cut on my head. "Here, let me get some of it."

I was about to protest, but then I understood that I really did need patching up. We were going to be sitting here until the others found us, so it couldn't hurt. "...Knock yourself out, I guess."

She cleaned off a couple of the smaller cuts I had acquired on my fall, using an apple gel to seal some of them up. It wasn't doing a whole lot, but it definitely eased the pain a bit.

"Sometimes I wish I knew healing spells like the Professor," Colette sighed. "Something like this would be easy for her. She's so amazing."

"It would be nice..." I remarked. "Even knowing one spell. Being to heal up my own wounds every now and then would be awesome. Zelos has it pretty good, actually."

"My angelic spells can help during battle, but..." she chewed on her lower lip. "I don't really like using them. Sometimes I don't think I really understand my own strength..."

"That's all the reason to practice more, right?"

"I guess so," she said doubtfully. "Um...Brittany?"

"Yeah?" I glanced over at her.

"Back at the Dragon's Nest, when I used Judgment, I..." she shifted uncomfortably. "This is going to sound silly, but...it just felt like it wasn't me. It _couldn't _have been me...I'm not that strong."

"What makes you think that?" I asked, straight-faced. I hated playing dumb like this...but what else could I tell her? "You aren't _weak, _Colette."

She shook her head. "But Rodyle wouldn't have...have said those things about me if I was capable of something like that."

"Colette...do you actually _believe _the things he said?"

Fidgeting again, she didn't give me any reply. She just stared at the ground with a downcast expression, which in a way was answer enough. Jesus...she had never shown this side of her to me before. I was so surprised, for a moment I wasn't sure what to do.

For once, though, the answer did come. Here was someone who was suffering, who had suffered privately for a long time—someone whose feelings I understood and could relate to. She wasn't alone. I didn't want her to feel alone, because a lot of the time _I _felt alone and I hated it.

"Do you think I'm a bad person?" I asked her. "Be honest."

The abruptness of my question clearly shocked her, but she gathered her bearings in time to give me a straight answer. "No, of course not!"

"Good to hear," I replied wearily. "Look, I know you hate that you have weaknesses, and Rodyle probably didn't let you forget it the entire time you were in his custody. But here's something I bet no one ever taught you back home—it's _okay."_

She opened her mouth to reply, then hesitantly closed it when she saw I still had plenty more to say.

"Regardless of all the self-righteous bull people might spew at you, _everyone _has two sides to them—the outside and the inside. The outside is the prettied up part of us we show in some crazy attempt to seem normal and acceptable. The inside is where we keep all the crap we wouldn't want anyone else to see. No one is perfect enough to wear everything on the outside. Hell, anyone who _does _wear everything on the outside is probably conceited."

"You might think everyone else seems so much braver and stronger than you," I said, "but that's just what _they're _showing on the outside. And even the weaknesses they do show seem perfectly okay compared to yours, right?"

Her eyes lit up—I had hit home. "They _do_, though—everyone else is—"

I didn't let her get the thought out. "I didn't really start feeling like a part of this group until after the Tower of Salvation. Before that, I was just a tagalong. And I still sometimes think I'm being a burden."

She gave me a wide-eyed look at the sudden revelation, so I continued before she could interrupt.

"I'm arrogant. I always make references to things only people from Earth would understand, and then I laugh when all it does is confuse people. You guys are intelligent human beings and all I ever do is poke fun at this world, as if mine's a hell of a lot better. I'm selfish. For the longest time I justified it by saying that I'm just a civilian and I never asked to get involved in any of this, but that's no excuse. It's not like you volunteered for this, either. I'm weak. Even after everything, I still trail behind all of you in skill level, so I'm always going to be the one who can't quite keep up as well as the others."

I swallowed thickly, forcing myself to keep talking. "When I was being kept prisoner in Welgaia, Yggdrasill offered me a proposal—if I betrayed you all, he would let me go home and forget about all of this. I actually considered it." Now I offered a small, insecure smile. "Well, that's _my _inside, Colette. You can shove all your nastiness in a closet so your house looks presentable for the neighbors, but if you don't let it breathe every now and then, all that crap will start to smell."

She was quiet for a moment, but then she shocked me by bursting out into uncontrollable giggles. I sat there gaping at her for a moment; then I saw the tears pricking at the corners of her eyes, and tried to straighten out my expression.

"Um...Colette?"

"S-Sorry," she laughed, wiping away tears before they had a chance to fall. "It's just—it's just, it's so true. I..." She stopped her giggling for the moment, hiccuping a little. "When we were on the world regeneration journey, I...I thought about running away sometimes. Because I didn't want to go. Because I was too scared. But that would have been betraying everyone in Sylvarant..."

She sniffled. "And when we were at the Tower of Salvation, and you were all looking up at me and begging me not to do it...I almost didn't. I...sometimes I just wish I could go home, even if...even if it meant giving up on all of this, giving up on everyone...I just get so tired sometimes—oh, that sounds horrible!"

"No, it doesn't," I said, rolling my eyes and slinging an arm around her shoulders. "I know you would never give up on everyone. You're too good of person for that...but everyone has those kinds of thoughts. It just makes you human."

"But I..." She hesitated, absentmindedly rubbing one shoulder and suddenly looking very depressed. Then she just shook her head, and smiled weakly over at me. "...That means you're human, too. So you shouldn't call yourself selfish and weak, either."

"I won't if you won't," I told her. "Deal?"

She smiled. "Okay. Um...thank you for telling me all of this. It really means a lot."

"It's nothing," I said sheepishly, even though dumping out all of those insecurities had been kind of scary. There was still that part of me that had a paralyzing fear of rejection. "Just...if you ever feel like you need to talk to someone..."

"Yeah," Colette replied with a nod, but that old smile of hers was back in place and I wasn't sure if her answer was quite so genuine.

There was a short silence during which I listened for the sounds of approaching footsteps, and found none. It seemed like the others were still some distance away. Maybe Corrine hadn't even gotten to them yet. Hopefully we wouldn't be waiting here too long...I wasn't sure how long my patience would hold up. I already kind of wanted to get up and explore on my own; with Colette here, I was feeling a bit more confident.

"Well, actually..." Colette started, and then bit her lip. "I've been meaning to, um...ask you about Zelos."

I tensed a bit, and immediately tried to hide it under a casual facade. "What about him?"

She gave me a troubled look. "You two are so distant now. It's almost like...like you were never friends at all. What happened?"

Well, the cat was out of the bag. And apparently she had kept quiet about it until now, or Lloyd would've told her what was up. Either way, I couldn't just pretend there was nothing going on. Everyone else knew, or had at least figured it out for themselves.

"It was the morning after you were captured," I explained. "Zelos and I got into a huge fight. He was mad about something I'd said to him, as well as the way I'd been acting. We exchanged some choice words. He implied that I sleep around, and I punched him in the face."

She gasped a little. "You...?"

I averted my gaze. "He upset me. Really upset me. And I think it's because I know some of what he said was right. He told me I was arrogant, he called me a liar, he said I was fake...and I pretty much said the same back to him. We haven't really spoken since."

"But..." Colette shook her head. "You were getting along so well before. What did you say to him to make him so angry?"

"I told him that I trusted him. And then...I guess at one point after that, I implied that I didn't. He thinks I was just screwing with him."

After mulling over this for a moment, she just frowned. "You don't like him anymore?"

"Huh?" My eyebrows shot up.

She tilted her head. "Even after what happened, if you could go back and be friends with Zelos anyway, would you?"

"Oh..." I blinked, taken aback. Even after those hurtful things he'd said, the horrible way he'd acted? "...Yeah. I guess I would..."

"Then that's what you have to do," Colette told me. "Because you're a good person, and I think Zelos is a good person, too."

"Colette..." I sighed, staring dejectedly at the floor. Just go back and be friends? If only it were that easy. Just take it all back...

"I think..." She hesitated, and then offered me a genuine smile. "I think we could all get along better if more people were as honest as you. Just tell Zelos how you really feel. Maybe all you have to do is _show _that you trust him, and he'll understand."

I stared at her in surprise. Tell him how I really felt? The thought of leaving myself open like that to him...that was terrifying. And then it occurred to me that I _didn't _trust him, and I _had _lied to him...

If I ever wanted to be his friend, then I would have to take that leap, wouldn't I? I'd have to tell him how I really felt, leave myself vulnerable, and risk rejection. Because there was always that risk in trusting someone.

"...Maybe you're right, Colette..." I frowned thoughtfully. "I should talk to him...I—"

"Heeeeyyyyy!" A sudden voice caused us both to look up, and I nearly let out a groan.

"Speak of the devil," I mumbled.

"Fear not, hunnies! The Great Zelos has come to your rescue!"

"Idiot!" Sheena growled. "If you keep yelling, you're gonna cause this place to cave in!"

"Maybe you should stop yelling too, my lovely banshee!"

"I see them now," Raine said wearily.

I looked up in time to see the others approaching, their forms cast in shadow by the torchlight. And at long last, the group was reunited.

Well, I had pretty much fallen off a cliff within five minutes of walking into this place. What other fun things were in store for me today? There was only one way to find out.

I pushed myself to my feet, stepping forward and greeting everyone with a tired smile.

* * *

**A/N: Well, I tried. I've been quite busy lately, working and trying not to let my bank account eat itself and all that. XD Now that the holidays are over I'm hoping to have more writing time. Who knows. I'd like to not be writing this story till I'm thirty, though. XD**

**Anyway, reviews are always much appreciated! I have to get up for work in five hours, so I've gotta goooo! ;_; **

**Next time: Spicy!**


	52. Spicy

**A/N: I'm back! Not that I was ever gone to begin with, but...yyyyeah. I don't even know what to say, honestly.**

**YES, THIS CHAPTER IS SHORT. It took me forever just to get this far. I just set a deadline for myself and decided that I'd post no matter how long the damn thing was, because I REALLY needed to get through this dry spell. I couldn't put off posting any more, because this week I'm working close to 60 hours between two jobs and I have a feeling just functioning like a normal human being is going to be difficult enough, never mind writing. XD**

**I know it's been a hell of a long time since my last chapter (January, gah) and I'm sure some of you thought I was gone for good, but once again, let me assure you that that's not the case. This story took up three years of my life. I'm not going to let it fizzle out, dammit. Even if I'm writing it foreverandeverandever.**

**Anyway. I hope you enjoy what I did manage to get done, even if I'm not especially happy with it. Onward to the chapter!**

* * *

For the first ten minutes of my reunion with the group, everyone was so busy fussing over me that I could barely hear myself think. I wanted to mull over my conversation with Colette for a while, but that was kind of difficult when there were a bunch of people standing around and treating me like I would shatter to pieces at any moment.

...It was kind of surprising that I didn't, actually. I couldn't really blame them. After what had happened to me, they had all been expecting to find much worse. Something more along the lines of a big red smear on the rocks below.

"I don't know how I survived that," I explained when we finally began walking again. Raine had healed my injuries thoroughly enough, so now I was just sore for the most part. "I blacked out before the impact."

"...Do you think maybe it's your Exsphere?" Lloyd frowned over at me.

"Yeah...that's right. Presea was involved in the Angelus Project too, and she has Angelic strength just like Colette," Genis said.

"Then it would be reasonable to assume your Exsphere is enhanced to some degree," Raine continued, nodding. "It's possible that alone was what saved your life. But I wouldn't recommend testing your limits."

"Don't worry, I don't plan on it," I replied with a nervous laugh. An enhanced Exsphere? It didn't _feel _enhanced...but come to think of it, it might have saved me when I took that hit for Sheena back at the Temple of Lightning, too.

"I'm glad you're okay," Sheena said with a sigh. "We all thought you were a goner, but Corrine said he could still hear your heartbeat somewhere." She smiled, directing her gaze to the summon spirit perched on her shoulder.

So I really did owe him one. If he hadn't been around to help them find me...would we have found each other in the end? What if I had gotten lost? What if they had thought I was dead and left without me? Whew...that was a scary thought.

"What was up with that earthquake, anyway?" Lloyd's frown had deepened. "That one came out of nowhere, and it was a lot stronger than the one we caused."

"It may have been a result of the mana link we severed," Regal offered, looking thoughtful. "I imagine they will increase in frequency as we form more pacts."

"So it was like that quake we felt back at the Temple of Lightning..." Lloyd nodded. "Okay, we'll just have to be more careful, then."

"And avoid sheer drops," I muttered.

We continued onward through a series of winding passageways and large, cavernous chambers. Colette had to use the Sorcerer's Ring several times to clear the way, but thankfully there were no major incidents. The caves didn't collapse, and falling rocks were easy to avoid; if all else failed, Guardian usually did the trick.

Eventually we made our way out of the gnomelette's caves and into the main passageways of the temple. As we went deeper in, monsters began to appear more frequently. Magic attacks seemed to work best against the rock elementals here, so Genis, Raine and Zelos stayed in the center of our group to cast when we needed them. Lloyd and I stayed up front to serve as meat shields (he still seemed to like using that term, to my dismay), while Regal and Presea guarded the rear.

The fact that we created these group formations without even needing to talk about it was comforting to me. It was second-nature now, with everything we had been through. At least we weren't a group of clueless individuals now; we didn't need Kratos directing us anymore.

The path wound deeper and deeper into the earth, and I suspected we were far beneath the mountains now. Had I ever been this far below ground before? A long time ago the idea might have bothered me, but now it was just an afterthought. We would be going to plenty of other extremes to get to the other seals, anyway.

After what felt like forever, the path finally ended in a large room.

A large, _empty _room.

"Ah, crap..." I was the first to voice my concerns, looking around the room with a frown.

"A dead end?" Sheena shook her head, confused. "But I thought we were going the right way..."

"Don't tell me we have to go all the way back," Lloyd groaned. This path had been a straight shot for at least two miles. Going back would mean heading almost all the way back to the entrance; I couldn't imagine where we might have taken a wrong turn.

Regal glanced around the room for a moment, and then let out a quiet sigh. "There doesn't seem to be anything here...but this room is free of monsters. Perhaps it would be prudent to take a short rest here while we can."

"I suppose you're right," Raine said. "We should—"

"Hey, losers! You can't just barge in here!"

"Another one...?" Lloyd was unfazed by the newcomer. "They're all over this place."

The gnomelette had entered the room from a crack in the wall that none of us could have fit through. Now he stood there with his hands on his hips, looking quite irked (and of course, not even remotely imposing).

"We don't mean to intrude or cause you any harm," Regal interjected calmly, holding his hands up in a gesture of peace. "We simply wish to meet with the summon spirit that resides here. If you could tell us a way to go further in, we would be much obliged."

I appreciated his ability to be diplomatic—couldn't have said it better myself—but unfortunately the only response Regal's words received was a cocked eyebrow.

"Listen, bub," the gnomelette said, "I ain't gonna fall for that nice-guy act. You want me to just let you through for free? Sorry, but the world don't work that way."

"What do you want, then?" Genis asked.

He stopped to think about it for a moment, and I realized what was coming.

"...Spicy."

"Huh?" Lloyd blinked.

"What is spicy? Does it taste good?" the gnomelette asked. "Gimme something spicy to eat, and I'll show you the way."

"Not again..." Sheena groaned. "Well, does anyone have any ideas?"

"Spicy, hmm..." Genis frowned a little. "That's going to be a problem. Raine used the last of our red satay last week, remember?"

I grimaced a little. Had that been the last of it...? Yes, I did remember her little experiment, but I hadn't realized she had used our entire supply of satay again. That wasn't good...that meant I was going to have to fess up.

"Um, I bought some on our last supply run..." I offered, trying not to sound too timid.

"Back at the House of Guidance?" Genis glanced over at me, surprised. "Oh, now I remember. Since when do you offer to do the food shopping, anyway?"

"I was gonna have another go at learning how to cook," I replied with a sheepish laugh. "The chef at the House of Guidance gave me the recipe for curry, actually..."

"That's perfect!" Lloyd exclaimed, grinning.

"Curry...good idea," Genis said with a nod. "You're cooking, then? I guess it'll be better than Raine—" He was abruptly cut off, letting out a yell when his sister gave him a good whack.

"You're going to cook?" Colette's eyes lit up with delight. "Brittany, I haven't had your cooking in so long! Remember those omelettes you made? I was so sad that I couldn't have one. I bet you'll be really good at it now!"

My face fell. Why the hell did I have to go with the "learning to cook" story? Crap! I had never even tried curry—how the hell was I supposed to know if I was making it right?

Also, Zelos was giving me the worst look. He hadn't even bothered with sarcastic remarks this time; he was just _staring. _And staring. And staring. I had the feeling that suspicion was starting to evolve into downright conviction, and then I was really going to be in trouble. I needed to set some time aside later and figure out how I was going to tackle that particular problem...unfortunately, spare time was pretty scarce nowadays.

Speaking of which, now was not the time to be worrying about it. I had a different dilemma to attend to.

I smiled nervously. "Uh...well, I mean, I guess I could...it might not be any good though."

"It'll be fine!" Lloyd said happily, clapping me on the back with a laugh. "You always cook better under pressure!"

"I do?" I grimaced. The last time he'd dumped me with surprise cooking duties...jeez, had it really been that long ago? That had been when I'd first discovered the Wonder Chef...

I paused, feeling a slight glimmer of hope. Unfortunately, a quick survey of the area revealed nothing out of the ordinary...damn. No miracles for me today. The chef was probably still put out from our meeting in Meltokio.

After glancing around at everyone, I understood from the looks on their faces that there was no giving in. It'd be a little silly to make a scene over this, as much as I wanted to. I would just have to bear it and do my best...even if my best might turn out awful. On the bright side, at least I couldn't possibly do worse than Raine would.

Genis had already grabbed the wing pack, pulling out a bag that contained our cooking supplies. I let him extract the pot and a few other tools, and he even used magic to start a cooking fire for me. I knew he was doing it in the hopes of minimizing the potential damages, but I was grateful anyway. I probably would've grabbed the wrong pot.

As he did that, the others began to set their stuff down and occupy themselves. To my relief, Sheena actually struck up a conversation with Zelos, successfully distracting him. That was a first—had she noticed his staring? Either way, I wouldn't have to worry about any scrutiny while I cooked. Everyone else was being fairly relaxed.

I pulled out my notebook, flipping through until I found the page the recipe was written on. The chef had relatively neat handwriting, thankfully, so I was able to make out what I was supposed to do without too much trouble. I was relieved to find that there weren't any strange cooking-related words in the instructions that I couldn't understand, either.

Okay...okay. I could do this! Easy as pie!

Finally I read over the ingredients list and began to pull out all of the required items. Then I raised my eyebrows, realizing something. Not only were none of our measurement tools labeled—apparently they belonged to Genis, and he didn't need labels—but half of the measurements were in units I didn't understand. What the hell was a "gill" supposed to be? Some of the units were recognizable, and others were just nonsensical words.

All of the other times I had cooked, I had sort of just winged it—it occurred to me that I had never used an actual recipe from here before. Maybe I should've read the recipe over beforehand instead of assuming someone else would end up cooking...

Whatever! Everyone else was distracted, and I really didn't want to ask a bunch of questions when I was probably going to screw it up anyway. I knew what a cup, teaspoon and tablespoon looked like without needing them to be labeled, so I pulled them out.

I prepared the ingredients according to the recipe, portioning them out as well as I could. The recipe called for a gill of water, so after some hesitation, I poured just under a cup of it into the pot. It was just water, so it couldn't do much harm, right? Maybe if I put too much it'd just boil out or something.

Then the final ingredient called for three saltspoons of red satay. Saltspoons...uhh...teaspoons? Okay, I was gonna go with that. I spooned the satay into the pot and finally sat back, allowing it to simmer for a while. The steam coming from the pot, at least, didn't smell deadly. I took that to be a good sign.

The recipe said to let it cook for twenty more minutes. I nearly smacked my forehead, remembering that I had no way to measure the time. I had learned a while ago to look at the sun's position in the sky for a good estimate of the time, but that only worked in a general sense, and obviously it was useless down here. I began, not for the first time, to dearly miss my cell phone.

Someone like Genis or Regal would probably cook it until their instinct told them it looked done. I was just going to have to guess at it. Either that, or count to sixty...twenty times. Yeah, I'd rather guess.

For a little while I watched the contents of the pot like a hawk, stirring occasionally. I knew it wasn't pasta, but with my luck I kept feeling like it was going to find a way to boil over. Eventually the curry seemed like it had cooked long enough, so I hoped for the best and began getting together some bowls.

"Oh, is it done?" Lloyd asked excitedly. "Great!"

"Sure," I muttered, sighing. It was beyond me why these people ever let me near cooking utensils.

We spooned the curry into the bowls, passing a serving to everyone in the group. The gnomelette got his first, and was already halfway through it by the time everyone else had gotten their food.

"So this is 'spicy'!" he said between bites.

"...Good?" I asked hopefully.

"Oh! Spicy! Spicy!" The gnomelette seemed cheerier than when we'd first run into him, but Lloyd just looked puzzled.

"...He probably doesn't understand what spicy is," he pointed out.

My face fell. "It's spicy, dammit."

The others had the courtesy to wait until everyone was served before eating, so I fixed myself a portion and sat down. Well, at least the hard part was over...now to see if my concoction was safe for human consumption.

"It smells good," Sheena said approvingly.

I was relieved to see that no one was staring at the food dubiously, the way they would have had Raine been the chef. Maybe this was going to turn out okay after all.

"Hey, this _is _good!" Lloyd said happily after taking a bite.

"Wow, it is," Genis remarked.

I saw everyone else give it a try, forgetting about my own food so I could watch their faces expectantly. It was an interesting reaction, really. Everyone seemed to like it...at first. Then an odd look of surprise showed on their faces, and they seemed to become uncomfortable. I waited for the verdict, wondering just what could induce that reaction. I didn't put laxatives in the food, I swear.

"...It's spicy," Presea said quietly with a straight face, and I figured out what the problem was.

Regal actually coughed a little, fighting a grimace for my sake. "...I-Indeed."

Hold on, had Regal just _stuttered? _I stared dubiously down at my own bowl, and then glanced at the rest of the group.

"_Really _spicy..." Lloyd squeaked.

My stomach sank. Okay, that probably wasn't good...

"It's still delicious, though! Really!" Colette insisted. She had a happy smile plastered on her face; it would have been convincing if her eyes weren't watering. Somehow I felt like this was the first time since regaining her senses that Colette wished she _couldn't _taste her food.

"...It's like eating a condensed version of the sun," Zelos deadpanned, staring at his bowl like the contents were going to attack him.

"Our gnomelette friend wanted it spicy, right?" I piped up, trying hard to salvage some of my dignity.

"Yeah!" the gnomelette backed me up. He was eating the bowl now. Apparently gnomelettes had some kind of personal vendetta against dinnerware.

"See? Now stop being a bunch of babies," I said, glaring down at my curry. Defense mechanism time! If I acted like I thought the food was great and everyone else was crazy, then I could pretend I _meant _to make it this spicy!

Determined, I took a spoonful of the stuff, shoved it into my mouth, and swallowed.

…

…

Holy _shit._

Everyone had quieted down, offering me expectant stares. I tried to school my expression into something calm, or at least lacking emotion. Instead I was pretty sure I just looked constipated.

It was so spicy that my eyes were beginning to water, and my nose even felt like it was going to start running.

No, no! This wasn't convincing enough. Take a few more bites, shrug it off, and call it a day! Dammit, Brittany, stop being a wuss!

Taking a breath, I popped another spoonful of the deadly substance into my mouth. I was pretty sure I heard a few of the others gasp a little, and Lloyd paled.

"Is that safe?" he whispered to no one in particular.

Finally I couldn't take it anymore. I had to drop the spoon I was holding in order to catch a tear before it fell. I swore profusely under my breath, cursing my poor acting skills. Somehow I managed to swallow the food, and the burning sensation in the back of my throat made me want to break out into a coughing fit.

"...Okay," I admitted after a minute, finding it difficult to talk in a normal tone of voice. "So maybe it's kind of...er, borderline inedible."

"How much satay did you use, anyway? Can I see the recipe?" Genis asked. I complied, handing it over, and he frowned at the paper. "...only three saltspoons? It shouldn't be _this _spicy."

"Uh, about that...what's a saltspoon?" I rubbed the back of my neck sheepishly, and everyone's faces fell.

Genis gave me a funny look. "You don't have saltspoons on Earth?"

"It's not a measurement that I know of," I replied slowly. "...Is it the same as a teaspoon?"

He let out a small groan, rolling his eyes skyward. "Well, that explains it."

"What?" I whined.

"...A saltspoon is equivalent to one-fourth of a teaspoon," Regal informed me.

"You put _four times_ the correct amount?" Sheena cringed.

"If you didn't know what it was, why didn't you just ask?"

"I guess I thought I could wing it," I said. Cue collective sigh from the group.

"Well, I'm getting bored," the gnomelette declared loudly, thankfully taking the spotlight off of myself. We all turned to him, curious.

"If you losers want to go on ahead, here's the way!" he approached the far end of our small room, giving one of the boulders against the wall a good hard kick. There was a sudden shaking, and then the boulder was sliding out of the way, revealing a hidden passage. How had I not seen that one coming?

"No way..." Lloyd murmured.

"Anyway, I'm going! Later!" And with that, the gnomelette had disappeared down the path he had just shown us.

When he was gone, we all just stared at each other for a minute.

"Note to self: when all else fails, start kicking rocks," I remarked.

"Dork."

* * *

"...I see. Intriguing...I never imagined just how extensive the differences between our worlds would truly be."

Regal had adopted a thoughtful expression as we spoke. I was grateful for the distraction; the passage we were heading down was the longest yet, and I was bored out of my mind. He had asked me about my cooking mistake, and then had gone on to explain some of the different—and bizarre—measurements that were commonly used here.

"Right down to the last detail, I guess," I said with a chuckle and a shrug. "Then again, we're still speaking the same language. Explain that one."

His brow furrowed. "You have a point. It _should _be impossible."

"I'm beginning to believe that our worlds are connected in some way," Raine remarked.

"Connected?" Lloyd piped up. "You mean like Sylvarant and Tethe'alla?"

She shook her head. "Not like that. But these odd parallels, coupled with the fact that Yggdrasill chose Earth specifically...it's too much to be a mere coincidence."

"That's true. How did he find out about Earth to begin with?" Sheena wondered aloud.

I shifted uncomfortably at this turn in the conversation. Part of me wanted to say that I didn't know the answer, that there was no logical reason behind the similarities of our worlds. But that wasn't quite the truth, was it?

Everyone here spoke the same language as me because that was how it had been in the game. Angelic and Latin were the same because it was easier to understand that way. A lot of the cultural mannerisms—gestures, facial expressions, and the like—were familiar to me. Many measurements were the same. The geography was similar to Earth's. Logically, if I had travelled to an alien planet, the chances of it having so many things in common with Earth were ridiculously slim.

It was Tales of Symphonia. No matter how many ways I looked at it, the _game _was the connection. Of course there were similarities—if the designers had made a world no gamers could even remotely relate to or understand, then no one would have bought the game.

But even though the others were beginning to notice the uncanny similarities, I couldn't voice my own thoughts. It sounded far-fetched even in my head, and aside from that, I just couldn't reveal that side of things to them. I just had to hope that they wouldn't expect any answers from me.

"Do you think it means something?" Lloyd asked, and it took me a moment to realize it was me he was addressing.

I just shrugged. "Maybe. But I don't think there's any way we'll know for sure...unless we ask the guy himself, anyway."

"We've learned a lot since we started this journey," Colette spoke, an optimistic smile on her face. "I'm sure we'll find the answer sooner or later. We just have to keep moving forward!"

"Colette's right," Lloyd agreed, grinning easily. "Well, I guess there's no point in worrying about it right now. Let's just focus on making this pact."

"Oh! I wonder what Gnome looks like?" The blonde looked over at Lloyd.

"Well, Volt was a big ball of lightning, so maybe Gnome is...a giant rock or something?" He tapped his chin, not liking this idea. "That's boring..."

The bemused look on Regal's face almost caused me to burst into a fit of laughter.

Genis grinned. "Lloyd and Colette completely derail another conversation..."

"Guys, guys, you're forgetting one very important detail," Zelos finally joined in, his eyes full of mirth. "Undine was a _total _babe."

Cue Lloyd's face turning beet red, Sheena groaning, and Regal looking...well, even more bemused.

Luckily, before Sheena could ready her fists for another beatdown, we reached the end of the passage. It led into a wide open chamber, one that was even more brightly lit than all of the others had been. The strange platform at the far end of the room was easily recognizable—we had finally arrived at the seal.

"All right! We made it!" Lloyd pumped a fist in the air excitedly, seeming to completely forget about Zelos's remark from just moments before.

Everyone else seemed to breathe a sigh of relief—we _had _been running around this place for quite a while, after all. Or maybe it hadn't been so long and it only felt like a long time. I honestly couldn't tell at this point; I was always tired either way.

We approached the seal slowly, on guard. It occurred to me that we hadn't even discussed which people would be fighting this time around. Man, how had that conversation never popped up? Well, maybe it wasn't that important; we didn't know that much about Gnome to begin with anyway. Would his body be hard to puncture with blades, like a rock elemental? Or was it really as soft and furry as it looked in the game? Hell, I barely remembered anything about his abilities, so I wouldn't be of any help in that regard.

Out of nowhere, the ground started to shake uncontrollably. I braced myself against Regal, who planted his feet and remained still as a statue, and began looking around for the source of the quake. Too powerful to be the Sorcerer's Ring, but it didn't make sense for it to be another of those mana link-related quakes...oh!

That was when the ground in front of the seal bulged, and a small hand clutching a shovel burst out of the Earth. I almost yelled something about the zombie apocalypse, but then I realized that it was a furry paw, not a hand. And then Gnome himself climbed out of the hole. He began to casually dust himself off, as if he hadn't even noticed us.

"...This is Gnome?" Lloyd whispered disbelievingly. "He's so..."

"Cute!" Colette piped up with a delighted smile, and his face fell.

"Since Volt was Undine's opposite," Genis murmured, "that makes Gnome—"

"Efreet!" Lloyd said. "If we wake up Efreet, that'll sever their mana flow, right?"

"No, it's Sylph!" Raine hissed, clearly exasperated. "Honestly, how many times do I have to tell you before you actually remember it?"

Lloyd's face fell. "Aw...we have to go back to that desert? Man..." The Professor's irritation seemed to fly completely over his head.

"Anyway..." Sheena cleared her throat, reminding us of where we were.

Finally everyone fell silent, all eyes falling on Gnome as Sheena moved to the front of the group with a solemn expression. He seemed to have brushed enough of the dirt off his coat, because now he looked up at us, his whiskers twitching inquisitively.

After a few seconds, he broke into an easy grin. "Hey, guys. What's up?"

* * *

**A/N: I'm crying inside at how short this is. Alas, it would've taken me another six months to beef it up. Seriously, I feel zero enthusiasm regarding the summon spirit portion of the game, because it really isn't that exciting. I have a few interesting events planned to make it less tedious, but I think I need to figure out a way to go about it so that _I _don't get bored. XD**

**I know, next to no plot progression here. Sadface. Hopefully it amused you. Or at least the image of me ripping my hair out through the entire course of writing this amuses you. Hurrrrrr.**

**Review...if you feel like it!**

**...it'd make me happy if you did. *attempts to look pathetic and pity-worthy***

**Next time: LET'S JUST FIGHT GNOME ALREADY.**


	53. All Or Nothing

**A/N: Holy shit you guys I updated. WHERE DID THIS MOTIVATION COME FROM.**

**It's almost three in the morning here and I have to get up in three and a half hours. Oops. Well, I guess I won't waste time writing an author's note, then. Instead, here's some OC Brit fanart!**

**...DEAR GOD FFN WHY MUST YOU KILL ALL OF MY GODDAMN LINKS.**

**everyone just go to Deviantart and search up theT-chan and sylphwriter. They both did fanart. :D**

**Aaaaand without further ado, HERE IS YOUR LONG AWAITED CHAPTER. Something significant happens in this one, so look forward to that. B-)**

* * *

"Sheena! To your left!"

I barely had time to bark the warning before the summon spirit was on her. Thankfully, Sheena had the reflexes of a cat, and was out of harm's way almost immediately. Gnome swung his shovel at empty air, leaving himself open for a split second, and I lunged.

"Heavy Tiger Blade!" The upward sweep of my sword met flesh, but Gnome managed to block my second swipe down with the handle of the shovel. He twisted, using the momentum to throw me hard at Genis.

The mage had been in the middle of casting a spell; he was unprepared for the sudden impact. We tumbled and landed in a painful heap, and he uttered a few expletives that he must have learned from me. Luckily his sister was distracted.

"Ray!" She cast the spell, and beams of light rained down on the summon spirit.

"Sorry!" I hissed to Genis, rolling over and getting to my feet again. "I've got you covered this time!"

"Yeah, yeah," he replied, brushing himself off and beginning to concentrate again.

Narrowing my eyes, I readied Kerberos and lunged into the fray once more. Gnome was an elemental, which meant Genis was our best bet right now. If he could just get a spell going…

Needless to say, there hadn't been much time earlier to deliberate over who was going to fight; Gnome wasn't the most patient of…er, mammal-things. I reluctantly volunteered since I hadn't been in a summon spirit fight yet, and Gnome seemed like one of the less menacing ones.

Of course, never judge a book by its cover. He was fluffy and cute, sure, but for the past twenty minutes he had slapped me around with that shovel enough that I was pretty sure I was going to wake up black and blue tomorrow. I wasn't quite as nimble as Sheena, unfortunately. She seemed to be doing okay.

Speaking of which…

"Oi, Sheena!" I yelled. She glanced my way, and I gave her a thumbs up. "Team effort time!"

She smirked, flipping backwards to avoid a Stalagmite spell. "The move we practiced? Roger!"

I ran at Gnome, drawing my blade back with both hands and building up some energy. Sheena appeared beside me, preparing her cards for a Serpent Seal.

"Dark—" She started, her seal glowing in the air before me.

"—Serpent!" I lunged through the seal, carrying dark energy with me in a Sonic Thrust. I ducked just in time to avoid the metal of Gnome's shovel, and managed to slash into his side. There was no blood, but he yelled out.

"My turn!" Genis exclaimed—perfect timing! He held up his kendama, blue runes glowing around his feet. "Tidal Wave!"

A mass of water hit Gnome head on, throwing him backwards and causing him to yell again. He was looking pretty ticked off now. Sheena and I exchanged a glance and ran at him again, not wanting to give him a chance to retaliate.

Too late. He held up the shovel, grinning. "Ground Dasher!"

Ah, crap! The floor underneath our feet began to crack and glow. We threw up our respective defensive techs, but it wasn't enough to fully take the brunt of the powerful spell. Jagged stalagmites rose and fell beneath us; one of them finally shattered my Guardian and slashed into my sword arm. Sheena took one to her hip, and swore loudly.

"Field Barrier!" Raine became our saving grace, her spell fending off the remainder of the spell until it was over.

"Spread!" Genis cried, and Gnome was engulfed with more water.

"Power Thrust!" Sheena and I shook off our injuries in time to prepare another unison attack, and after lunging past Gnome, I swung around and got ready to use Hunting Beast. My arm was leaking blood, but I could worry about that later—

"Nurse!"

"Thanks, Professor! Oi, Gnome! Hunting—"

"All right, jeez! Enough already!"

Huh? Oh, abort attack, abort, abort!

Gnome stepped to the side, huffing with annoyance, and I tripped in my attempt to stop and ended up falling flat on my face.

"Not cool," I mumbled into the floor. I could hear Genis, Lloyd and Zelos all failing miserably in their attempts to stifle their laughter.

"Man, you guys play dirty…" Gnome remarked as I got to my feet. "What's up with that four-on-one garbage, anyway? Mithos, he did it by himself!"

"Wh-What?" Sheena blinked, taken aback. "Well—that's the way I was taught to do it…"

"By himself?" I heard Lloyd say in a hushed voice to Genis. "How tough was this guy?"

"Oh yeah? Well, whatever…" Gnome shrugged, rolling his eyes. "Make your vow already!"

The summoner bristled a little, but I could tell she was biting her tongue. Finally she spoke, matching his tone. "Okay, okay! For the sake of creating a place in which the two worlds no longer must sacrifice one another, gimme your power!"

"Yeah, all right. Done and done." He chucked a ring at her head, and she reached up to catch it just in time. "Call me if you need me! Later!" With that, he vanished in a burst of light.

"…Man, that guy was hard to deal with…" Sheena groaned, pocketing the ring.

"Are you all right, Brittany?" Colette piped up.

"She's fine," Raine replied for me. "The only thing that suffered was her dignity, I'm sure."

"Like I have any left," I mumbled, making a face. Lloyd and Genis started to snicker again.

"In any case," the Professor said, "I think we're just about done here. Let's head back to the House of Guidance and decide on our next move."

"Sounds good to me," I said with relief.

* * *

The walk back up to the surface was much longer than I wanted it to be. I was pretty sore all over from my fall and from getting whacked with a shovel multiple times, and I just wanted to lie down for a while. Not only that, my stomach was growling. My curry had been borderline inedible, so we'd essentially skipped a meal already. I was ready for some real food, dammit.

"Maaaan…" Lloyd groaned, slouching. "Can't we just teleport out of here? Genis, why haven't you learned a spell like that?"

"Why don't _you _try moving nine people at once with magic? It's not that easy!" Genis protested.

"Sure would be nice, though…" I said longingly.

The rock walls around us seemed to extend onward into eternity. I knew we only had another two miles or so until we were out of here, and it couldn't possibly take longer than an hour, but it still felt like forever. At least the monsters had been scarce. I was starting to feel pretty spent.

"Well, at least the battle went okay this time," Sheena said.

"Yes, it did," Raine agreed, looking thoughtful. "We've all come a long way since our early days in Sylvarant."

I knew what she meant; the four of us had worked especially well together since we had been around each other for so long. Sheena and I knew each other's moves very well because of how often we teamed up, and Genis and Raine were familiar with how to time their attacks to back us up. While Zelos, Regal and Presea were all skilled fighters, our group dynamic was still adjusting to accommodate for their presence. I couldn't predict their moves and communicate with them as well as I could the others.

Frowning, I made a mental note to watch those three fight when I could. Maybe during the summon spirit battles that I didn't participate in. It would be helpful to understand their fighting styles; we would have to be perfectly coordinated to take down someone like Yggdrasill.

"Those were some awesome unison attacks," Lloyd remarked, moving to walk between Sheena and I. "Hey, that was a Sonic Thrust, right?"

"Yeah," I replied.

"Sheena! Let me try it next time! Dark Serpent…that sounds so awesome!" He was grinning, excited as usual.

"Okay, okay," Sheena replied, her cheeks a little pink. "Don't get carried away. It's a pretty simple attack."

I smiled a little to myself, shaking my head as they discussed it. Though I was sore and exhausted, I was happy enough just knowing that today's trials were over. There'd probably be some nasty ordeals to face tomorrow, but I'd worry about that later. I was too tired to even bother thinking about what came next on our saving-the-world checklist. Hopefully next time I wouldn't, y'know, fall off a cliff.

For the rest of the walk, I lingered at the back of the group and was content to listen to everyone else talk for a while.

* * *

"Oh, hell yes…" I breathed a happy little sigh upon seeing the contents of the dish that had been set in front of me. It was a butternut squash and sweet potato gratin; fall on a plate. It smelled absolutely amazing. "Iron Chef Regal outdoes himself again. Am I dreaming? Somebody pinch me—ow! Dammit, Lloyd!"

"You asked for it," the teen snickered. Hmph, juvenile as ever. What? My rambling was totally mature and not silly at all.

"You're acting like children," Raine said for what was probably the millionth time. "Eat your food before it gets cold."

I needed no further convincing. Smiling, I popped a bite into my mouth, and thought I was going to die of sheer happiness.

"By the way," Genis spoke up. "What is 'Iron Chef' supposed to mean, anyway? You've said that before."

"Oh, well…" I swallowed my bite of food, looking thoughtful for a moment. "It's a contest back on Earth. I never really watched it much, but it's like…a bunch of chefs compete in a set amount of time with a certain main ingredient. Whoever produces the best dish wins the contest."

Regal nodded. "I see. I've seen similar contests before, though I've never competed in one."

I grinned. "Well, there you have it, one of my confusing references explained. The more you know! Oh wait, that's another…I give up." Shrugging, I just rolled my eyes and started shoveling my food down.

A few moments passed as everyone tried their food, and then Genis looked up, impressed.

"This is really good," he said. "It's sweet, but…you didn't use brown sugar, right? What's the extra ingredient?"

The convict smiled, pleased. "I decided to try white satay for a bit of a different effect. I'm glad you like it."

"Not bad, pops," Zelos said cheerfully. "I didn't think my taste buds survived being fried off earlier, but I guess you proved me wrong."

I almost made a face at that, but decided to ignore the comment. Eating seemed more gratifying right now. My food never judged me! …Wait, that sounded really pathetic. I eat because I'm unhappy, and I'm unhappy because I eat…enough with the references, brain!

"Now that we're all settled," Raine said, catching our attention, "I think we should start seriously considering our next course of action."

"Right," Sheena said. "There are still a lot of pacts left to make."

Hnngh…I really didn't want to worry about that right now, but it couldn't be helped. It was still only early evening; we couldn't just shove off to bed right after this, even if we were safely back at the House of Guidance.

Just as it had taken us around two days to get to the Temple of Earth, it had taken us two more to get back to the House of Guidance. We could have discussed all of this on one of the nights we had camped out, but we had elected to come back here and worry about it then; the Temple of Earth was so out of the way that we would've needed to come back in this direction anyway. Not only that, it could never hurt to stock up between temples. Personally, I was enjoying the advantage of having access to a fully stocked pantry.

"So we still have…the Temple of Darkness and the Temple of Ice, right?" Colette asked, tilting her head.

Sheena nodded. "Shadow and Celsius. That's it for Tethe'alla, anyway."

"Darkness and ice, huh…" Lloyd leaned back in his chair, frowning. "Which one should we do first?"

"The Temple of Darkness is on the same continent as Meltokio," Sheena explained. "It's at the continent's southernmost point. The Temple of Ice is up on the Flanoir Continent."

"That's where the Renegade base was, right?" Genis asked, and received a nod in reply.

"They're both about a day's travel away," Sheena replied.

"I propose we get the Temple of Ice out of the way first," Raine said. "We'll need warm clothes for the journey, and we might not have the opportunity to buy them if we wait. I'll have to see what I can find here."

"We should be able to find plenty of things in Flanoir," Sheena mused. "But yeah, I guess we'll have to find something suitable for the trip up there, too. I don't want a repeat of our escape from the Renegade base."

I shuddered. No kidding…and that had just been on the outskirts of the continent. The areas right around Flanoir had to be even colder, and the Temple of Ice…ew. I wasn't a huge fan of snow or ice or winter in general.

"So the Temple of Ice and then the Temple of Darkness…and then what?" Lloyd had a troubled expression on his face. "How are we getting back to Sylvarant, anyway?"

Raine shook her head. "Don't worry about that right now. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

His face brightened immediately. "...You're right, Professor. I'm sure we'll find a way."

"Hmm…" Regal was frowning, but he seemed to be keeping his thoughts to himself. I glanced in his direction, but let it slide. Once again I decided that food was more important, and resumed stuffing my face.

"All right," Raine said. "We'll head out tomorrow after I've made the necessary preparations. How does that sound?"

Boo…the plot strikes again. There went my happy moment.

"Yaaaay," I said in a flat tone, offering a weak fist-pump. Sheena rolled her eyes, and Lloyd pinched me again. Oh, the joy of having friends.

* * *

Things went as planned. I had been kind of hoping Raine would have trouble finding clothes for us to wear, but she did manage to scrounge together a few things. All the priests at the House of Guidance really had were thick robes; they were warm enough to last us for the ride, but it was still pretty damn cold for the last hour of the trip.

We set out the next morning, bright and early, and arrived in Flanoir after dusk. It had been a long day, most of it spent traveling over ocean with nothing to really look at. If I hadn't been so cold, I might've fallen asleep clinging to Lloyd. I was still afraid of heights, but fortunately I was starting to get a little more used to the Rheairds; I still wasn't ready to _drive _one, though. Ugh, hell no.

Flanoir…how to describe it? It certainly was a pretty town. Despite the frigid climate, it had a quaint, cozy feel to it. Children ran about, laughing and playing in the snow as adults passed us by dressed in warm winter clothes.

The large Church of Martel on the northern end of town was a beautiful piece of architecture as well. I was pretty sure it was second only to the cathedral in Meltokio; I hadn't seen anything else like it here in Tethe'alla. Part of me wanted to take a look inside, but I just couldn't bring myself to. Too much distaste for the religion itself. I already felt bad enough being around the priests at the House of Guidance, knowing that they were living their lives out for a lie. It was fortunate that they were kinder than the 'divine beings' they worshipped.

We checked into the inn and ate a late dinner, and then had the rest of the night free. I went out exploring with Sheena and Presea for a bit, while Lloyd, Genis and Colette looked like they were having a snowball fight on the other end of town. Heh, kids. I was glad Colette was enjoying her regained sense of touch to its fullest, though. Personally I wasn't in the mood to be any colder than I already was. We weren't going to get our heavy winter gear until tomorrow morning.

Raine had retired to her room to do a bit of reading, and Regal had spent some time in the kitchen helping the other cooks tidy up. They had been a little wary of the shackles, but had loosened up after seeing how he behaved. It really was impossible not to like Regal after being around him for a bit—he was so well spoken and polite. If I hadn't already met Zelos, I might've attributed it to being a nobleman thing.

Speaking of Zelos, I hadn't seen him once since we had eaten dinner.

…That was troubling…but at the same time, I wasn't surprised. This was Flanoir. There was snow everywhere. He was probably brooding somewhere. Zelos, brooding…that just sounded wrong. He always stopped other people from brooding…who was going to be there for him, though?

I let out a quiet groan, flopping backwards on to my bed. It was just past midnight now, and I knew I needed to just shut my brain off and _sleep. _But still…I couldn't, not now that _that _stupid topic had come up. His name had popped up and now all I could do was think about all the crap that had been bothering me.

It had been just over a week since our fight. It felt like it had been a lot longer, especially considering everything that had happened since then. Renegades, dragons, summon spirits…it was nuts.

I couldn't stop thinking about the things everyone had told me. Colette and Sheena had both said they had faith in me as a person, and they both seemed to have faith in him too…and Lloyd was always the kick in the ass I needed. As he had said, nothing was going to change if we just spent all our time avoiding each other.

Reaching up, I pressed a hand to my forehead and sighed. I didn't have this kind of time. That was what it all came down to; we risked our lives every day, and none of us knew for sure if we'd make it to the end of the journey. What if I died tomorrow? What if _he _died? Was I really okay with leaving things like this, when anything could happen?

No, I wasn't. And as much as I had been telling myself he was a jerk, when nights like tonight came, I still worried about him.

…Well, this was ridiculous. I didn't even know why I was trying to sleep. My mind was still wide awake; maybe a quick stroll outside would settle me down a bit. The warmth of a bed always felt nicer after freezing your ass off outdoors, right?

Huffing a bit, I got to my feet and tugged on my coat and the robe I had gotten back at the House of Guidance. As an afterthought, I grabbed Kerberos too. It wasn't like I was going beyond the town limits, but it was late enough to make me a little paranoid.

The path outside was covered with a fresh dusting of snow. I walked slowly, taking care not to slip. My hometown in upstate New York had had more than its share of nasty winters; it was known for being one of the most depressing places to live in the U.S. because of it. On one hand, being in this town reminded me of my old seasonal depression, but at the same time it was sort of nostalgic.

Strange, to find more reminders of home here. As a kid, I remembered waking up almost every morning in the winter and immediately checking the TV to see if we had a snow day. And if we did, my friends and I would always meet up and celebrate by spending almost the whole day out in the snow.

Man, those were better days. Sometimes I wished I could just go back in time and be a kid again, when life was simpler and the world was a brighter, more exciting place.

Just as I turned a corner to head down a different street, my thoughts were immediately cut off. Someone else was on the path. He had been heading my way, but stopped the second I did.

His blue eyes met mine, and we stared at each other for a few seconds. Zelos.

Uncharacteristically, he didn't brush off the tense moment with an obnoxious remark. Tonight he had a more solemn set to his face, which basically confirmed what I had been thinking earlier—he had been brooding.

My stomach was curling in on itself. This wasn't supposed to happen so soon! I had been thinking about confronting him tomorrow, or maybe the day after…but now? I hadn't seen this coming, I wasn't ready—

"I need to talk to you," I blurted out, cutting through the thick silence.

There. It was out.

Zelos stared down at me for another moment, his face unreadable. The seconds seemed to stretch on into eternity. Then, finally, he started walking again…and walked right past me.

Hearing his footsteps behind me, I felt like I had been punched in the gut. That was his answer? Just…just walk away? I…I understood, then. That was how he wanted to…h-how could he…

"Are you coming?"

My head jerked up, and I turned to look at him in shock. He had stopped, staring over his shoulder at me.

"…Yeah," I said, feeling a short rush of relief.

He began to walk again and I followed him, concentrating on dissolving the lump that had appeared in my throat at the prospect of him completely blowing me off. As for what I was going to say to him, well…I still had no idea.

Catching up, I drew closer until we walked side by side down the path. The snow fell softly around us, blanketing everything. The world seemed to have come to a standstill; not a soul was out and about other than us.

We didn't say a word to each other on our way back to the inn. I had to force myself not to steal glances at Zelos; it was still so unsettling to see that serious expression on his face. I didn't like seeing him like this. I knew the other him was just a mask, but…but this Zelos was even more closed off.

After a minute or so of walking, we made it back and went inside. I followed Zelos through the doorway to the main living room of the inn; it was a large room with a lot of sofas and coffee tables, designed for rest and relaxation. There were bookcases against the back wall, and the east wall was dominated by an enormous fireplace that dwarfed the one I had sat next to at the House of Guidance. There was no fire right now, just a pile of glowing coals.

Zelos closed the doors behind us and took a seat on the sofa facing the hearth. I hesitated for a second, and then sat down next to him. We were quiet for a bit as I attempted to sort out my thoughts.

There really was no good way to approach this. He had said some awful things to me, but I had been just as bad; I had used my knowledge of him to hit him where it hurt most. Was this really salvageable? Right now it seemed like I was attempting the impossible.

But Colette had said I should try…

He had saved me back at the Renegade base, hadn't he? That was worth _something, _right?

The silence stretched on. I chewed on my lower lip, watching the glowing coals. It was time to say something. Anything.

"I'm sorry," I said abruptly.

There was silence beside me. I stared stubbornly ahead, attempting to register my own words; once again I had spoken without really thinking. Why had I said that? It wasn't anything close to what I had thought I was going to say.

_"What?" _

I turned my head to look at Zelos. His serious expression had completely melted away, and now he was staring at me in shock. And just like that, all of the words came rushing out, everything that had been building up over the past week.

"I was really mad at you for a while," I murmured, staring down at my knees. "But I realized that it's because you saw right through me and it hurt to hear the things you said."

I took a shaky breath, letting it out slowly. "Being from Earth…it's made me pretty arrogant, I guess. I know I didn't ask to be brought on this journey, but it's not like that somehow makes me special. It's not like you asked to be the Chosen; Cruxis has screwed up your life pretty well, too."

Even though I didn't always say it, I knew sometimes I had thought it—that I didn't deserve this. There were times when I pitied myself because I was just an average girl from Earth and this was a crazy video game world. But the thing is, I _wasn't _a regular civilian anymore. There was no place for that kind of thinking now. I was _fortunate _compared to everyone else in this group, and I needed to stop taking that for granted.

"And even worse, I told you I trusted you, and then turned around and accused you of selling me out." I shook my head, running a hand through my hair. "If you're still pissed at me…I get it."

The room fell silent again. I was too afraid to look over at him, so I kept watching the fireplace, trying to distance myself from my emotions. The lump in my throat had gone away, but I was sure the slightest trigger would bring it back. It was so _hard, _waiting for a response.

Finally Zelos let out a sigh. "I can't believe you're _apologizing._"

I frowned. "Why wouldn't I?"

"Uh, maybe because you have nothing to apologize _for?"_ A small, humorless laugh. "This is messed up. I feel like a world-class bastard right now."

Now I had to look at him, my brow furrowing in confusion. He was smiling, but it was strained, without the usual cheer. "What are you talking about?"

Zelos averted his gaze. "I'm supposed to be the one apologizing. I mean, I'm not gonna lie; I meant some of the things I said. But who am I to talk? Everything that's wrong with _you _is wrong with _me, _too. And here's the best part—I'm worse."

He raked a hand through his hair. "No, that's not it. I was wrong about you. I don't think I could've thrown myself in front of Sheena like that."

"Zelos…"

He shook his head, still smiling, though now it had a bitter quality to it. "'Course, that's usually how it goes. The second you said you trusted me, I was waiting for it to fall through. I never had any intention of trusting you _back, _so what right did I have to get mad?"

"Hey—"

"I don't even know why I'm telling you this now. People aren't _supposed _to try to get close to me—not unless it's in bed, anyway. You weren't in keeping with the status quo, so I called you a whore and solved that little problem."

"Listen," I tried a third time, and Zelos finally fell silent and gave me his full attention. With those blue eyes focused on me, I blanked out for a second and lost what I was going to say. Then I just sighed, and tried to think of Colette—I needed to speak right from the heart.

"I'm not angry," I said earnestly. "Look, I _know _you're not a bad person."

He snorted skeptically.

"I'm serious!" I frowned deeply. "Zelos, I like you because you're _human._ We've both made mistakes. And you said it yourself—we're pretty alike in our flaws, too. I can relate to you better than anyone else here. Sometimes I feel like you're the only one who's ever on the same page as me. Maybe we're both just a little too cynical…or maybe everyone else is naïve. I don't know."

"I guess what I'm trying to say is…" I sighed and gave him an imploring look. "Can we just stop this and go back to being friends? This past week has been miserable."

Through my whole speech, Zelos had been staring at me hard, his brows drawn together. Then he rubbed the back of his neck, looking away. "Man…how the hell am I supposed to say no to that face? You're almost as cute as I am, my little spitfire."

It felt like a huge weight had lifted from my shoulders the second I heard _spitfire. _I realized that ever since our fight, he'd very rarely used the nickname. It was a term of affection. It meant that things might actually have a chance of being okay after all.

He smiled weakly. "I'm tired of the doom n' gloom, too. Everyone's so damn _angsty _around here. It's a real drag."

Finally, I managed to smile back. "Heh. I missed you, Zelos."

Then his expression sobered. "Look…I'm okay with going back to the way things were, but I still don't know if I can really trust you. I know I sound like a hypocrite because I don't think anyone trusts me either, but that's how it is."

My face fell. How could I have forgotten? Despite everything, there was still a _huge _barrier holding me back here. Zelos was on to me. He had been on to me for a while. And for me to really be his friend, trust was pretty freaking important. He knew I was hiding something—how could I just smile and lie to his face?

Fuck.

_Fuck!_

An old fear resurfaced, a churning in my stomach. I had told Kratos, but Kratos I could run away from; not only that, I knew it wouldn't benefit him in any way to tell Yggdrasill. Zelos was someone I couldn't avoid. I would have to answer his questions and deal with the repercussions of telling him—and worse yet, I _couldn't _predict his actions. He was the only person here that was immune to my foreknowledge, because of the multiple endings to the game. He might tell Yggdrasill or even Yuan if he decided not to side with this group in the end.

But if I just left things like this, not only would we never truly be friends, but he might _die. _The thought of Zelos actually dying, of having to fight him at the Tower…it made me sick.

He was watching me. I looked him in the eyes and hated that this journey had to involve so much pain. What the hell was I supposed to do?

_Maybe all you have to do is _show _that you trust him, and he'll understand._

…That was it. There was only one answer. Part of trusting someone…was leaving yourself completely vulnerable. I had to place my faith in him or I would never be able to truly reach him.

"I guess it's about time I fessed up, then," I finally said.

His eyes widened a little; then he seemed to compose himself. "Are you talking about what I think you're talking about?"

"I know why you can't trust me. I'm going to tell you why I couldn't trust _you, _okay?" I gave him a solemn look. "I'm going to trust you now, for real. If you tell anyone what I'm about to tell you, it could put me in some serious danger."

Now he was _very _interested. He looked like he wanted to ask a question, but then the gravity of my words seemed to settle on him. "…I'm dying to know, but are you sure you want to tell _me _this? Is being my friend really that worth it?"

"If it wasn't, I wouldn't even be talking to you," I said, frowning. "Listen up, because this is important. It's not really believable, but nothing about me is, anyway."

I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself, and then I met his gaze. Here goes. "Zelos…this whole thing—Sylvarant, Tethe'alla, Cruxis, _everything_—on Earth, it's just a fictional story. It's called Tales of Symphonia."

His eyebrows shot up. "What?"

"That's why I've been able to predict everything. Every time you challenged my convenient knowledge, you were right. I mean, haven't you wondered? Even if I was working for someone like the Renegades or Cruxis, there's no way I could've known some of the things I knew."

Zelos shook his head, floored. "Just…a fictional story. Some kind of fairy tale?"

I bit my lip. "It's…more complicated than that. But essentially, that's all it was to me when I first arrived on Sylvarant. I thought I was going crazy, that it was some kind of nightmare. Zelos, I knew who you were before I even met you. I knew we were going to meet you by bumping into you in the square in Meltokio. I knew the Papal Knights were spying on us in Sybak. That's why I tried to get Genis and Raine out of there before they were arrested."

Another deep breath. "…And Ozette, too. I knew Colette was going to be kidnapped."

"That's why you attacked Rodyle," Zelos murmured. "And Sheena?"

I shook my head. "It was Corrine who was going to die. He was supposed to jump in front of Sheena, not me."

"Holy crap," he breathed, shaking his head again. "You're actually _serious. _I think I might even believe you."

Then his back went ramrod straight, and he gave me a harder look. "Wait a minute. The reason why you couldn't trust me—"

"—is because I know you're a triple agent," I said in a much quieter tone. "And that's not a speculation—it's a fact. You set up the trap on Mt. Fooji, and you reported to Yuan while we were at the Renegade base. That's what happened in the story, anyway. It hasn't been wrong yet."

His eyes darkened and his brow furrowed. "…Why are you telling me this?" he asked in a flat tone.

"I'm explaining why I thought you had sold me out to Cruxis," I said.

"You think I didn't?"

"It doesn't matter to me if you did or didn't," I replied. "If you did, I forgive you. If you didn't, then I'm sorry for doubting you."

He seemed to mull this over for a few seconds. The darkness suddenly lifted from his expression, and he gave me another surprised look. "You knew this whole time. Why didn't you tell anyone?"

"The story's outcome can vary; you might side with us, and you might not in the end," I replied vaguely. "You're the only person here I really can't predict. And…I really want you to choose us." I paused, staring at my feet. "…I won't presume to know what it's been like, having to be the Chosen. I can't say I would've acted any differently if I were in your place. But I know we can stop Cruxis, and I want you to be there when we do. That's why I'm not going to tell anyone your secret…even if you choose to use that against me. I'm willing to take the risk."

Zelos shook his head slowly, raking a hand through his curls again. "…You're crazy. You know that, right?"

"Yeah, that's old news," I said dryly.

For once, he looked like he didn't know what to say to that. He was still giving me a look of disbelief.

"So you're basically okay with me running around behind everyone's backs. You're not even _mad._ And you're just gonna _let _me keep doing it?"

"I have faith that the guilt will overcome you eventually," I replied, chancing a smile. Inside I still felt intense apprehension. "Then you'll tell Yggdrasill to suck it."

He laughed, covering his face with one hand. "I don't get you at all. But…for what little it's worth…my lips are sealed. Okay?"

My smile became genuine, and I let out a tired sigh. There—it was out. It was done and I couldn't take any of it back. Now, finally, I could relax and let things unfold as they may.

"That's good," I said. "Now would be a bad time for you to start laughing maniacally."

That got him to grin. "Oh, admit it, spitfire. I could probably pull off a sexy evil laugh if I tried."

"Don't. You'll embarrass both of us," I replied, stifling laughter. Was he actually joking around with me? The relief was making me giddy.

"Your loss," he said, snorting. Then he leaned forward into my personal space, his eyes gaining a mischievous glint. "Hey, so since you know the future and all…am I gonna get laid tonight?"

A blush spread across my cheeks—wow, it had actually been a while since he'd gotten to me like this. I just rolled my eyes, forcing myself to ignore my hormones.

"Not with me, Casanova."

"Aw, c'mon! We had the heart-to-heart and everything!" He gave me a pouty look, but his eyes were full of mirth.

"Yeah, that was touching and all, but I think I'm going to go to bed," I replied, pretending to stifle a yawn when I was actually trying to hide my grin. "You should, too. To your _own _bed, I mean."

"That sounds so much less appealing," he said with a melodramatic sigh. "Well, I _guess _I could stand to get some actual sleep, if you insist."

"I know, I have some good ideas." I turned towards the doors, and then hesitated. Then I turned around again, facing him; he had stood up as well. "…What's the verdict, anyway? Friends?"

"Well…lemme think about it for a sec. I _think _we could be, but on one condition…"

I raised my eyebrows, curious. "What is it?"

He smirked. "We can't kiss and make up without a kiss, my little spitfire."

Now I rolled my eyes again, turning to leave. "Good night, Zelos."

"Come on! Don't leave me hanging! Just a kiss on the cheek, that's all! Harmless enough, right?"

A kiss on the cheek? I frowned, turning around again to see that Zelos was beaming at me. Oh, jeez…I couldn't believe I was actually thinking about this right now. But he was right…it was pretty harmless. A quick peck, that was all. I wasn't _that _much of a prude, was I?

I sighed, walking over to him. "All right, _fine. _If it'll shut you up."

Then I placed a hand on his shoulder, standing up on my tiptoes. I could already feel my cheeks turning pink; when was the last time I had been this close to a guy? Well, that answer was simple—never. Oh…oh crap, I could smell his cologne from here, and he smelled good.

I quickly pushed away those thoughts, annoyed with myself. Then I leaned in, closer, closer…

Zelos turned his head at the last second and pressed his lips to mine.

For a second I froze, but then I immediately jerked back, my eyes wide. _"Z-Zelos!"_

He was laughing, a completely shameless grin on his face. "Oldest trick in the book, and you fell for it! You're so _cute, _spitfire!"

My face was beet red by now. I couldn't believe…how the _hell…_he had just…I had just…

That was it, my brain was going to short-circuit. Zelos had just stolen my first kiss. The thieving bastard.

That just wasn't fair. I hadn't even seen it coming. And it probably wasn't anything serious for him, but I had kind of wanted it to mean something when I first kissed a guy, and—agh! Why was I thinking about this? Zelos was just getting more and more amused by the look on my face.

"Not friends," I declared.

His face fell. "What? Come on—really?"

"No. Mortal enemies." I scowled stubbornly at a spot above his head, only half-serious but wanting to broadcast my displeasure all the same.

"You don't mean that. You love me," he said, leaning forward to force himself in my line of vision.

"Good night, not-friend," I said, turning on my heel and trying to hide my blush.

"What? Spitfire! Was the kiss not good enough or something? I can make it up to you! Come back to my room! Come on—don't walk out! Hunnyyyy!"

Ignoring the sound of Zelos' whining, I walked out the door and headed for the stairs leading to my room. As I walked, I pressed a hand to my forehead, chuckling despite myself. This was the guy I had fought to be friends with, huh? Maybe I _was _a little crazy after all.

But I had to admit…even though he was obnoxious, even though he had his flaws…

It sure was good to have him back.

* * *

**A/N: Yeah, that was a lot to throw at you at once. I wrote almost the entire Zelos scene in one go, and you have NO IDEA how long I've been waiting to write it. I pretty much word-vomited on to the document. XD (or rainbow-vomit? whichever you prefer, durrhurr)**

**I haven't had a chance to proofread this more than once, so excuse any typos or grammatical errors. I'll try to go over it in the morning if I'm able to think clearly. XD**

**Well, then...I await your reviews. I'm anticipating some interesting reactions to this turn of events. XD**

**Oh gawd I'm ridiculously happy right now, I can finally write Zelos and OC Brit being obnoxious and annoying again...:'D **

**Next time: Moar summon spirits! Woooooo.**


	54. Burden of Truth

**A/N: HOLY CRAP I actually updated within two months! XD Hopefully I can pick up the damn pace so I can finish this story sometime before I die.**

**Happy early Thanksgiving everyone! And happy early twentieth birthday to me (holy crap)! My birthday's this Tuesday. :D AND THE COUNTDOWN TO TWENTY-ONE BEGINS.**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy the latest installment! :D **

**INCOMING: PURPLE TERROR! *cackles and runs away***

* * *

"For the sake of creating a place in which the two worlds no longer must sacrifice one another, I ask that thou grant me thy power!"

"Understood. Use my power well."

Celsius faded from view, leaving a ring in her wake. Sheena caught the faintly glowing object, putting it away. She heaved a sigh, rolling her shoulders a little. The summoner looked a little worse for wear; Celsius had been a lot quicker than Gnome, and it had been a tough battle.

Not that I had participated or anything. It looked like we were alternating; this time Regal and Presea had participated, with Zelos as the designated healer. They had worked pretty well together, though. Presea was a freaking beast; any time Celsius had paused to cast, she was prone to getting axed to death. It had actually reduced the amount of spells the summon had thrown around by a noticeable amount. I wouldn't want to risk Presea's wrath either.

Regal had almost singlehandedly taken care of Fenrir. Apparently kicking wolves in the face was his thing now. Seriously, that guy was badass on so many levels and he didn't even realize it.

And although Zelos had whined the whole way here about the cold and he clearly hadn't been keen on the idea of fighting, he had done well. Zelos' skill level never failed to surprise me; he may have led a pampered life in Meltokio, but the guy must've trained a ton. He moved with fluid grace, switching from fighting one minute to healing the next. He also seemed to throw in a Fireball whenever the others needed it.

I was envious as hell of that fighting style…he almost looked like he was dancing. I could never pull that off. Well, I had probably advanced past the whole flailing-my-sword-around stage, but I was pretty sure my way of fighting was anything but graceful. Maybe I should ask him to teach me a few tricks now that we were cool again…

…On second thought, that still sounded like an awful idea. He would be all too willing to teach me some tricks, but I was sure they had nothing to do with swordfighting. Dear god…

"Well, summon spirit number four down!" The man in question grinned, walking past us. "Not bad at all!"

Sheena rubbed her forehead. "You were complaining the _entire _way here. Now everything's great?"

He shrugged. "It's over, right? And hey, I was cold before but all that fighting warmed me right up!" Then he sidled up to me, throwing an arm around my shoulders. "You cold, my little spitfire? I know another thing we could do that'd warm _you _up…"

My cheeks turned pink immediately and I turned my head to glare at him in reply.

Zelos was unfazed. He just flashed that infuriating grin again. "Oh, too late. You're looking pretty warm already."

Lloyd gave the redhead a strange look. "What're you going on about?"

"I'll tell you when you're older, Bud."

"Hey! …My name's not Bud."

"We should get moving," Raine cut in. "Night falls early this time of year."

"Agreed!" I piped up immediately, untangling myself from Zelos and marching to the front of the group. I heard him heave a drawn out, overly pathetic sigh, but I refused to pity him.

We hadn't really spoken about our little episode last night (I cut him off every time he tried to bring it up), but for the most part now things were back to normal. Aside from the fact that I was trying my hardest to forget he had kissed me—and failing miserably. Dammit! Stop thinking about it!

The group seemed to share a collective shrug before following my lead. We made our way out of the seal chamber and into the cavernous passageways of the temple.

Today had been interesting, to say the least. It felt like we had spent the whole morning going back and forth between the temple and Flanoir. Unfortunately the Penguinist Gloves weren't just an in-game thing; we really did have to go out and attack a bunch of monsters for the quills. We needed the gloves to clear out a crazy amount of Celsius' Tears that were blocking the entrance to the temple, since no magic spell other than Efreet's could melt the flowers.

In other words, it had been a pain in the ass. The temple itself hadn't been too bad, though. The frigid temperatures were really the worst part. And the fact that I had slipped and fallen on my ass a few times.

"What's our plan next, Sheena?" Colette asked, breaking me out of my thoughts.

"Well, I guess we should do the Temple of Darkness next," the ninja replied. "We can rest up in Flanoir and head out tomorrow. It shouldn't take more than two days to get there."

"And then it's back to Sylvarant…" Genis frowned.

Noticing this, Presea tilted her head inquisitively. "Do you not miss your home world, Genis?"

He jumped a little, immediately blushing. "A-Ah—no, that's not it! It's just—um, i-it feels strange to go back after all this time, that's all!"

"Come to think of it, it is kinda weird," Lloyd remarked. "I mean, we've been in Tethe'alla for two months already. I was starting to get used to it." Then he grinned a little. "I'll be happy to see Dad and Noishe again, though."

"Yeah! I can't wait to see Father and Grandmother!" Colette smiled happily.

"Sylvarant, eh…" Zelos tapped his chin lightly. "You guys don't live in caves or anything, right?"

"They're not _that _primitive, you idiot," Sheena muttered.

"Just checking! C'mon, it's not like you knew what to expect when you first went over there!"

"It should be interesting to see how the two worlds differ," Regal said thoughtfully.

I stayed quiet, because I had mixed feelings about returning to the other world. Part of me was excited for something familiar, and because I wanted to see how Lucian and the people of Luin were doing. Then another part of me was dreading it because Sylvarant meant Desians. It had been so long since our battles in the Asgard ranch…but that didn't mean I was completely over it. My knowledge of the Desians was a little more intimate than just meeting them in battle.

I really didn't want to infiltrate Rodyle's ranch…

Well, what I wanted no longer mattered at this point. I knew it was going to happen sooner or later and there was no way I was getting out of it. Better to keep my mouth shut and keep moving forward. It had kept me alive up until this point.

Eventually we made it out of the temple and got on our Rheairds, making the short trip back to the snowy city. The sun was just sinking under the horizon as we landed on the outskirts. We made the trek back to the inn, shedding our many layers of clothing and preparing to eat dinner and hunker down for the night.

* * *

Once again, I found myself in the inn's living room, sitting by the fire with a blanket wrapped around my shoulders. Yeah, this had to be one of my favorite spots. Any place with a hearth was amazing.

"Here you go!"

"I love you, Colette." Grinning, I reached up to take the steaming mug of hot chocolate she was holding out to me. It smelled heavenly, and she'd even put marshmallows in it.

"Thanks! I love you too!" She smiled back. "Oh, but Genis made this. Maybe you should thank him?"

"I love you Genis!" I called to the mage, who had just walked in the room with his own mug.

He rolled his eyes. "You're weird."

"Ouch. Pretty cold," Zelos remarked with a snort. He was lounging on an armchair immediately to my right. "By the way, squirt, don't I get one?"

Genis made a face at Zelos, taking a seat next to Colette. "There's more in the kitchen. Get it yourself."

"Nah, it's okay. I brought some extra." Lloyd joined us, holding a mug out to Zelos.

The redhead's face lit up. "Buuuud! You're the best!"

"H-Hey! Cut it out, you're gonna spill it!"

Raising an eyebrow, I quickly turned my head to see just what Zelos was doing to Lloyd. All I saw was Lloyd walking away from the redhead with an annoyed look on his face; he quickly plopped down next to Genis and Colette. Zelos was grinning playfully. Okay…maybe I didn't want to know.

"What's the matter, spitfire?" Zelos had turned his grin on me.

"Nothing at all," I replied, snorting and shaking my head. I turned and went back to enjoying my drink.

After everything that had gone on earlier today, this was definitely nice. Genis had whipped up some amazing homemade hot chocolate after dinner, and it felt good to just chill out by the fire and forget about the fact that we were heading to yet another temple tomorrow. I didn't know where everyone else was, but our little gathering was gradually gaining members.

"You know, it's not really fair that you guys get to cozy up on the couch and spitfire has to sit on the floor," Zelos piped up, giving the three childhood friends a pointed stare.

Lloyd frowned and opened his mouth to reply, but the red haired Chosen didn't give him the chance.

"I know! Hunny, why don't you sit on my lap?"

I gave him a deadpan stare. How had I not seen that one coming?

After a second or two, I laughed and forced a smile. "Okay!"

Zelos faltered visibly. "Huh? Really?"

I dropped the façade. "No."

"Aww, hunnyyyy! Don't get my hopes up like that!"

"Maybe you shouldn't set yourself up for disappointment, Zelly. Drink your hot chocolate, it's getting cold."

He gave me a wounded look but obeyed nonetheless. Despite my embarrassment at his suggestion, I had a hard time not bursting out into laughter. Even Zelos' lips quirked like he wanted to grin, but was too busy keeping up the kicked-puppy act.

Genis was frowning. "What's up with you guys? I thought you were mad at each other."

"Yeah, I've been wondering the same thing," Lloyd said, looking between the two of us. "You had a fight, right?"

"Did you make up?" Colette looked excited.

"Hmmm?" Zelos tilted his head, smirking. "I don't know what you're talking about. A fight? Me and spitfire? Don't be silly."

Lloyd's brow furrowed. "But you said—hey, Brit, weren't you—?"

I caught on to Zelos' game and grinned. "Are you sure you're remembering things correctly, Lloyd? Zelos and I could never fight. We're too busy being awesome."

"Spitfire's too cute! And who could stay mad at this face, anyway?" Zelos pointed at himself.

The brunet's confused look had changed to one of mild exasperation. "…You guys are full of it."

"If by 'it' you mean dashing good looks, then yes," I replied happily.

"Make them stop," Genis said, facepalming.

Colette, of course, had broken out into a fit of giggles, nearly spilling her hot chocolate in the process. Zelos and I exchanged a glance and started to laugh as well. Yeah, life wasn't so bad nowadays.

* * *

As always, the moment of peace came to an end. Raine and the rest of Team Tethe'alla joined in eventually, but as the night wore on people started going to bed one by one. It was still a little early for me, so I decided to head out and take a walk around the city. The idea was more appealing now that I had an actual warm winter coat to wear.

There was also another thing weighing on my mind, though it really was petty compared to the rest of the issues we had to deal with. Still, though…it was October twenty-fifth. Just a little over a week until Zelos' birthday, which was on the third of November. What do you get for a guy who's already filthy rich, anyway?

I wanted some alone time so I could start thinking about it now. It'd be all too easy to forget about it later with everything that was going on. I refused to forget about Zelos' birthday! Now that we were getting along again I was even more determined to surprise him with something.

What to get him, though? It was kind of a dilemma, especially considering I didn't have all that much money stashed away.

I walked through the streets of the city, passing by a few shops. Most of them were starting to close down for the night, but I did pause to take a look at a few of the window displays. There wasn't really anything interesting; maybe Flanoir wasn't the best place to get Zelos' gift anyway. Maybe Meltokio? We'd have to stop by there to get that candle thing for the darkness temple, right?

Meltokio would be ridiculously expensive though…hmm. There had to be something I could do.

Oh, well…I'd figure something out, hopefully. I still didn't even know where we'd be when his birthday came around. Two days to reach the Temple of Darkness…then probably another one or two to get to Sylvarant…okay, so we'd probably be at one of the seals in Sylvarant. Maybe? I was a little fuzzy on the order of events as far as the seals went.

Before I knew it, I had passed all of the shops and houses, coming to a pause at the edge of town. There was nothing beyond the town walls other than endless tundra—

Hold on a second. I walked over to the northern gate, pushing through the doors and moving to stand on the path outside. The stars out here were absolutely amazing, but that wasn't what had caught my attention. Dominating the sky were strikingly beautiful blue-green waves of light, undulating softly. Aurora borealis.

I was completely amazed. Never in my life had I been far enough north to see the phenomenon, and I had completely forgotten that it might exist in this world as well.

I walked forward just far enough to get away from any light pollution from the city, and then stopped to watch the light show. The light shifted gradually from blue-green to a bright shade of pink. Man, who was still awake? I had to show somebody—this was crazy!

"You shouldn't wander too far from town."

The new voice startled me out of my thoughts, and I turned.

"Kratos? Where did you come from? What're you doing here?"

"…Hmph." The seraph came to stand beside me, his gaze focused on the aurora overhead.

After a second I managed to gather my bearings, and I watched the sky once more. "Heh. I get it. You're a sucker for this kind of thing."

"Hm." His reply was insufficient as usual. "Do you know what causes auroras?"

"Well…" I paused to think. "It's something to do with the sun's interaction with the atmosphere, right?"

"On Earth, perhaps," he said, crossing his arms. "Here it has more to do with the influence of the summon spirits. Shifts in power often manifest as natural phenomenon. In this case, it is because of the new pact that was formed today."

I was tempted to call him a stalker, but held back in favor of continuing the conversation. This was too interesting. "Shifts in power, huh? Wait—is this like the earthquakes, then?"

"Precisely."

"What's next, is it gonna rain frogs or something?"

He pinned me with a glare. "This is not a joking matter. We have much to discuss, Brittany."

I flinched a little. Holy crap, he meant business. Kratos had approached _me _for once and he actually wanted to talk? There was no way this could be a good thing. Too late to run away, though.

Now I turned, forcing myself to meet his gaze. He was decked out in the usual Cruxis garb, Flamberge sheathed at his waist. It was still weird seeing him like this after all that had happened. It felt like just yesterday that Lloyd and I had trained together with him. I missed that old camaraderie…things were so different now.

But there were no secrets anymore. I could be genuine with Kratos, the same way I was genuine with Zelos.

"What exactly did you want to discuss?" I sobered, shoving my hands in my pockets.

"What you're doing is not the solution that will save the two worlds. Surely you must know this," he replied.

"We still need the pacts in order to defeat Yggdrasill," I said, frowning. "I'd be freaking out if things weren't going the way they're supposed to, so why are you worried?"

His eyes narrowed. "The predetermined path…you allowed the attack on Luin. You allowed Colette to lose her soul. This path is not without loss. What else must we sacrifice in order to reach the ultimate goal?"

It felt like I had been slapped. That…that hurt to hear. His voice wasn't accusatory, but still…

"Who the hell are you to talk?" I snapped before I could stop myself, trying to hide how much his words had stung. "Sacrifice…how many Chosens have you sacrificed in the name of Mithos' ideals?"

Kratos turned, his eyes drawn to the sky once more. "…I am not claiming that I have made better decisions in the past. That is why I know better than anyone what a destructive path you're heading down."

I would never have expected fatalist Kratos to say something like that. I would think he'd be of the mind to follow the plot exactly at any cost, as long as it ended in our victory against Yggdrasill.

"What're you saying?" I shook my head, surprised.

"Not only do the mana links control the flow of mana between the worlds, they also keep the Great Seed's power contained," Kratos said, looking just a little bit impatient. "Severing them…this is unprecedented. Not something to be done so lightly."

"There'll be a solution," I told him, crossing my arms.

"At what cost?" he pressed.

I faltered, falling into a thoughtful silence. The Great Seed going completely out of control, causing destruction throughout the worlds…in a realistic setting, there was really no telling how much damage would be caused. But I knew for sure about Palmacosta…Sylvarant's largest city. It would be completely destroyed…

"…I see." Kratos closed his eyes, understanding my lack of a response. "I will search for another way. But know that should it come down to the final pact, I will do everything in my power to stop you."

"Kratos…"

"You alone know the consequences we face. I realize what you must be thinking, but understand that this does not end with defeating Mithos, and not every damage can be repaired should we gain access to the Eternal Sword."

I lowered my gaze, sighing. "I…I know what you're saying. It's not like I haven't tried to change anything. The last two times, I almost got myself killed."

"Rodyle," he said.

I nodded. "That's one of them. I was just trying to stop Colette from getting kidnapped and I ended up with an axe in my side."

"An impulsive decision. You must always consider your surroundings carefully before making such a move; your foreknowledge does not make you an exception to the rule. You dropped your guard and you paid for it." Now he sounded like the stern teacher I remembered. "Impulsive decisions are precisely what I am trying to avoid. What Lloyd and the others are doing is rash."

He looked over at me. "Had you thought out your move against Rodyle more thoroughly, you may have succeeded in killing him. In the same way, we may be able to avoid complications if we take the time to gain a greater understanding of the situation."

Ugh…I couldn't possibly stand a chance against that infallible logic. But still, nothing was set in stone. What if we only made things worse?

"Your group will not trust any warnings I give; that is why I came to you. Work with me or work against me. The choice is yours."

I bit my lip. "…Give me some time to think it over."

After a pause, Kratos nodded. "Very well. I will await your decision."

Surprisingly enough, he didn't turn to leave after that. I began to wonder just what else was on his list of things we had to discuss. All uncomfortable topics for me, probably.

"Um, by the way…" Might as well get a few things out while I was here, then.

He inclined his head in acknowledgement, so I continued.

"I've been meaning to say thank you. You know, for saving me back on Welgaia. I've also been meaning to give you a hug, but I think I'm chickening out. So just imagine me giving you a hug, okay? That should be sufficiently disturbing."

Kratos cocked an eyebrow, but seemed to let my comment slide. "This isn't over yet. Yggdrasill has every intention of using you; don't forget that."

"What is he trying to do?" I asked, frowning. "Is he really going to use Earth to create a more powerful breed of angels?"

"Not only are you capable of producing a more powerful Cruxis Crystal, you are also able to produce one much more quickly as your body can supply a larger amount of mana without growing weak. If you were to be recaptured, I expect the crystal would be completed within a month," Kratos explained stiffly. "You are the key to the Age of Lifeless Beings. Should your crystal be a success, then yes…Earth will become nothing more than a human ranch."

The thought of that horrified and disgusted me beyond words. "That's—!"

"According to Cruxis' calculations, about five percent of Earth's population possesses the correct biological makeup to be ideal host bodies. With nearly three hundred fifty million eligible participants, it would take less than a year to create enough Cruxis Crystals to supply the population of Sylvarant and Tethe'alla."

"So that's it, huh…" I shook my head, running a hand through my hair. "But won't the world die anyway if Martel is resurrected? She'll absorb the Great Seed."

"Earth will not die. It is my understanding that Mithos intends to use Earth in some way to preserve the worlds," Kratos said.

"Of course," I muttered. "Well, this is great. If I screw up I might not even have a home to return to."

"Hmph…it only means you have just as much at stake as the rest of us."

"Sorry," I said with a sigh. "That was a stupid thing to say. I know, I'm not the only one who has problems here."

Overhead, the aurora began to fade a bit. How long had we been standing out here? It had to be getting pretty late. The lights of the city behind us had gradually begun to go out; now the only illumination I could see was the occasional street lamp.

"Regardless…I advise you to be careful. You cannot stand alone against Cruxis, and I won't be able to risk a second rescue attempt."

"…Yeah," I replied quietly. I had to wonder if this would affect Cruxis' actions…would they make any unexpected attempts to capture me? What about when we had to go to Derris-Kharlan for the mana fragment?

Finally, Kratos turned away. "That is all I can tell you for now. We've been out here for too long as it is; the others may have noticed your absence already."

He paused, seeming to think for a moment. "…As for your foreknowledge…I don't know how much you know of my past, but I would prefer you keep it to yourself."

What did he—oh. So that's what he had been so worried about the last time we met.

"I think you're stupid for not telling him, but that's none of my business," I said, looking away. "Your secret's safe with me, Kratos."

"…I see." He took a step away, his wings appearing in a flash of light. "I'll take my leave, then."

"One more thing!" I called, remembering something.

He faltered, giving me an impatient look. "Yes?"

"Yggdrasill's going to send Pronyma to keep tabs on you. Be careful, okay?"

After a pause, he nodded. "Thank you for the warning. I will be on guard."

A circle of light had begun to glow at his feet. With those last few words, he vanished in a burst of iridescent blue feathers and Angelic magic. I was alone once more.

I took in a deep breath, letting it out slowly as I gazed up at the sky. The aurora had faded completely, allowing a brilliant expanse of stars to show through. Suddenly I shivered; it really was cold out here. Maybe I should be getting back. The thought of a warm bed really was inviting right about now.

Having reached a decision, I turned back towards town and began to walk.

Kratos…I had dumped a lot on his plate last time, and it looked like now he was getting revenge for that. There was so much to consider out of what he'd told me. Where to start?

Yggdrasill's goals didn't surprise me in the least, but that didn't mean I wasn't upset at hearing about them. It was pretty nerve-wracking to think about just how much was at stake here. As far as I knew, everyone on Earth was oblivious…and even if I could warn them, would they believe me? What could they do against the might of Cruxis and the Eternal Sword? Even with Earth's advanced weaponry, they wouldn't get very far.

And even worse…only five percent of the population was eligible to be turned into Cruxis Crystals. What about the other six billion people? Would they be turned into angels? Or…would they just be slaughtered? God…just thinking about it made me sick. Earth wasn't perfect, but it was _home._

If we lost, I was going to lose everything. There would be no second chances.

Knowing that made it tempting to just stick to the plot and ensure victory. But what Kratos had said…he had a point. Was it all really worth sacrificing the entire town of Palmacosta? There had to be another way. If I started pulling that "sacrifice for the greater good" bullshit, then I'd be no different than Mithos himself. I had saved Corrine, hadn't I? Changing things wasn't impossible. I just had to put in the effort.

I passed through the city's gate, heading down the cobblestone street in the direction of the inn. Well, I'd think of something. Maybe I'd have more ideas after a good night's sleep. In any case, I'd have to come up with an answer to give Kratos before he approached me again.

"So, hunny, what was all that about?"

"Holy shi—Zelos?!" I pressed a hand to my chest, catching myself mid-gasp. "Don't _do _that. Almost gave me a heart attack…"

"My bad," he said, smiling shamelessly. "I didn't mean to sneak up on you."

"Yeah, well…" I rubbed the back of my neck. Then I tensed a little, remembering what he'd said. "You saw that?"

"It's not safe to wander around by yourself, y'know?" His smile thinned a little. "I thought I'd catch up and keep you company. So what's the deal with Kratos? I saw you guys talking back in Ozette, too. Wanna let me in on the fun?"

"Back in—" I blinked, surprised. "That was the day we got into that argument…hey, was that part of the reason…?"

The redhead tilted his head. "You have to admit it looks pretty bad."

I sighed. "I know, I know. Look, um…you see, the deal with Kratos is…" Now I shifted uncomfortably, looking away.

Zelos got the message. "…You told him, didn't you?"

"Maybe. I might've. Back in Ozette…"

"Oh, man…" Zelos put a palm to his forehead. "Brittany, I just don't get you. You finally decide to spill the beans, and then you go and tell the two _least _trustworthy people you know? What's up with that?"

"Kratos had me mostly figured out anyway," I mumbled. "Besides, I already know he's ultimately going to side with us. He's not going to tell Cruxis about me."

"You really want to bet on that?" Zelos frowned.

"He saved me back on Welgaia," I said, meeting his eyes. "The story I told was a lie. Kratos got me out of that cell and gave me this sword. That has to count for something, right?"

"Are you serious?" The Chosen gave me a surprised look. Then his eyes darkened a little and he averted his gaze. "…So he rescued you. Huh."

"Zelos?"

He looked up at me again, his eyes bright with barely concealed anger. "That guy really pisses me off. All he ever does is jerk people around—and he acts so damn high and mighty, like he doesn't care either way. I still don't think you should trust him. But…" Now he let out a short huff, running a hand through his hair. "Well, you probably know him better than I do. Just…be careful. If you keep throwing your trust around like this, you're going to get hurt."

I watched him for a second or two, bemused. Now he wouldn't meet my gaze, clearly aggravated with the situation. It was strange, because I _wasn't _the type to trust people easily. I knew Kratos' motivations well—now that he had Lloyd, he'd never risk ruining his son's future by intentionally giving Cruxis the upper hand. He wasn't a bad guy; what did he stand to gain by betraying me?

Honestly, trusting Zelos had been more of a stretch. Most of the time I would never put my faith in someone so easily. Zelos had been the exception to the rule because…well…the thought of losing him scared me.

Was he mad because I trusted Kratos? That was part of it, but…

My cheeks turned a little pink. _It's not safe to wander around by yourself, y'know? I thought I'd catch up and keep you company._

"Uh…thanks for looking out for me, Zelos. I…I didn't mean to worry you."

"Hmm?" He raised his eyebrows, taken aback. The anger faded from his expression and he stared at me for a moment, unreadable. Then he just offered a grin. "Oh, that's fine. Know how you can make it up to me?"

I nearly groaned. "I'm not kissing you."

"Worth a shot, anyway." He snorted, snaking an arm around my waist regardless. "Well, come on, then. If we don't get back soon, Sheena will get the wrong idea and beat me up."

I snickered at the thought, starting to walk alongside him. It was strange…had we really only made up last night? I could remember walking next to him just like this, but the atmosphere now was a complete one-eighty compared to what it had been like yesterday. Being around him wasn't borderline painful anymore. It was actually kind of…

"Wait, why am I letting you do this?" I blushed, immediately grabbing his hand and pulling it from where it was resting on my waist.

"Wha—hunnyyy!" Zelos whined. "Body heat! I'm just trying to keep you warm, see? Don't walk all the way over there! You're gonna freeze to death!"

"I think I'll be okay," I replied, rolling my eyes.

"Well, that's no fun at all," the redhead said with a sigh.

We walked for a minute, passing by all of the shops that I'd been looking in earlier. They were all closed down for the night, the display windows darkened. Right, right…I still had to get a birthday present for this jackass. I couldn't exactly ask him what he wanted either, because then he'd probably ask me to pop out of his cake.

"What'd he want, anyway?"

"Huh?" It took me a second to catch on to his meaning. "Oh, Kratos? He doesn't like what we're doing with the pacts. I think he was looking for answers since I know what's going to happen."

"And?" Zelos cocked an eyebrow.

"Well—"

"Hey, guys!"

The sound of Lloyd's voice cut me off, and I dropped the subject immediately. I looked up, seeing the teen running towards us. We were just reaching the inn.

"I've been looking everywhere for you! Did you guys see the aurora? It was so cool!" He grinned excitedly. "I watched it on the roof of the inn with Colette. Where were you two?"

"Watching on the north end of town," Zelos lied easily, smiling. "There was a good view from out there, so we got nice and cozy. What about you, Bud? Finally putting the moves on Colette?"

"Wh-What's that supposed to mean?" Lloyd faltered, his cheeks turning a little pink.

"'Nice and cozy?'" I repeated his phrase, giving him a look.

"Hey, hey, don't get mad!" Zelos laughed, slinging an arm around both of our shoulders and dragging us along. "I'm just trying to help. C'mon, Lloyd, you've gotta dig at least one chick out of this group, right?"

"Uh…"

"If it's spitfire, just wink. I promise not to tell."

"Give me a break," I muttered.

Lloyd actually looked thoughtful for a moment, his previous excitement gone. "Well…I had a crush on Professor Sage when I was a kid, does that count?"

"Huh?" Zelos' eyebrows flew up. Then his lips curled in a huge Cheshire cat grin. "_Ohhhhh!_ I see how it is. Lloyd likes the older ladies, eh? Never would've guessed!"

"I—Hey! I said when I was a—"

"Don't worry, Bud. I got you covered. Anytime you need advice on attracting older women, just ask your old pal Zelos! Our bewitching Professor might be a tough catch, but it's all about the thrill of the chase, am I right?"

Lloyd just deadpanned. It was an expression that so seldom appeared on the teenager's face, I had to fight very hard not to burst out into laughter. Not only that, the thought of Lloyd attempting to hit on Raine was just _so _wrong. Zelos was fully aware of this and just plowed on ahead regardless.

Jesus. He was really good—not only had he changed the subject completely when Lloyd had asked us where we'd been, he had also turned it around and made Lloyd uncomfortable enough to forget about the previous topic altogether. He always brushed off the wrong questions so easily, it was kind of scary.

"What about you, spitfire? There must be someone you've got your eye on! C'mon, you can tell me."

I rolled my eyes. "Sheena, obviously."

Lloyd gave me a weird look. Zelos' eyes widened and he stared at me intently for a moment, looking completely serious.

"I support you one hundred percent, spitfire. Go for it." Then he grinned. "Excessive PDA is encouraged!"

There was a gagging noise from up above, and I looked up to see Sheena poking her head out from the inn's second story window, giving us a look of distaste.

"That's disgusting. Will you guys go to bed already? I can hear you, you know."

"Uh…yeah…" Lloyd rubbed the back of his neck, looking sufficiently disturbed.

"Go, hunny!" Zelos pushed me gleefully towards the door to the inn. "Great things await you!"

"You're taking this a little too far…" I muttered, rolling my eyes again. Regardless, I knew a good escape opportunity when I saw one. I made my way back into the inn, leaving Lloyd to fend for himself.

Eh, he'd be fine.

* * *

The next morning flew by. We ate breakfast with the other patrons of the inn, and then quickly packed up our supplies before heading out. After walking about a mile into the tundra, we got on our Rheairds and took to the air. Thankfully, we only had to endure about an hour and a half of the cold before the temperature began to rise. I was definitely not going to miss that frigid weather, that was for sure. Hopefully winter here wouldn't be quite as bad as the constant winter on the northern continent.

I ended up riding with Lloyd again, since he was practically the only person I felt comfortable clinging to for dear life when we were that high up in the air. Or maybe it was because he was the only one who was used to my weirdness. Whatever. Zelos had made a few cracks at trying to get Sheena and I to ride together, but I had ignored him. That didn't stop Sheena from giving me a dismayed "look what you've started" look. Hey, it was still less embarrassing than his jokes about me and Lloyd!

Anyway…we were headed, of course, for the Temple of Darkness. I couldn't say I was looking forward to it—hopefully it wouldn't be as creepy as the Tower of Mana—but at the same time, I wasn't dreading it either. At least it meant we'd get to make a pit stop in Meltokio to get that Blue Candle thing. Any excuse to go to Meltokio and relax in Zelos' awesome mansion was fine with me! Though the inn back in Flanoir had been pretty nice, too.

I smiled, keeping a firm grip on Lloyd as I watched the world fly by. All I had to think about was that lovely supply of coffee Zelos had stashed in his kitchen, and everything became tolerable.

A sudden flash cut off my train of thought. A few seconds later an enormous crack of thunder rocked me to the core, and everyone visibly flinched. Our Rheaird jerked a little and I clung to Lloyd, gasping.

"What was that?!" Sheena looked around, her eyes wide.

Everyone slowed down so we could hear each other over the wind, and the others exchanged concerned glances. Presea's eyes were glued to the distance. A plume of smoke was rising from a point ahead of us.

"That's…the direction of Ozette…" she said.

That was when it hit me.

Oh my god. Already?! But…no, no! How could we be that far already?

I frantically tried to sort through my vague mental list of game events, and was dismayed to find that we were right on track. I had been so busy trying to figure out the order of the summon spirit pacts and going to Sylvarant and all that…I had completely forgotten that this was when we'd have to meet _him._

"What could it be?" Genis shook his head, pale. "There's a staggering amount of mana flowing from that lightning…it's not natural."

"I have a bad feeling about this," Raine murmured.

"Oh, no…I hope the villagers are okay," Colette said, looking anxiously at the smoke.

Lloyd sped up, pushing to the front of the group. He looked over his shoulder at the others. "Let's go!"

"Yes." Regal nodded, grim.

And so Lloyd and I ended up leading the way, and everyone else followed suit. It was the first time I had really wished I could've ridden with someone else.

* * *

"This is awful…"

Colette's words summed up the situation. We had returned the Rheairds to the Wing Pack, making our way slowly into the village. Everything was on fire. Clouds of acrid smoke made it difficult to breathe, burning my eyes. The streets were littered with charred bodies. I hadn't seen something this graphic since Luin…

My gut twisted with revulsion. I put a hand to my forehead and shook my head, feeling sick. All of this death…for what? What justification could there possibly be? It was all so meaningless…

"Home…" I heard Presea whisper, and turned to look at her.

The flames of Ozette were reflected in her eyes. Her face was blank, but for the first time it was not for lack of feeling. The look in her eyes said it all; she was in pain, but the shock had numbed her. Cruxis had truly taken everything from her…

"What happened here?!" Lloyd dealt with the horror by immediately getting ready to take action. He was tense, agitated. His hands hovered close to his swords as if to cut down whatever had caused this mess.

"…We should search for survivors," Regal said.

"Agreed," Raine replied quietly. "There's little else we can do for the village itself."

Sheena took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "Right. If we split up, we should be able to cover more ground."

Lloyd nodded, his eyes narrowed. "Zelos!"

The redhead looked surprised, but he was quick to return the nod. "You got it."

With that, the two took off into the flames before anyone could get a word in edgewise. Sheena sighed, shaking her head.

"I'll make sure they don't do anything stupid." She turned to go, but then paused to look over her shoulder at us. "The area near Presea's house is lower to the ground and sheltered from the wind. Should we meet up there?"

"That should work. Let's meet in thirty minutes," Raine replied. "Be careful."

"You too." She didn't waste any time after that. Within half a second, Sheena had vanished deeper into the village.

Those of us that remained turned to each other. Presea was staring at the ground, one hand pressed softly to her chest.

"I…I'm sorry. This is difficult for me…" she said quietly. "Would it be all right if I waited in our meeting place?"

Raine's eyes softened. "I understand…but I'm not sure if it would be safe—"

"I'll stay with her." Genis cut in before his sister could finish. For the first time, he wasn't blushing awkwardly; when he looked up, I could see that the expression on his face was resolute.

The elder Sage sighed. "All right."

The two walked off, leaving four of our group left. Colette was staring worriedly towards the western end of town, where the flames were higher in intensity.

"I'd like to check over there," she said, giving the Professor a pleading look. "I met some of the shopkeepers when Brittany and I went to get supplies. One of them had young children…"

Raine nodded, looking over at me. "I'll go with Colette. Will you and Regal be all right?"

Feeling numb, I found myself bobbing my head up and down without really registering it. "Yeah. That's fine."

"It looks like Lloyd and the others have headed for the center of town," Regal offered. "We will take the eastern end."

"Be careful," Professor Sage repeated, and then she and Colette had gone too.

And somehow, within the space of two minutes, everyone had dispersed. I was left alone with Regal and a host of incredibly conflicting thoughts. What the hell was I supposed to do? I wasn't ready for this. I wasn't…

A large hand on my shoulder halted my thoughts. I looked up to see Regal regarding me with a solemn expression. Then he turned his gaze to the burning village.

"Be strong."

My breath caught in my throat. I had to pause, swallowing with some difficulty. He had no idea how much I needed those words right now.

Though Regal was clearly affected by our surroundings, he still stood tall and unwavering beside me. I straightened, steeling my resolve. He was the rock that I was going to have to cling to. That was okay, as long as I got through this and kept it together.

"All right, I'm ready. Let's go."

Regal nodded and we ran deeper into the village.

* * *

**A/N: Bawwww, not quite at Mithos yet! Must have some buildup (and probably Regal bonding) first! XD**

**Hope you guys didn't mind the little timeskip at the beginning. Honestly, I don't think the Temple of Ice had anything all that interesting to offer. Writing the Temple of Earth was painful enough, dear god. I really don't want to repeat that a billion times, it's just going to bore all of us. I doubt I'll skip through every temple like that, but I'll try to switch things up so it isn't monotonous.**

**So much interaction in this chapter. o_o Oops. I didn't get all that much done, did I? I blame Kratos, he's so distracting. XD seriously though, there's just too much that OC Brit could talk about with either Kratos or Zelos. They've both got about 39454084 unanswered questions, but I honestly can't cover the important ones in the space of one conversation (or one chapter, really). **

**Well, next chapter will have Mithos and stuff, so look forward to that. It's not going to be uncomfortable_ at all_ for OC Brit, hurrhurr. This will be an interesting group dynamic to be sure.**

**Give me birthday presents in the form of reviews? :D I'm getting old, I need loooove! Please gift wrap said reviews in pretty colors 8D**

**...clearly I need sleep. XDDDD Okay, shutting up now.**

**Next time: Meeting Mithos; the Otherworldly Gate.**


	55. Mithos

**A/N: DONE DONE FINALLY DONE**

**My early Christmas present to you! Happy NR update! XD It's actually a long one too!**

**Anyway, I really don't have much to say. Enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

The longer we spent making our way through the burning rubble that was Ozette, the angrier and more disgusted I became. The feelings helped to keep the fear at bay, but I could still sense it beneath everything else.

There were no survivors; Cruxis had made sure of it. I could see that even without using my prior knowledge. The devastation was just too great; all of the houses were either collapsed or thoroughly burning, and anyone who hadn't died immediately had surely done so by now. Even the moss beneath my feet was charred.

I just…I couldn't believe this. There was nothing I could've done to prevent it, but still…I had completely underestimated what the extent of the damage would be. All of this, and for what? Retaliation for curing Presea? Vengeance against the intolerant townsfolk? Getting Mithos in our party? So many lives lost for such petty reasons.

After about fifteen minutes, Regal and I exchanged a glance and shook our heads.

"I'm afraid this is a lost cause," the convict said, downcast. "The flames are far too intense to consider entering any of the houses, and I don't see any movement around us…"

"Yeah, I've come to the same conclusion," I replied quietly.

The sky overhead was blocked completely by dismal black clouds. Thunder rumbled ominously in the distance.

"I believe we've covered our end of town," Regal said. "It's too dangerous to speak here. Let's make our way back to the rendezvous point."

I nodded, fighting back a cough. At this point I was all too happy to get out of there; the thick smoke was starting to become suffocating. Any longer and I was going to start feeling woozy.

Regal led the way, finding safe routes through the flames as I did my best to keep pace with him. There were a few instances where we had to throw up our respective shields to break through a wall of fire, but thankfully we emerged from it unharmed. The flames seemed to die down the further east we moved; after a point, it became much easier to breathe.

"I wonder…" the man murmured quietly as we slowed our pace. "What could have caused this? That lightning we saw was quite unnatural…"

I had to resist the urge to stare at my feet, miserable. What could I even say at this point? I felt completely useless. There had been nothing I could do to prevent this, and now there was nothing I could do to help. On top of all that, I couldn't do anything to stop Mithos from joining without blowing my cover and compromising everyone else's safety.

"The likelihood of a single lightning strike decimating an entire village is pretty slim," I replied in a flat voice. "No survivors at all? This was premeditated."

Regal halted mid-stride, turning to look at me. His eyes darkened and he stared at me hard. "Premeditated…"

"…What?" I frowned at him.

"I'm surprised. I've arrived at the same conclusion, but I didn't want to voice my thoughts until I acquired some solid evidence." He closed his eyes. "You are…perceptive in a way that saddens me."

"You don't like that we're the same?" I felt a little tug at my heartstrings. Something about Regal's words made me sad, too. "I guess hard experiences tend to make us cynical. I just grew up a little too fast."

"…I see." Regal sighed. "I suspect this ordeal has something to do with Cruxis…as they are the only ones capable of performing such a terrible deed. This was no ordinary magic."

"It's Cruxis, all right," I said bitterly.

"We should keep moving," the convict said. "I can only guess at their motivations, we both know that they will return for Colette should they realize she is here."

"You're right."

We moved on, starting to follow the path again. Presea's house was just a few minutes' walk from here. In the back of my mind, I was silently grateful that we hadn't been the ones to find Mithos; it wouldn't have gone over well at all. Hopefully the others would be okay.

After a minute or so, I glanced over at my companion.

"Listen, about what I said…"

"Hmm?"

I lowered my gaze. "It's just…this reminds me of the day Luin burned. The feeling here…it's so similar. I guess that's why I don't believe it was a freak accident…"

"Luin." Regal frowned, mulling this over. "The village that the Desians attacked. You were taking shelter there, correct? Ah…I think now I understand your silence when we initially arrived here."

"Bad memories all around." I rubbed the back of my neck. "The attack on Luin—it was the first time I ever killed someone. I still remember that Desian's face."

"Thrown into an alien world and forced into such terrible situations…that must have been difficult for you," he remarked gently.

"Huh?" I faltered, a bit taken aback. "Oh…yeah. But I'm not special. Everyone else has gone through hell; compared to some of them, I'm lucky. I still have a family and a home to return to. I shouldn't complain."

He smiled a little. "Though I agree it is important not to be consumed with self-pity, I don't think you should disregard your own suffering. Simply because others have had it worse does not indicate that your pain is meaningless."

"Regal…" I looked away. "Th-thanks. But what brought this on all of a sudden?"

"Something else about this place has been bothering you. The look on your face when we were on the Rheairds…" His speech had slowed a bit, as if he was choosing his words carefully. "You…are hiding something. I understand that this burden is part of your suffering."

So that was it, huh…now Regal saw through me too. What was I supposed to do? It was hard to just lie to him, especially when he always spoke to me so kindly. I was sick of lying. But…I couldn't just tell everyone the truth. If anyone mentioned my foreknowledge around Mithos, it would be all over. The future—and our victory—hung precariously in the balance. I couldn't risk it…

I lowered my gaze. "Some burdens have to be borne alone."

He quieted at that, his expression stony. "…Yes. That is true."

We kept walking, and after a few seconds I thought that was going to be it. I felt bad for playing that card; Regal, of course, would be thinking of the burden of his sin. But it was the only way I could think of to ensure there would be no further questions.

"However…" Regal caught my attention, and I looked over at him. He was staring straight ahead. "…If you should ever change your mind, I will gladly shoulder some of that weight."

"…Thank you…"

It was all I could say. Not only was he on to me, his first reaction was to offer to help? Now I _really _felt bad. It was true that I'd had a rough couple of weeks—getting captured by Cruxis, the party questioning their trust in me, the fight with Zelos—but despite all of my pity parties, this group really wasn't so bad. Now that I was feeling a little more levelheaded, I could see…everyone supported each other in their own ways. After everything, they still supported _me…_

If I thought about that, then the upcoming meeting seemed a little more bearable. Nothing was going to happen; everyone I trusted and cared about was going to be right there with me. I just had to make-believe…just _pretend _that Mithos was the innocent kid that he claimed to be. Just for a little while…

Our conversation ended there, as we had reached the bridgelike path leading down to Presea's house. For once I pushed aside my fear of heights, following Regal down without a word of protest. My concern over the lack of railings on the path seemed pretty silly now compared to everything else that was going on.

Genis and Presea were sitting on the steps to her house, talking quietly. They looked up when we arrived; it looked like we were the first ones to make it back.

"How'd it go?" Genis asked in a flat voice.

Regal just closed his eyes and shook his head.

"There wasn't anyone left to save," I murmured.

"Lloyd and the others…?" The half-elf frowned.

"We haven't seen them. I'm sure they will arrive soon," Regal replied.

Thunder rumbled overhead, causing us all to look up. The clouds above were still very dark. Just when I was wondering if we were going to see more lightning, though, I felt a tiny drop of rain hit my forehead. Rain…

It wasn't long before the drops began to fall a little faster. The convict sighed, looking in the direction of the village's center, where a massive plume of black smoke was still rising over the trees.

"It is too late to save Ozette," he said, "but perhaps this rain will keep the fire from spreading…"

I stared up at the sky, and then looked over at Presea. She was looking down at her lap, her bangs shielding her eyes from view. Once again I was reminded of how petty my problems really were; what must it be like to watch your own hometown burned to the ground? I thought of the streets where I grew up, trying to imagine it. Man…

_Simply because others have had it worse does not indicate that your pain is meaningless._

The words came back to me suddenly. Right…Regal had a point. There was nothing wrong with feeling sympathy and wanting to help, but I needed to stop comparing myself to the others. I was just creating an extra reason to brood when I could be doing more productive things, like bringing down the organization that caused all this suffering in the first place.

"Hey! Guys!"

A sudden yell caused all of us to look up. Lloyd was running down the path towards us, out of breath and covered in soot. I froze when I saw the blond boy that was thrown over his shoulder. Here we go…

"What the…?" Genis stood up, eyes wide with shock. "So someone survived?! Lloyd!"

Finally the teen came to a stop, looking around wildly before his eyes locked on his best friend. "Genis! Where's the Professor?"

Genis shook his head. "Sh-She hasn't come back yet! Is he hurt?"

"Is she here?" That was Sheena calling.

The ninja ran up, flanked by Zelos. The two of them were looking a little worse for wear as well; the flames in the heart of the village must have been very intense. Maybe the center of town was where the lightning strike had made full contact.

"No," Lloyd panted. "Damn. He's burned—it looks pretty bad."

_Only burned? _ I thought indifferently, staring at the limp form Lloyd carried. Ugh, that was horrible of me. But how could I be expected to feel compassion for someone like him, after everything he'd put us through? I almost wished I _didn't _know his true identity.

"Lay him down," Regal instructed. "I'm certain Raine will return soon; the best thing to do would be to remain here. In the meantime, please let me see."

Lloyd seemed to calm down a bit at Regal's smooth, rational tone. He nodded slowly, bending his knees a bit so he could lay the boy gently down on the ground. Genis and Presea came over and joined our little gathering, hovering around Mithos' unconscious figure.

I looked down at his face, trying to discern if he was really out cold or not. He wouldn't drop his guard like that, right? Either way, it was just about impossible to tell. Safer just to bet on the thought that he was fully aware of what was going on.

"The burn's right here," Lloyd said, pointing out a spot on the boy's left arm. The shoulder of his tunic was a little singed, but the worst of it really was on his arm; the skin was bright red and beginning to blister.

"He was just lying unconscious in the middle of everything—I tried to save him from falling debris, but I think something must have hit him. His leg's bleeding from some kind of cut, too." The teen shifted anxiously from foot to foot, wringing his wrists.

"Calm down, Lloyd," I said, reaching out to put a hand on his shoulder. I hated seeing him get so worked up over this; he was such a good person and he had no idea he was being deceived.

Before he could say anything more, I continued. "From the looks of it, that's just a second-degree burn. Painful as all hell, but not life threatening."

Lloyd faltered. "You're sure?"

"I got burned like that a few years ago, so I've read up on all that stuff," I replied. "If there are blisters, it's second-degree for sure."

"Is there anything we can do?" Genis asked me.

I rubbed the back of my neck. "Probably should just wait for your sister. It looks like he's breathing fine, so I'm sure he can last a few more minutes."

There was a lemon gel in my bag that could probably clean the burn up just fine, but I wasn't about to use that just to spare Mithos the pain. The other villagers had been burnt black; let him suffer for a while.

It was strange because even despite these bitter thoughts I was having, I couldn't help but think about how innocent the boy lying there really looked. His bright blond locks were slightly mussed, framing his pale face. He looked almost relaxed.

I was having a hard time connecting this young kid to the monster that had gotten me into this mess. But then again, I distinctly remembered a blond boy jumping in front of my car all those months ago…yeah, I had actually seen this form of his before.

Only a few seconds had passed before we heard the sound of footsteps. Everyone looked up.

"Professor!" Lloyd called. "Over here, hurry!"

Raine and Colette were walking down the path, looking disheartened. At the sound of Lloyd's voice, though, the teacher immediately picked up the pace. She saw the small form at our feet and ran over to us, Colette at her heels.

"Oh, no! Is he okay?" The blonde pressed a hand to her mouth, worried.

"His shoulder is burned pretty badly," Sheena offered. "Brittany says it's second degree."

"She's right," the Professor replied, relaxing a bit. She crouched down at the boy's side, her staff hovering inches above the wound. "…This shouldn't be hard to fix. He'll be fine."

Everyone—aside from Zelos and I, anyway—breathed a sigh of relief at that. Raine closed her eyes to concentrate, and the head of her staff glowed with healing magic.

"Healing Circle!"

Runes glowed beneath the entire group with Mithos at the center, a warm light pulsing up from the ground. I saw Mithos' blisters shrink and disappear, the red skin fading back to a normal hue. The cut on his leg stopped bleeding and sealed back up. On top of all that, my own breathing eased a bit and my eyes stopped stinging from the smoke in the air.

The Professor really was getting good…now if only healing magic could get rid of stress and anxiety. Well, you win some, you lose some, I guess.

When the light faded, Mithos was good as new. He looked almost like he was taking a nice nap at this point. His breathing was even and regular; the only hint that things had been out of order was the slightly charred state of his clothes.

Raine drew back up to her full height, turning to us. "What happened?"

"We found him," Lloyd explained. "He was lying unconscious in the middle of town."

"No one else?"

The teen shook his head slowly. "…No."

"I'm afraid we had similar luck," Regal remarked.

"Us too," Colette said sadly. "How horrible…all of those people we met, they're…"

"Well, we aren't gonna get anywhere brooding over that now," Zelos interjected with a shrug. The words sounded almost insensitive at first, but I saw the look in his eyes and understood. He was hiding it as usual, but I could tell this affected him.

Sheena looked like she was going to object, but Lloyd let out a defeated sigh, his shoulders slumping.

"Zelos is right. We can't do anything for them now…what we should be doing is finding out how and why this happened."

"Nngh…"

The conversation immediately drew to a halt as everyone turned to look at the blond boy. He was shifting a bit, his brows drawing together in an expression of discomfort.

"He's waking up!"

Ironically enough, it was Genis stating the obvious that actually seemed to wake the boy up. Mithos exhaled shakily, sitting up and pressing a hand to his forehead.

"How are you feeling?" Raine asked gently.

The blond looked up, revealing bright blue eyes. "I…f-fine…where am I?"

"We're on the southern outskirts of Ozette," Sheena offered.

At the word 'Ozette,' Mithos immediately jumped to his feet and looked in the direction of the town center. There was still a lot of smoke coming from that direction; it was going to take a while before the rain would have any effect on the flames.

He slowly turned back to the group. "Did you…rescue me? I thought I was done for…Th-thanks."

"It's nothing," Lloyd replied, shaking his head. "Never mind that…what the hell happened here?"

Mithos just stared at the ground, looking lost. "I…I don't really know. Lightning suddenly fell from the sky, and then there were angels everywhere…"

Everyone stiffened at that. I wasn't really paying attention to what Mithos was saying, but I was plenty tense, all right.

"Angels?" Raine asked quietly.

"They had wings," Mithos insisted. "What else could they have been? You believe me, right?"

"We believe you," Lloyd replied. He was clenching his fists, shaking slightly. "So it was Cruxis…dammit!"

"So angels destroyed the village…" Presea said quietly.

"Presea," Regal murmured. He placed a hand on her shoulder, but she just shook her head.

"I'm fine. But this unsettling irritation…is this…anger?"

I was silent, staring stubbornly at a spot somewhere above Mithos' head. I already knew how this conversation went and I was feeling a certain level of unsettling irritation myself. This wasn't good. What was I going to do to distract myself from all the negative emotions I associated with the angel? Maybe no one would notice if I avoided talking to him or being around him often…we _were _a big group…

"I'm impressed you survived," Zelos remarked. "Everyone else…well, never mind that. What's your name? How'd you end up where we found you?"

Mithos hugged himself lightly. "…My name is Mithos. I…well, I lived by myself on the outskirts of the village, so I wasn't hit with the lightning that came down. I was just going to see what happened…" He sighed shakily. "Everything happened so quickly. I got trapped, and…"

"I see…" Raine nodded. "The smoke. You must have passed out from lack of oxygen."

"Mithos…like Mithos the hero, right?" Lloyd managed a smile, albeit a weak one. "That's easy to remember. It's okay, you're safe now."

Genis started a little, suddenly turning to give a meaningful look to his sister. Raine met his gaze evenly. He swung back to face Mithos, his eyes wide.

"Wait, hold on. You…You're a half-elf, aren't you?"

Mithos froze up, giving him a wide-eyed look in return. He backed away a few steps. "I—n-no…"

I hated to admit it, but he was a really good actor. Maybe even on par with Zelos. I had been fooled in the game too, but then again not a lot of people were going to immediately jump to the "this fourteen-year-old _must _be the leader of Cruxis!" conclusion.

"Relax," Raine said. "You can sense it as well, can't you? We have the same blood flowing through our veins as you do."

"But…it can't be. You're with humans," he protested.

"It's okay!" Colette smiled. "We're all friends, see?"

"Friends…?" He gave us an incredulous look. "Humans and half-elves as friends? You're lying."

"It's true!" Genis insisted, stepping forward. "My sister and I are a part of this group."

"But…"

"Your reaction is understandable," Regal said. "Ozette in particular is known for its contempt for half-elves. Living an isolated life here must have been difficult for you."

The rain was picking up, I noted. It wouldn't be long before we were standing in a full-on downpour.

"What happened here?!"

A gruff voice caused me to turn my attention toward the path leading outside the village, and I saw Altessa standing there with Tabatha. I attempted to school my expression into something resembling surprise.

Presea told him that angels destroyed the village; he expressed his shock at Presea's recovered state, and then ran off muttering something about punishment. Lloyd went to stop him but was prevented from doing so by Tabatha, who explained that Altessa believed Ozette's destruction to be his fault.

Meanwhile, I was occupying myself by considering what was going to happen next. I had heard this all before; we were going to go back to Altessa's place and get the whole explanation about how he had been involved with Cruxis. Then…what was after that? The Otherworldly Gate, right? Wow. We were going back to Sylvarant so soon. At least then we could dump Mithos in Neil's care and do our own thing.

…When would that be, though? Tomorrow? Two days from now? That was still too long to be stuck around Mithos. Ugh.

"I'm going to follow him," Presea said after Tabatha and Altessa had left.

Lloyd turned around, nodding. "Right. I want to know what this is all about, too." He looked over at the blond boy, smiling. "Mithos, why don't you come with us?"

Mithos hesitated. "But I'm a half-elf, and—"

"That doesn't matter to us," Lloyd said easily, shaking his head. "Besides, what're you going to do if you stay here and the angels come back? You'll be safer with us."

"Lloyd's right! Let's all go together!" Genis smiled, walking up to Mithos.

The blond faltered, looking at all of us and then back to Genis. After a long moment he returned the smile, though it was a little uncertain. "…Okay!"

And that was that. Everyone turned to go; Mithos stayed toward the back with Genis and Presea, so I made a point of walking up front with Lloyd and Raine. We left Ozette behind, the town still steadily giving off smoke. Hopefully the fire would die soon.

* * *

"Hey, are you all right?"

I looked up from my spot on the floor to see Sheena leaning over me. In response I just shrugged, smiling a bit sheepishly. She rolled her eyes and sat down next to me.

We were in Altessa's house, leaning against one wall and waiting for Tabatha to finish preparing dinner. Though it had been a shitty day, I was at least a little glad that we wouldn't be sleeping outside. Maybe I'd feel better if I shut myself in our room.

"Why do you ask?" I said to Sheena, not really wanting to answer her question.

"You've been way too quiet, that's all," she replied. "I feel like I haven't heard you say a word in hours. That's not like you."

Whoops. Had I really gone mute ever since Mithos joined us? Now that I thought about it, she was right. Normally, even during plot conversations, I attempted to offer my own input. This time around I hadn't even been _listening _to half of what was being said. Even when Altessa had been explaining everything earlier, I had been just about ready to fall asleep.

"Ah…I'm kind of having an off day," I said. "Sorry, don't mean to worry you. There's a lot on my mind."

Just like in the game, Altessa had told us exactly how he'd been involved with Cruxis and how Rodyle had forced him to cooperate in exchange for sparing his life. We had all sat around the main room and discussed mana links, the Ancient War, the Great Seed, Cruxis Crystals and the poles between the two worlds. Regal brought up the Otherworldly Gate, getting the gears turning in the Professor's mind.

After all that, Altessa had offered to let us stay the night, and Tabatha had started dinner. A delicious smell was wafting through the air, but I wasn't really hungry.

"Well, I can understand that," Sheena said with a nod. "Especially after the whole thing with Ozette…Altessa really gave us a lot to think about. It's too bad he didn't know anything about your situation, though."

"Yeah…"

Lloyd had told Altessa about me and asked if he knew anything about Earth; while the dwarf had admitted hearing about research being done on worlds beyond Sylvarant and Tethe'alla, he had left Cruxis long before he could see the results of said research. Though I was a bit disappointed at the lack of information, I had to admit Altessa's response did help make my own story more believable.

"What are we going to do now, Sheena?"

That squeaky voice was Corrine. I leaned forward a bit to see the small summon spirit perched on her shoulder. He hopped down to her lap, looking over at me and then back to her.

"Hmm…" The summoner frowned thoughtfully. "Well, I guess we still need to make the pact with Shadow. After that…"

"We can always investigate these poles everyone was talking about earlier," I said. "Maybe the Otherworldly Gate. Regal at least knows a bit about that."

"Back to Sylvarant…" Sheena smiled. "Is it weird that thinking of that world makes me kind of nostalgic? It wasn't that long ago, but still."

"Nope, I feel the same way," I chuckled weakly. "I hope we can go back to Luin. I'd like to see how Pietro and Lucian are doing."

"Right," she said, perking up a bit. "We'll definitely have to visit. Wow, we haven't been there since after we destroyed the Asgard ranch. Remember how Raine was out in the rain all night and she got sick?"

"Feels like forever ago," I murmured.

"No kidding."

"Heeeey!" A whiny voice interrupted us. "What gives?"

We looked up to see Zelos standing there and giving us a kicked-puppy look. It took me a moment to realize that Sheena was now occupying the spot where Zelos had been sitting; he had gotten up a few minutes ago, presumably to use the restroom or something.

"Oh, suck it up," Sheena said, rolling her eyes. "Dinner's gonna be ready in a few minutes anyway."

"You snooze, you lose, Zelos," I said with a grin. "I'm so popular, the spot next to me is practically prime real estate. Better luck next time, eh?"

Sheena pressed a hand to her forehead. "I changed my mind. I think you _are _catching his stupid."

Zelos laughed, but then suddenly seemed to think of something. He gave me a triumphant smile. "Oh, that's all right, spitfire. I would never want to come between you and Sheena, after all." He suddenly paused before shaking his head. "Wait, wait, I take that back. I would _love _to come between you and Sheena, if you know what I mean—a-ack…!"

That was Sheena kicking him in the stomach. Well, that was gonna leave a bruise.

I found myself laughing for the first time all day. Someone called out that dinner was ready and Sheena took the opportunity to storm off with Corrine, intent on occupying herself elsewhere. I just sat there giggling.

Zelos coughed, clutching the spot where he'd been hit. "Yeesh…sometimes I wonder if she has a punching bag back in Mizuho with my face taped on it."

"That wouldn't surprise me," I said, grinning. "You totally deserved that one, though."

He just tilted his head, his eyes full of mirth. "I got to hear your beautiful laugh, so it was worth it, my little spitfire."

My grin immediately fell. Ah—dammit! I thought I was over this! I gave him a deadpan stare, my face flushing.

"Stop that," I mumbled helplessly. Even after knowing him for this long, apparently he could still short-circuit my brain with hardly any effort.

He smiled shamelessly. "Stop what? Anyway, come on. Everyone's sitting down for dinner."

The redhead held out a hand. I sighed, reaching out and grabbing it, and he pulled me to my feet.

"This'll be awkward, eh?" he said in a much lower voice. He was staring over at the other end of the room, where Mithos and Genis were talking and laughing.

"You're telling me," I muttered back.

Then I realized Zelos was still holding my hand. I rolled my eyes, letting go and giving him a shove.

Even so, I was all too happy to take the seat between him and Sheena at the table, on the opposite end from where Mithos, Genis and Lloyd were sitting. Zelos was a creep and he loved getting a rise out of me, but I had to admit it was nice that someone knew what I was thinking and understood why I needed to be distracted. Maybe this whole thing would be bearable after all.

* * *

That night proved me wrong.

It wasn't that anything bad happened, per se; it was more that I could _not _shut my brain up. I just kept thinking about everything that had happened over the course of the day. Not only that, it was extremely hard to sleep knowing that the leader of Cruxis was right in the other room. He could easily get up and kill us all in our sleep. I knew it wasn't supposed to happen, but that didn't mean it wasn't a possibility.

So I tossed and turned for hours, sometimes managing to drift off but always jerking awake not too long afterwards. All the talk about Rodyle and Sylvarant had me thinking about the Desians, about Luin, and inevitably about the destruction in Ozette.

It was strange, but I could kind of relate to Altessa. Ozette had been destroyed because he had taken shelter there, just as Luin had been destroyed due to Pietro and I seeking refuge. That didn't excuse what he had done with Presea, but I could understand how that kind of guilt must feel.

Luin…

Could I have prevented it? Luin _and _Ozette…I had known both were going to be destroyed.

_You alone know the consequences we face. I realize what you must be thinking, but understand that this does not end with defeating Mithos, and not every damage can be repaired should we gain access to the Eternal Sword._

The dead weren't going to come back. It just felt awful, knowing that I had allowed this to happen. But what could I have done? If I had told everyone about Ozette, they probably wouldn't have believed me—and even if they had, I doubt they would've been able to act in time. Even if I had told Kratos…I didn't even think Kratos could have prevented it. Not without blowing his cover.

I hated just leaving things like this. Mithos killing all those people, it was so meaningless…and this wasn't like Earth, where the whole thing would be a breaking news story and there would be police and ambulances on the scene within the hour. The whole country would be in mourning, there'd be organized efforts to rebuild, candlelight vigils for the victims, some sense of _sanity…_

Finally, after hours of this, I let out a huff and sat up in bed. The window on the wall to my left revealed that the sky was just barely starting to brighten; it wasn't all that long before the time I would've woken up anyway. I always woke up before dawn.

Everyone else in the room seemed to be sleeping soundly. Altessa had two guest rooms with a surprising amount of beds; there was enough to accommodate everyone. All of the girls had gone in one room, while the boys were in the other. Part of me wondered why the hell Altessa had so many beds (did he secretly live with Snow White and six other dwarves?), but I wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. Logic had never been this world's strong suit.

Either way, there was no way I was getting back to sleep. It was killing me having to think about all this depressing stuff without doing anything about it, and I _really _didn't want to get up and eat breakfast with the bastard who caused all of this.

I stood up quietly, looking around the room. Sheena was in the bed to my left, lying on her side with her back to me. Presea was in the bed to my right; Raine and Colette were in beds on the other side of the room farthest from the door. All I could hear was steady breathing; everyone was out. Regal was usually the first one up after me, and he probably wouldn't be getting up for another hour or two.

I sighed slowly, and then moved to the side of my bed where my bag was lying. Trying to be as quiet as possible, I changed out of my pajamas and donned my regular clothes. I left my coat and gloves behind on the bed, instead taking with me the pair of thick leather gloves I had gotten in Flanoir. They were lined with fur so they'd be a bit too warm, but they'd have to do.

Now I grabbed Kerberos, lifting it gently by the sheath strap so it wouldn't shift or make any noise. After buckling the sword to my back and slinging my bag over my shoulder, I headed for the door.

I paused one last time, checking over my shoulder. Everyone was still sleeping…good. In the clear. I opened the door, slipping out into the main room and closing it slowly behind me.

The main room was empty and quiet, though I was sure I could hear snoring coming from somewhere. I glanced outside; it was still dark. Was there a lantern I could take? No, no sense in bothering. It'd be a waste; Ozette wasn't a very long walk from here, and it'd probably be light enough to see just fine by the time I got there.

All right. Well, if I wanted to get anything done, I'd better head out now. The fire had to have died down by now; it had been completely pouring yesterday evening. I wasn't sure if there would be many bodies left to bury as many of them had probably been burnt to ash, but I had to at least try. It just felt so wrong otherwise. I had already walked away from Luin's destruction; I couldn't just walk away again. Besides…it was the only way I could think of to get out of this house. I couldn't stand to breathe the same _air _as that bastard.

I walked up to the long table, reaching into my bag for my notebook and a pen. I ripped out a page and then began to scribble out a note.

_Everyone—_

_Gone to Ozette. Those people need a proper burial. _

_Brit_

It was a little curt, but I didn't really feel like explaining myself. I was probably going to get my head bitten off for this no matter what I said, anyway. Still, I was going to lose it if I didn't find some way to feel somewhat in control of the situation. All of yesterday I had just been a helpless spectator to predetermined events. I just wanted to _do _something about it, even if it made no difference in the long run. Anything for at least a little peace of mind.

I placed the note on the table and walked to the door, slipping outside. The door shut quietly behind me, and I began walking in the direction of the path leading to town. It had stopped raining, but the plume of black smoke that had been rising from Ozette was now gone.

"Where are you going?"

Ah, fuck. Of course. I should've known; just walking away would've been too easy.

I turned around to see Lloyd sitting on a bench just outside the house. He was frowning at me.

"Lloyd? What're you doing up?"

His frown grew. "Don't change the subject. Besides, I should be asking you the same thing."

"I always get up around now, you know that." I smiled. "I was just going for a walk."

Lloyd gave me a deadpan stare. "Sure you were. You know I can tell when you're lying, right?"

Crap. Caught red handed. Well, there was no saving myself now. He could see right through me.

I sighed, my shoulders slumping a little. "All right, all right. Fine. I was going to Ozette. It wasn't anything crazy! I left a note for everyone saying where I was going, too."

His brow furrowed. "Ozette? Why?"

"It's been bothering me all night," I replied. "I never gave the people of Luin a proper burial. I'm the reason the entire town was either killed or taken to the ranch, and still…"

Lloyd shook his head. "What're you talking about? We had to go save the people who were still alive. They came first. There's nothing wrong with that."

"It still leaves a bad taste in my mouth," I said, keeping my voice down. "Anyway…that's why I want to give the people of Ozette a proper burial. Like the people of Luin, they had no involvement in this. They were punished for someone else's actions. I just…I want to do this for them. They weren't exactly the nicest or most tolerant people, but I wouldn't wish that kind of devastation on anyone."

The teen stared at me for a long time, his face solemn. Finally, he nodded.

"Let's go, then."

"Huh?" My eyebrows flew up.

"I think you're right. We can't just leave without burying those people. I hated the feeling of not being able to do anything when we were looking for survivors…let's at least pay our respects this way."

"Lloyd…" I smiled weakly. "Okay. Let's go."

We started down the path, walking side by side. The ground was muddy; it was going to be grueling work digging graves with the dirt so weighed down by the rain. Right now, though, I honestly didn't care.

"Hey, Brit…"

"Yeah?"

"Next time you want to do something like this, just tell me, okay?" He said, staring ahead of us. "Don't…don't go off and do stuff on your own. If you have to go, I'll go with you."

"Oh…" I rubbed the back of my neck. Of course. "I'm sorry. I guess I didn't think that through. Cruxis…"

"Yeah. We have to stick together," Lloyd replied. "You don't have to keep secrets from me. Didn't I tell you I'd always be there for you?"

I faltered a little, remembering that embarrassing promise I'd extracted from him back in Mizuho. How could I forget? He was one of the only non-family members that had ever said that to me in my life.

"I know. Thanks, Lloyd."

_You don't have to keep secrets from me._

He smiled weakly, and we continued on down the path to Ozette.

Secrets, huh…sometimes I really hated being so full of them.

* * *

The flames that had once engulfed the village were gone completely by the time Lloyd and I arrived. The sky was brightening a bit, revealing charred buildings and rubble. The village streets were covered in a dark mud that was a mixture of dirt, ash and blood.

Lloyd seemed to understand that it was going to be dirty work; he took off his coat, and I shoved it in my bag since he had neglected to bring his. We made our way to Presea's house, going inside to grab the shovels we had used to dig her father's grave.

Then began the process of going through town and scouting out a place to dig the graves, and then finding and lining up every last body we could find. The work was sickening beyond words. Not only was the smell of cooked hair and flesh nearly unbearable, picking up and moving the corpses was awful as well. Most of them were burnt beyond all recognition, their black skin crackling and flaking off as I grabbed limbs to lift them. We were both wearing gloves but it was still intensely nauseating—especially when some of them were children.

Neither of us spoke for what seemed like a very long time. Lloyd went to check one last house, and then came back to tell me that it looked like we had gotten the last of the bodies; all we needed to do now was bury them.

I nodded, told him to give me a minute, and then promptly walked away to some bushes and threw up.

Thankfully Lloyd left me alone long enough for me to gather my bearings. After a little bit, I heard him walking up behind me.

"How are you feeling?"

"A little better," I replied, wiping my mouth and turning to face him. "Ugh…I don't know how you're doing this."

Lloyd rubbed the back of his neck, pale. "Uh…I already puked a little earlier when I was checking one of the houses. You just didn't see me."

"…Oh," I croaked. "…This blows."

"Yeah," he agreed, looking up at the sky. "Let's try to get this over with. The others are probably up by now."

"Right," I said. There was no way we'd finish before they noticed we were gone, but we could at least do our best.

I walked over and picked up the shovels, handing one of them over to him. "How do you want to do this?"

He frowned. "We'll have to line everyone up in one big grave…otherwise this'll take days. I feel bad, but…" The teen sighed. "If we find a big enough rock afterwards, I can carve a marker."

"I guess it'll have to do," I replied. "It's better than leaving things as they are."

"Okay. Let's get started," Lloyd said.

As I had expected, the soil was heavy and hard to work with. Each shovelful weighed twice as much as it would have had the dirt been dry, and the bottom of our hole kept filling up with puddles of water and mud. We kept going regardless, taking short breaks every ten minutes or so.

Though it was grueling work, I preferred digging to our earlier task of moving bodies. At least all I had to handle here was dirt. Still, though, I could taste vomit in the back of my throat and I felt nauseous.

"Hey…"

I looked up to see that Lloyd had paused in his work, a little bit out of breath. He was frowning at me.

"Talk to me," he said. "This silence is driving me crazy. I need a distraction."

"Yeah, that might help," I said, panting. Maybe the time would go by faster if we carried on some kind of conversation. But what was there to talk about?

We resumed our work at a more manageable pace, and I mulled over a few conversation topics.

"This is…kind of weird," I said, throwing some dirt into a growing mound. "I just realized it's been a while since we've really talked." I hesitated for a moment, thinking about it.

When _was _the last time the two of us had had a one-on-one conversation? Wow. I wasn't even sure.

"I'm sorry," I blurted out. "I've been really self-absorbed lately, haven't I?"

"Don't be stupid," Lloyd said, rolling his eyes. "You were just distracted from the whole thing with Zelos. I know that."

"But I know you've always been there to help me out in the past," I replied. "I'm just…sorry if I made you worry. I haven't really been keeping you up to date lately. I miss our little heart-to-hearts."

He smiled a bit. "Yeah, me too. Everything's been so hectic since we got the Rheairds; it's not like when we were traveling on foot. We almost had too much time to talk then, heh."

"Seriously," I said with a weak smile of my own. I could remember plenty of times where everyone had just fallen silent since every possible conversation topic had been exhausted.

"Hey, why don't we try sparring again?"

"Huh?" I paused, leaning against my shovel and catching my breath as Lloyd did the same.

"Well, you're already up early every day anyway," he said. "Just wake me up and we can train like the old days. I know we don't have…_him _around, but we can still practice."

"I thought you hated getting up early," I remarked, tilting my head. I still wasn't a huge fan of it either, but I didn't have much control of my inner alarm clock.

"I do," he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. "But there aren't many monsters around Tethe'alla, so I feel like we aren't fighting as much as we used to, you know? I know we've been doing a lot, but it's not like it was in Sylvarant. I just don't want to get rusty." He looked away. "…Especially if we're gonna have to fight Kratos eventually."

"Good point," I said. "It's not a bad idea."

"Plus we'll have time to talk," Lloyd added. "Now that I think about it, there's a lot of stuff I want to talk to you about, but this isn't really the time or place."

I managed another smile, feeling a lot better. "Tomorrow morning, then. Assuming we're not too sore to move after this."

"It's a plan," he said with a nod.

We resumed digging, falling back into a companionable silence. Occasionally we'd exchange a few words when the quiet dragged on for too long. After a little while, our hole started looking a little more like a grave.

The sound of footsteps caused us to pause, looking up. A single figure was approaching us from the direction of Presea's house.

My eyes widened. It was Zelos; he was carrying a shovel of his own, leaning it against his shoulder as he walked.

"Zelos?" Lloyd said, surprised.

The redhead just looked at the grave we were digging, and then his eyes went to the bodies that were lined up behind us. He grimaced.

"Ugh…the things I do for you people. Hurry up and get on with it, I think I'm gonna hurl."

He obviously hated the idea of doing this, but he had come out here anyway. Zelos, trudging through dirt and mud to assist us with such a gruesome task? This was the same Zelos who whined every time we had to sleep on the ground because his clothes might get dirty?

_I'm just relieved. You're a nice guy, Zelos._

_No, I'm not._

His words from back then echoed through my mind, and I felt my lips turn up in an earnest smile. It didn't matter what he said—I really, truly believed it now. At his core, Zelos was a good person.

The redhead's eyes met mine; he blinked and then immediately looked away, almost seeming uncomfortable. Then he walked past me—avoiding the gaze of Lloyd all the while, as the teen was giving him a similar smile.

"All right," Lloyd said, nodding. "We'll get this done even faster now. Thanks, Zelos."

We continued to dig, once more focusing on the work as the sun rose higher into the sky.

* * *

It wasn't long before Genis joined us as well, the boy looking resolute. We didn't have an extra shovel, but he insisted on taking Lloyd's so that the teen could search for and carve a marker for the mass grave.

We were in the process of filling in the grave when everyone else showed up. I had expected Raine to be angry with us for going off on our own, but she just looked solemn.

Presea was at a loss for words. She wrung her wrists for a moment, staring at the ground.

"Ah…my eyes are burning…and it's hard to speak…" she murmured, taking a shaky breath. Then she looked up at us, smiling weakly. "Thank you all…for being so kind."

Sheena was staring at Zelos, looking visibly impressed. She glanced over at me, her eyebrows raised. I shrugged and took a seat on a nearby tree stump, exhausted.

The grave was filled in, and Lloyd placed the stone marker he had created at the front of it.

Raine let out a quiet sigh, watching as Presea walked up to the large grave. The girl knelt down, placing a gloved hand softly on the freshly turned soil. Lloyd and Genis walked over to talk to her. Zelos was taking a breather by himself, looking off into the distance.

"Though normally I would be upset at your decision to go off on your own," the Professor said, approaching me, "I'll let it slide just this once. I understand."

Then she gave me a stern look. "But in the future, please tell me beforehand. I realize Ozette isn't far from Altessa's, but if the angels had come back, the four of you alone could have been seriously hurt—or killed."

"I'm sorry," I said, letting out a sigh of my own. "I guess I was worried you wouldn't want to take the extra time to do this. With everything going on with Cruxis, we've been kind of short on time lately."

Her eyes softened a bit. She looked away, her voice falling into a low murmur. "I suppose I have no business scolding you. I myself was considering going off on my own this morning as well…"

My brow furrowed. "Professor?"

"…Never mind," she said, quickly shaking her head. "We can discuss that later. Excuse me; I'm going to go speak with Lloyd and Genis. We should be heading back soon now that the grave is finished."

With that, she walked off to where Presea was kneeling. I was left to stare after her, a bit puzzled. Well, at least I hadn't gotten a lecture. There was that to be grateful for.

"Did you really help bury all of those people?" A voice came from beside me, and I had to fight very hard not to jerk away reflexively. "That…that must have been horrible."

I shook my head, offering Mithos a sidelong glance. Of course he would have the nerve to speak to me like this, pretending he gave a damn.

"What's horrible is the fact that this happened at all," I replied quietly, fighting to keep the accusing note out of my tone. "I don't want to see any more innocent people die."

"You're…Brittany, right?" Mithos frowned. "I…um…I feel like I've met you somewhere before."

I nearly cocked an eyebrow. Was that his idea of a joke? What the hell was he trying to accomplish by saying that?

Though I was highly tempted to make some snide remark in turn, I just tilted my head and did my best to fake a smile.

"Unlikely. I'm not from Tethe'alla."

He hesitated; I saw a flash of something more serious in his eyes, but then he just smiled sheepishly back at me. "Oh—heh, yeah. Maybe I'm imagining things."

"Mithos!"

The blond looked up at the sound of his name. Genis was waving him over.

"Presea and I are going to pick some flowers to put on the grave. You're coming too, right?"

He brightened a little, nodding. "Of course!" Then he turned to me. "Um, nice talking to you!" He then ran off after Genis and Presea.

I heaved a sigh when he was gone. Jeez…awkward. But what had he been talking about…?

Suddenly something clicked in my head. _Oh._ Hadn't I been thinking yesterday that I had seen this form of his before? On that day forever ago, when he had jumped out in front of my car…

Mithos had been checking to see if I recognized him. It was a good thing he had no idea I was fully aware of who he was and what he was up to…as long as I kept on guard, I could avoid any dangerous questions.

Raine called me over to where everyone else was standing. Mithos, Genis and Presea were going to gather flowers in a field outside of Altessa's house; we would drop them off here when we set out to our next destination. In the meantime, the rest of us were going to head inside Altessa's and get ready to go—maybe even stomach some breakfast, if that was possible.

Ugh…hopefully Altessa had a shower. I'd skip breakfast if it meant I could take a shower and wash the smell of death off of me…

* * *

A few hours later, I was feeling considerably better. My feeling of nausea had faded and I had surprisingly managed to scarf down a few pieces of toast; also, Altessa _did _have a working bath, which Lloyd, Zelos and I all fought over until Raine pretty much punted us halfway across the room and forced us to take turns.

Finally we all gathered around the table in the main room to discuss our next move.

"So what do you think, guys?" Sheena asked, crossing her arms. "Are we going to pick up where we left off? If we set out now, I think we could probably make it to the Temple of Darkness by late tonight."

"Actually…" The Professor interjected, frowning thoughtfully.

"Is something the matter, Raine?" Regal asked.

She sighed. "I've been thinking about what we discussed yesterday—the poles between the worlds…and the Otherworldly Gate. There's something I've been wanting to investigate. I'm sorry, but would it be all right if we stopped by Altamira first?"

"The Otherworldly Gate, huh?" Lloyd piped up. He tilted his head a bit. "Well, I don't see why we can't check it out. If it is a pole, maybe we can use it to go between the worlds! It's worth a shot, right?"

"That's true," Genis said. "We'll have to figure out how to get back to Sylvarant sooner or later. Do you really think it might be a pole, Raine?"

"I'm not sure," she replied quietly. "But…I would like to see it for myself."

"Any excuse to drop by Altamira is fine by me," Zelos commented happily.

"Is everyone else okay with it?" Lloyd asked.

"I don't mind," Presea replied.

"It's up to you," Sheena answered with a shrug. "We can always make the pact with Shadow afterwards."

"I think it's a good idea," Colette said, smiling.

"I'm fine with it." I put in my own two cents, and then looked over at the convict. "Regal?"

He closed his eyes. "I have no objections, so long as you allow me to wait outside for the duration of your time in the city."

"That should be fine," Lloyd said with a nod. "Well, it looks like we're going, Professor."

She smiled weakly. "Thank you."

"Um…"

Mithos fidgeted as we all turned to look at him. After a pause, he looked up at Genis and Raine, offering a smile.

"I…I'd like to go with you, but I know it's dangerous…so please be careful, okay?"

"We will!" Genis replied, grinning. "And we'll be back soon, okay? Don't worry!"

Mithos returned the smile a little more earnestly now. "Right! See you soon!"

Everyone said their goodbyes to Mithos, Tabatha and Altessa, and we walked outside. Zelos retrieved our Rheairds from the Wing Pack. I was waiting for Lloyd to get on his so I could latch on to him for dear life again, but at the last minute Altessa rushed out of the building calling for us to wait.

"Huh? What is it?" Lloyd asked.

"This is for Presea…"

Lloyd frowned, taking the item from Altessa's hands. "A Key Crest…"

"It's hardly enough to call it an apology, but I went ahead and made one. It will be more reliable than that makeshift one she has now."

The brunet turned to where Presea was standing. "We should accept it."

She hesitated, and then nodded. "O-Okay…"

"Take this one as well," Altessa said. "The other young lady was involved in the same experiment in your world, wasn't she? I noticed that her Key Crest is similar to the one you created for Presea."

Lloyd nodded, taking the second crest. "…Thanks."

The dwarf simply nodded; then he turned and went back into the house without another word.

Everyone waited for a minute while Lloyd went between Presea and I, changing our Key Crests over for us. I was surprised Altessa had made me one at all; it was very comforting to know that now I could wear a crest that had been made by an expert in the craft. I still insisted on keeping my old one in my bag, though. It couldn't hurt to keep the spare lying around…you know, just in case.

After that, we all climbed on our Rheairds and left Altessa's house behind.

Altamira and the Otherworldly Gate…it was hard to believe. By this time tomorrow, we were going to be in Sylvarant.

…Why did I keep feeling like I was forgetting something?

* * *

**A/N: You know what's hard? Juggling this HUGE FREAKING CAST OF CHARACTERS HNNGH.**

**In other news...something is off? WHAT HAS GONE WRONG, MY DEAR READERS? Hurrhurr. I actually meant to get to the Otherworldly Gate this chapter but...yeah, it wasn't happening. XD**

**I gave you your Christmas/holiday/whatever present! Now share the love via reviews? You know you want to. 8D**

**Next time: Altamira and the Gate and other fun things!**


	56. Changes

**A/N: Whew...FINALLY. Hnnnnngh. Okay, here's the part were I spout excuses as to why I couldn't update in a speedy fashion. XD I actually did have a really crappy winter; lost my job unexpectedly and life just kinda fell apart for a few weeks. I'm employed again and I'm probably gonna pick up a summer job once spring hits, so life's a lot better now and I actually found the energy to write. Sorry about that, real life is the pits. XD**

**Anyway...what else? This chapter's a decent length and we actually progress the plot, so yay for that!**

**Also, just thought I'd mention...look up SUICIDE-SHOUJO on Deviantart, because they have this awesome NR manga going that makes me jump for joy every time I see it. B-)**

**And one more thing you should check out: _Tales of Yet Another Self Insert _by The Return of Whatsername! Remember that fic? Yeah, it's being rewritten, and it's more than exceeded my expectations! It's definitely in the running for one of the best SIs I've seen in the ToS archive. Perfect example of how much a person's writing can improve if they keep at it :D**_**  
**_

**All right, I've talked enough. Enjoy the chapter! Kudos to anyone who catches the Tales of Graces reference I've thrown in here somewhere. XD**

* * *

For the first hour of our flight, all I did was watch the world rush by and space out. The last thing I wanted was to let my mind return to this morning's experience. It was over and done with, and I wanted to move past it as quickly as possible. I was at least able to comfort myself with the knowledge that I had done the right thing.

As always, the wind made it hard to hear, so any conversations were generally carried on between whoever was riding together. Lloyd and I hadn't said much yet, but this ride was going to be about ten hours long; I had a feeling he'd get bored sooner or later and strike up a conversation.

After a bit, I allowed my thoughts to turn to the future. Now that we were going to the Gate, I at least had a much better idea of the order things were going to go in. We'd be forming a truce with the Renegades soon, wouldn't we? I had to wonder how that was going to go over, especially considering how Yuan had attempted to imprison me last time.

Huh…was that what I was forgetting? Something about the Renegades? Botta was going to die at the Remote Island Ranch…no. That event was coming up, but it wasn't in the immediate future. This felt like something imminent that I was forgetting. It was—

Wait, hold on a second…

_I suppose I have no business scolding you. I myself was considering going off on my own this morning as well…_

The Professor's words from earlier. How could I have missed that? She wasn't supposed to be with us right now! She should have gone to the Gate by herself this morning. Was it because Lloyd and I had run off instead? My decision to go to Ozette had disrupted things?

I felt a chill. This wasn't right. I had been aware that nothing was set in stone and things could change at any time, but still…events had seemed like they didn't _want _to change up until now. Even if things happened in a different order or a different way than expected, until now the outcome had always been essentially the same. Had it started with me saving Corrine? Or maybe this had been bound to happen…I wasn't exactly an insignificant part of the group anymore. I had my own place here and the ability to influence the others.

I took a deep breath, forcing myself to relax a little. It was still okay, right? It wasn't like having Raine with us was going to change anything; we were still going to the same place. Other than that, nothing was different.

…Oh. Except for the fact that Mithos wasn't with us.

What the hell?

Now I backtracked, attempting to figure out where _that _deviation had occurred. He…there really was no reason for him to have come, was there? That was right; in the game he had come out of concern for Raine, but here he couldn't come up with an excuse as Raine had never been in any danger.

My mind raced. Mithos not with us…what were the consequences of that? It would come into play at the Remote Island Ranch. He couldn't call Aska to save us from the dragons. And wasn't that how everyone learned about the Linkite Flute or something? There was probably a way around that, but not so much the dragon attack.

Shit, that was not good. On one hand I was glad to be rid of the bastard, but on the other…

It was too late to turn back now. I couldn't undo this; we were going to Sylvarant, and the plot was changed.

Part of me immediately started to freak out over this, but I kept my breathing steady and tried to push my sudden nausea away. If I worried myself sick and started letting it show, Lloyd would go into super-perceptive-friend mode and interrogate the crap out of me.

Okay. Okay. Just keep calm, nothing had gone horribly wrong _yet, _so there was no sense in having some kind of breakdown. It was time to start thinking of how I was going to do damage control on this. I was going to have to pull something in Rodyle's ranch, I knew that much. Exactly _what, _I had no clue. Should I enlist the aid of Zelos or Kratos? Or would that be too big of a risk?

Something had to be done. But how would Kratos be able to help if he was under the supervision of Pronyma? And what could Zelos pull behind the scenes if he was just as incapable of getting away from the group as I was? Maybe I was looking at this wrong. Maybe…

"…should do first when we get there?"

"Huh?" I flinched slightly, my concentration broken.

Lloyd turned his head to glance at me over his shoulder, and then he turned his gaze forward again. "Were you spacing out again?"

"It's a long flight and I'm not driving," I replied in an attempt to sound whiny. If he realized I had been brooding or in serious thought, he'd probably get on me about hiding things from him again.

He snorted. "I was just asking about Sylvarant. You know, since we'll be going there soon. If we're gonna do the seals, where should we start?"

I rested my chin on his shoulder, mulling this over for a second. "…Well, we might as well just retrace our steps from the Regeneration Journey. That way you guys can visit Iselia right off the bat. Though it all depends on where that Gate thing dumps us, I guess."

"Iselia…" Lloyd quieted a bit at that, and I flinched a little when I realized my blunder.

"Oh. Sorry, I didn't mean—"

"It's fine," he said. "I can still visit Dad, and that's what matters."

"Yeah…" I murmured, feeling like an ass. I hadn't even thought about Lloyd and Genis' exile; I just kept thinking in terms of what the state of things were at the end of the game, rather than in the present. Of course they still wouldn't be allowed back in town.

"Don't feel bad, dummy," the teen said the second I trailed off. I could practically hear him rolling his eyes. "I agree with you, anyway. Colette's gotta visit Frank and Phaidra too. Oh, but if we go to the Triet Desert, we'll have to watch out for the Renegades…"

"Eh, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it," I replied with a shrug. "After that there's…what, the Mausoleum?"

"Yup," Lloyd confirmed. "The monsters there should be a piece of cake for us now! And—oh…right. That leaves the Tower of Mana—"

"HOLY CRAP!" I gasped, immediately gripping Lloyd's shoulders with excitement.

He jerked violently and just about everyone else jumped as well; Raine and Genis sent me reproachful looks when they realized I wasn't dying. I shook Lloyd, beaming.

"D-Don't do that!" He protested, turning his head to give me an incredulous look. "I thought you were falling off the Rheaird or something! What is it?"

"The Tower of Mana, Lloydo!" I exclaimed. "We can totally just land on top of it!"

He gave me a blank look. "…Huh?"

"Lloyd. The seal. On top of the tower?" I gave him a meaningful look. "We can fly. Which meeeans…"

Finally it clicked. "No evil tower basement?"

"No evil tower basement!" I cheered, pumping a fist.

"For the last time, the Tower of Mana doesn't _have _a basement," Raine interjected with a sigh, having overheard part of our conversation. She went ignored for the most part as Lloyd and I had a little celebration.

"Do I want to know?" Zelos called, shooting us an amused look.

"That's a story for a dark and stormy night," I replied, laughing.

"No, it's not!" Genis yelled with a visible shudder.

Despite the bad memories, that one revelation was enough to lift my spirits a bit. But that brought up another concern—was that _really _going to be the case? In the game, everyone had had the Rheairds when they revisited the Tower of Mana, but they still went up on foot anyway. It could just be another classic case of video game logic, but still, I had to wonder…would taking the shortcut alter things in some way? Now that events were a little skewed, I was starting to question it.

Oh, well. There was no sense in worrying about it now; there was nothing I could do. It wasn't like I could instruct everyone to take the long way for no reason just to be safe.

I heaved a sigh, lapsing back into silence. I'd just have to be extra watchful from now on to make sure things turned out the way they were supposed to…

* * *

We landed near Altamira just as the sun was beginning to set, and after a bit of discussion we opted to camp out there for Regal's benefit. We had enough supplies to last us the night, and it just wasn't safe to leave a single person—even if it was Regal—out to fend for themselves overnight. Zelos wasn't extremely happy about it, but everyone ignored his complaints as per usual and we settled down for the night.

To be honest, the thought of a cushy suite in that hotel _was _tempting, but I just tried not to think about it. I wouldn't be able to enjoy it if Regal was stuck out here alone anyway. Not only that, it wasn't like I hadn't camped out plenty of times before. Sleeping on the ground was no big deal to me anymore; I could conk out pretty much anywhere.

After a quick dinner, we settled down and I did indeed fall asleep almost immediately. All that digging that morning had taken its toll.

…And then, of course, I woke up at five the next morning feeling like death. My arms and shoulders were sore as hell, and I couldn't help cringing as I sat up.

Still, though, I got up and gathered up my sword, planning on taking a seat nearby and going through the usual motions of cleaning it. I still could never fall back asleep after five, but at least I was starting to become relatively used to it. Somehow that weird mental alarm clock was permanently set; I had moved past the whole Kratos dilemma, but I guess it was going to take a little more than that to get myself to readjust.

"Nngh…m'ready…"

I was startled to hear Lloyd's hushed voice breaking the silence. Looking over, I saw the teen reluctantly beginning to sit up, rubbing his eyes and yawning. What the hell? Lloyd was actually _up?_

Oh, right…we had made plans to train again, hadn't we? I had almost forgotten. But wow, Lloyd was up at five in the morning without anyone else's help. This was a miracle in itself. I mean, it was still dark out!

I shrugged, mildly amused. Keeping my voice down to a whisper, I spoke. "Let's go, then."

He nodded slowly, pushing himself to his feet and absentmindedly strapping his swords to his waist. He didn't even bother to put on his red coat, instead opting for the black tank top he usually slept in. Normally the fall weather was getting a little too cool for that, but near Altamira it was very comfortable even at this time of the morning.

Lloyd didn't protest as I led the way away from where everyone was sleeping. We needed to be far enough away so that we wouldn't wake everyone up, but not so far away that it could be risky should anything unexpected happen. I had an idea, so I headed for the eastern edge of the island.

After a few minutes of walking, I came to a stop. We were at a large expanse of deserted beach. Some parts of it were a bit rocky, but there was a good stretch of sand that had been flattened and smoothed by the waves. The tide was out; perfect.

I glanced over at Lloyd, who was currently yawning again. "You gonna be okay over there?"

He made a face. "When this journey is over, I'm sleeping in every day forever."

"Amen to that," I replied with a laugh. "Do your arms feel like they're going to fall off too?"

Lloyd nodded. "…Yeah. Still want to do this?"

"I guess we can at least give it a shot," I replied.

"Okay." He drew out his swords, falling easily into a fighting stance. "I'm ready when you are. I guess we can just spar for a bit and go from there."

"Sounds good." I nodded, drawing Kerberos. How long had it been since I'd honestly sparred with Lloyd? Months. Before the Tower of Salvation, I knew that much. Man…

"Oh," he said suddenly, frowning. "And…I guess we should keep it simple to start. I mean, it's been so long…"

"And we don't have any healer for flesh wounds," I finished for him, smiling slightly. We were experienced enough not to maim or kill each other, but any accidental cuts that bled too much would have to be brought to the Professor's attention. And she probably wouldn't appreciate having that as a wake up call.

I tilted my head a little. "…Remember those basic attacks and parries Kratos taught us forever ago? Why don't we go through those to warm up?"

Though his eyes darkened a little at the mention of the seraph's name, Lloyd was quick to agree. Those motions had been drilled into our heads more than enough during the regeneration journey.

The next few minutes were filled with the sound of clashing blades. Lloyd struck first and we slipped into the familiar dance, a little clumsy at first but gradually getting the hang of it. We didn't use any techs; we just stuck exclusively to the sword moves, each searching for openings in the other's defense.

We really _were _a lot better now, I realized. Still had a ton of room for improvement—our movements weren't as powerful as Kratos' or as graceful as Zelos'—but we weren't recklessly swinging our blades either. Lloyd was clearly putting thought into his attacks and working to predict my own, and I had enough stamina to keep up with him instead of running out of breath and flopping over three seconds in.

Lloyd still had a lot more strength and stamina than me, though; that was still very obvious. It had been a long time since our last spar, but I was still initially surprised by how much stronger he had gotten. When I first met Lloyd, he had been pretty lanky. But nowadays, whenever I saw him without his coat on, I could see how defined the muscles in his arms were getting, how that tank top was starting to cling to his form a little more. It was kind of crazy.

"Uh…Brit?"

We had paused to take a break, both of us covered in a thin sheen of sweat. I wiped my bangs out of my eyes, snapping out of my train of thought.

"Hm?"

"You were looking at me weird," the teen explained.

I shrugged, walking up to him and poking him on the upper arm. "I was just thinking you're getting kind of muscly."

His eyes lit up and he immediately flashed a pleased grin. "You think so? I guess I've been doing a lot more than when I lived at home."

"Same here," I replied with a snort.

"Zelos said girls like that kind of thing," he noted, looking thoughtful.

I balked. "Since when do you care about _that?_"

"W-Well—I do think about it sometimes!" Lloyd shot back, his cheeks turning faintly pink. He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "I mean…Genis has his awesome magic, Regal's really strong and mature, and Zelos is confident all the time. I'm kinda…" He shrugged helplessly.

"This is what happens when you take Zelos seriously…" I remarked, rolling my eyes. "He probably said something along the lines of 'people like you make me look good,' right?"

"Actually…that's exactly what he said." He gave me a surprised look.

"Yup, I'm just that good," I said with a snort. "Lloyd, for the love of god, please don't take girl advice from Zelos. One shameless womanizer is enough."

"Hmm…"

Lloyd seemed to be mulling this over, so I just shrugged and we moved back into the motions of training. After a few more minutes of this I noted with some satisfaction that I was able to basically slip into autopilot, many of the movements coming naturally. I had always struggled with that—acting without having to think everything through. Sometimes I saw Lloyd make a certain move and I just reacted automatically, having gone through that particular motion plenty of times before. Refining my skills was still a work in progress, but it was good to know that I really was progressing.

By the time we paused to take another break, I felt thoroughly warmed up and ready to begin the real training. At long last, I was finally used to Kerberos' heavier weight. I would certainly hope so, considering how much use the sword had gotten since I'd received it. The blade was still looking sharp and lethal as ever. I'd have to ask Kratos what it was made of someday; it was a hell of a lot sturdier than Loki had been.

The dual swordsman was stretching, catching his breath. It still seemed like his mind was elsewhere. He was still thinking about what Zelos had said? Jeez…

"You realize he was just messing with you, right?" I said between breaths, giving him an amused look.

"Well—yeah," he replied, looking away. "Still, though. How come I can't be cool like Regal?"

I laughed. "Regal has an inherent coolness."

"It's in his hair?"

"What—oh, _Jesus, _Lloyd." I was torn between the urge to groan and laugh hysterically, and settled for smacking my forehead instead.

"Look," I continued before he could say any more, "one thing I've learned during this journey is not to compare myself to the other group members. Everyone else always has something that I lack, and I'm pretty much the most awkward, uncool person on the planet to boot."

"You're not—"

"_Anyway," _I interrupted, "you shouldn't worry about it. I mean, you're a huge dork, but you're also pretty awesome. You're the friend I know I can count on no matter what. I guess what I'm trying to say is, you're fine the way you are."

He faltered, giving me a surprised look. Then it seemed to sink in; he smiled earnestly.

"Heh…thanks. I guess it was kind of a silly thing to worry about, huh?"

"Nah. Everyone needs a self confidence boost every now and then," I assured him.

"In that case…" His smile turned into a full-on grin. "I think you're an awesome dork, too."

"Uh…thank you?" I paused, trying to figure out whether I should be happy or mildly insulted. Finally I just rolled my eyes. "Well, whatever. Fight me, dorkface."

"Right!" Lloyd sobered a bit, falling back into a ready stance.

We spent the next hour training hard. It was difficult without a mentor there to instruct us, but we gradually figured out a process that worked well enough for us. Any time one of us saw a weakness in the other's defense, we'd make sure to bring it up during a break and work on correcting it. Kratos' teachings and structure helped a hell of a lot.

When we weren't sparring, we were working on our techs and attempting to improve the strength of our respective Guardians. We worked to refine Cross Thrust and attempted to think of other ways we could help each other in battle, since it was usually the two of us on the front lines. For one thing, we developed a few signal phrases we could use to let the other know when to use a certain attack.

…Lloyd's ideas were usually silly.

"There's no way I'm shouting that in the middle of battle," I said stubbornly, collapsing on to the sand when we finally called an end to the training session.

Lloyd grinned. "Aw, come on! 'Tiger Festival' sounds awesome! Plus I'll never forget that it means we should both use Tiger Blade."

I rolled my eyes, sheathing Kerberos and leaning back on my hands. "It sounds ridiculous."

"You said we could take turns thinking of signal phrases," he pointed out.

"Fiiiine," I groaned, knowing I was going to regret this but too worn out to care. "Tiger Festival it is."

"All right!" Lloyd pumped a fist in victory, and then flopped down next to me.

The sky above was brightening steadily now. We fell silent for a few seconds, and I enjoyed the sound of the waves crashing on the shore. The water came almost to our feet before receding again. A warm breeze teased my hair; though it was late October, the climate around Altamira always seemed to be warmer.

My heart rate returned to normal, and I found myself relaxing. A sliver of orange light appeared on the horizon.

"Wow…" Lloyd murmured. "I haven't watched the sunrise in ages."

"That's why I wanted to be on this end of the island," I replied, smiling peacefully.

The light grew, bathing the ocean water in a beautiful glow. It was perfectly quiet out here other than the sound of the tide rising and falling. Lloyd and I sat in silence and watched the sun make its way above the horizon.

Ah…this was so familiar.

I used to do this back on Earth…in the summertime I'd go on early morning runs on the beach with my dad, always finishing up by walking out to the end of the jetty to watch the sunrise. Half the time we'd be the only people there. On some mornings we'd catch a glimpse of some seals in the harbor on our way back. Those had been the days…before I graduated high school, when I only went to Maine in the summer to work. Before all of this.

Those days seemed almost like a dream now. I wasn't even the same person anymore. Hell, just yesterday I had participated in a mass burial—

_Next time you want to do something like this, just tell me, okay?_

I paused, remembering something. "…Hey, Lloyd?"

"Hmm?"

"Why _were _you up yesterday morning, anyway?"

He was quiet for a few seconds. I didn't press it, instead feeling content to watch the horizon as I waited. Sunrise…it had to be getting closer to seven a.m., right? Regal and Raine were probably up by now. The mango trees we had camped beneath were visible from here, so I had a feeling they already knew where we were.

Speaking of which, I was really hoping we'd be having something mango or coconut related for breakfast. Dammit, Genis, climb one of those trees!

"…I couldn't sleep. I needed to think, I guess."

I looked up at the sound of Lloyd's voice; he was staring straight ahead, sitting cross-legged.

"Yeah…I couldn't exactly sleep that night, either," I agreed.

"Even if we separate the two worlds…what happens with Cruxis?" He adopted a pensive expression. "Look at what happened to Ozette. They're so powerful…I don't know if separating the worlds will really fix everything."

So that was what he'd been worrying about…

I shrugged. "Since when was there ever a clean-cut solution?"

Lloyd sighed. "You're right. You know, we'll still have a lot to do even after we make all the pacts…"

"No kidding." Oh, Lloyd, if only you knew. "But hey, I'm sure we'll figure something out. We've managed to for everything so far."

"And then there's Earth…" He gave me a sidelong glance, before returning his gaze to the steadily rising sun. "We'll probably have to go after Cruxis if we want to figure out how to get you home."

"Mm." I nodded. "I doubt they'll leave us alone anyway, no matter what happens. Might as well strike first."

Lloyd fell silent for a moment. Now it was my turn to curiously glance over at him; he still seemed troubled about something. I tried to guess what it was, but there was no way to really tell. There were a billion things he could be worrying about. Sylvarant and Iselia? The Desians? Maybe. Kratos? Probably. Cruxis? Probably. Maybe something about Colette?

"Hey…remember how I said there was stuff I wanted to talk to you about?"

"Mmhmm," I said, wanting to help ease his mind. "We've got time. What's up?"

"Back in Meltokio, when I got you to tell me about Earth and everything…"

My stomach sank. "...Yeah?"

"…You never told me the full truth, did you?"

Oh, Jesus. Not good. Not good.

_I trust you._

He had said that to me and he had been there for me when I needed him the most. If I lied to his face, it'd be the same as a betrayal of that same trust. But Kratos and Zelos were the only people I _could _tell. Anyone else…it'd just be too risky!

"Lloyd…" I winced. "Please, no. Not now."

"Just answer the question," he insisted, turning to stare at me hard. He looked like his father.

I couldn't lie. I couldn't lie.

"I…"

The sound of footsteps caused me to immediately trail off. I looked over my shoulder to see the form of Regal approaching, and felt a huge wave of relief rush through me. Thank _god._

"It is a beautiful sunrise, isn't it?" The man said with a faint smile.

"Ah…yeah," Lloyd replied, a little caught off guard. He paused to give me a _this isn't over yet _frown, and then he looked over at Regal again. "Is everyone else up?"

Regal nodded. "Yes. Breakfast is ready, if you're finished here."

"Great. I'm starving." Lloyd relaxed, shrugging off his earlier attitude in favor of a grin.

When we started to head back, I found myself sneaking glances at Lloyd and wondering how he could shift moods so quickly. Wasn't he at least a little ticked that Regal had interrupted at the crucial moment?

Then I remembered that training was going to be a daily thing for us, and felt my stomach sink again. Well, it looked like I was going to have to think of something by the time tomorrow morning rolled around…

* * *

We ate a quick breakfast (someone actually _did _pick some mangoes, since we were low on rations—they were a little under ripe) and finally set off for the seaside resort glittering in the distance. Regal, as expected, remained by our campsite. I almost volunteered to stay with him and keep him company, but the second I made eye contact with him he just smiled knowingly and shook his head.

Aw…but I actually _preferred_ the idea of lazing around with Regal over going to Altamira and finding out a bunch of stuff that I already knew—especially after that thing with Lloyd this morning. Alas, there was no way I could tell him that, so I gave up and went along with the others like I was supposed to.

The walk to Altamira took about an hour; before I knew it, I was back amongst the tall buildings and the beaches and the crowds of tourists. Had it really only been a little over a week since I was last here? It was still crazy to think we had traveled continents in that span of time.

My overall mood now was slightly better than it had been last time, since at least now I didn't have that overhanging gloom resulting from the fight with Zelos. Now it was just the odd feeling of familiarity that was bugging me…that feeling of almost being home, but not quite.

"All right…" Lloyd spoke up, pausing at the front of the group. We all stopped as well, facing him. The towering structure of Hotel Lezareno stood to our right, its windows gleaming with reflected sunlight. To our left was one entrance to the main beach; there were already waitresses running to and fro, setting up chairs and umbrellas near an outdoor bar.

"We're looking for any leads we can get on the Otherworldly Gate," the teen said. "It'll probably be faster if we split up, since this place is so big. Is that okay?"

The Professor nodded. "Yes, that would be for the best. I suppose right here would be a good rendezvous point, then; the hotel is impossible to miss."

"How many groups should we have?" Genis wondered aloud.

"Well, let's see," Zelos said, frowning. "There's one, two, three…eight of us, so…"

Sheena shrugged. "Four pairs, then?"

"I guess that'd be the fastest way," Lloyd said with a nod. Then his eyes suddenly met mine and I was pretty sure all the blood drained from my face. I _knew _that stare. That was the same stare Kratos gave me when he knew he had me cornered.

"So," he continued, "I'll go with—"

"Whoa-ho!" Zelos interrupted gleefully, noticing how I had suddenly launched myself into his personal space to lock arms with him. "Spitfire, you're an eager one, aren't you? Don't worry, you'll have me all to yourself soon enough."

"—Sheena," Lloyd finished, rolling his eyes.

"M-Me?" Sheena was suddenly bashful and awkward, but she got over it pretty quick. "Ah—right. Okay."

"Oh!" Colette clapped her hands together happily. "I'll go with Presea! We never finished our paw pads conversation!"

"…Paw pads?" Raine gave Colette the usual bemused look. I found my lips forming an involuntary smile; I knew exactly what the blonde meant, of course, even though I hadn't overheard that particular exchange. Wasn't Presea supposed to talk to Regal about that too? Heh…

"…I guess it's us, then, sis," Genis said, rubbing the back of his neck. He offered Presea a longing look, but perked up and turned to Raine instead. Sibling bonding time was never a bad thing, after all.

"Right. So let's meet back here in an hour, okay? We don't want to keep Regal waiting too long," Lloyd said.

"You got it, Bud," Zelos replied, giving a half-assed salute and slinging his other arm around my shoulders.

Colette was already excitedly running off, towing a mildly confused Presea by the hand like a younger sister. Lloyd and Sheena nodded to us and left, and Raine paused just long enough to give me a disapproving look before going off with her brother as well.

…And then there were two.

Zelos was grinning like a complete ass, as expected. "Don't you think we're taking this a little too fast, hunny?"

"Oh, shut up." I rolled my eyes, shoving him away and starting to walk.

He followed after, chuckling. "What was _that _about, anyway?"

"Ugh…let's get away from here first," I replied, running a hand through my hair. Lloyd could easily still be around nearby, after all. Dammit, of all the people for me to be avoiding…

"If you insist," the Chosen said with a shrug, and then promptly grabbed my wrist and began dragging me away from the area.

"Zelos! Cut it out—you're making a scene! Stop! Agh—dammit!"

"All your shouting is what's making a scene, hunny!" His amused reply came. I let out a loud groan, finally giving up and resigning myself to embarrassment.

* * *

Somehow or another, we ended up on Altamira's main beach. About twenty minutes had passed and the sun was bright in the sky; it was a perfect, cloudless fall day. Here it felt like it was at least seventy degrees.

The beach here consisted of perfect white sand that stretched for miles, contrasting with crystal clear blue water. It was really hard to believe that it could possibly be late October. How _did _the climate work around here? Maybe Altamira was near Tethe'alla's equator or something? But I was pretty sure there were other regions in the same belt that weren't nearly as warm…

Well, that was a puzzle for another day. Right now I was sitting on some steps that led back up to the street, sipping at a mimosa Zelos had bought me in an obvious attempt to loosen my lips. I sighed as the redhead plopped down next to me, holding his own drink. We didn't have anything to do for the next forty minutes.

Man, I just wanted to enjoy this moment of sitting in the sunshine, but I was too stressed out…what else was new?

"So, now that we're settled…" Zelos stretched, seeming completely at ease. "You already know where this Otherworldly Gate is, which means we get to slack off for the next half hour. Pretty sweet deal, if you ask me."

"Mm…" I replied absently.

"All right, hunny," he said, leaning forward to force himself in my line of sight. "Zelos is here. Go on, tell me everything."

Despite his semi-joking tone, I knew he was serious. I sighed; of course. That had been my intention from the beginning, anyway. It was why I had swallowed my embarrassment and reached out for Zelos, even though Sheena had only been standing a few paces away. I wanted to talk to him because he was the only one who would understand.

So I took a deep breath and then related everything that Lloyd had said to me this morning, staring into my drink as I did so. Just talking about it made me worry even more. I couldn't lie, but I _had _to lie. So inevitably I was going to lose Lloyd's trust and maybe even his friendship…the thought of it made me a little nauseous and gave me a panicked, helpless feeling. The anger and betrayal that would be in his eyes when he found out I—

"Oh, man. Y'know, you're really not giving Lloyd enough credit."

"Huh?" I looked up, snapping out of my thoughts.

Zelos was smirking slightly, looking out at the ocean. "This is Lloyd we're talking about. He didn't even doubt you for one second when Cruxis kidnapped you. It took Yuan showing up to get everyone else on board, but he never wavered."

My shoulders slumped a bit as I mulled this over.

_I believe you._

He had said that back then, hadn't he? And then I had conveniently disappeared…nothing about me ever added up, and I had never told the truth about some things despite promising I would…and yet in the end Lloyd still came through. Yggdrasill had said everyone would leave me behind, that I was better off giving in and returning home where I belonged. But Lloyd…

"Listen." Zelos met my gaze evenly. "Anyone would be pissed in his position—but Lloyd's not gonna suddenly start hating you for this. He's not that type of guy. Hell, he can't even hate _Kratos._"

"But still…" I murmured.

"Just tell him what you can," the redhead said. "Worse comes to worst, you'll have to spill it all. It's not like that's the end of the world. Have some faith in the guy—you had faith in _me _for some reason, and I don't even deserve it."

"You're proving that you do even now," I said quietly, biting my lip.

"Hmm?"

I shook my head with a smile. "Nothing. Zelos…thanks. I think I know what I need to do now."

He was right…this was Lloyd we were talking about. Maybe I couldn't tell him everything, but at the very least I could explain myself…I had to try. There had to be a way…

"Great!" Zelos grinned. "So perk up, hunny. It's a beautiful day, the sun is shining, and you're sitting next to the one and only Zelos Wilder—what more could you want in life?"

"Maybe another mimosa," I replied, handing him my empty glass.

"Fair enough," he said with a snort. Rather than get up, he just caught a passing waitress carrying a tray of drinks and offered her some gald with a wink. She blushed, pulling one of the glasses off and handing it to him before continuing on her way.

I took the drink, shaking my head. "That was probably meant for someone el—you're a terrible person."

"Hey, they can make a new one, can't they?" He pushed the glass into my hands. "An easy life is the best life—that's my mantra. Sometimes that involves paying people off, but hey, why not?"

"I rest my case," I declared, taking a sip of the drink. "…This has vodka in it."

"Oops," Zelos said completely unapologetically, and I smacked him.

…Yeah, it was going to be a fun morning.

* * *

Despite the fact that we had done absolutely nothing the entire time, Zelos and I somehow ended up being the last ones back to the rendezvous point. Thankfully we were only about five minutes late by my estimate, and the others were too distracted to be annoyed. Everyone looked pretty glum.

"Yo Lloyd, why the long face?" Zelos asked as we walked up.

The teen hesitated. "It's…"

"Presea and Colette encountered someone that seems to know of Presea's sister," the Professor explained. "…Her grave is on the Sky Terrace of Lezareno Company headquarters. We were going to stop by there, if you're ready."

"Wait, hold on a sec." Zelos' eyebrows flew up. "Her _grave? _Are you saying—"

The look on the others' faces was enough answer. His face fell. "Ah…man."

I didn't say anything, simply looking away. This damn foreknowledge…I couldn't even have a genuine reaction to this. I had known Presea's sister was dead even before she did. How could I keep that from showing on my face?

"…Well, okay then." The redhead said, recovering with the usual unsettling speed. "If that's what you want, I guess I can lead the way. I know Altamira like the back of my hand."

"Please," Presea said quietly.

"Yeah. Let's go," Lloyd added.

So we set off, making our way through the growing crowds that dominated Altamira's main drag. I followed along and hoped my silence would be interpreted as depression rather than a lack of feeling. I just couldn't feel shocked and upset at something I had known for _years._

The walk to the Elemental Railway station took at least an hour; Altamira was huge, and this was the first real sight I had gotten of it. Regardless, I attempted to keep my eyes glued to Zelos' back, not wanting to get distracted with the sights. Altamira wasn't going anywhere; I could always come here another time when I could actually enjoy it. Maybe when this was all over, if I managed to survive.

Still, it was very hard not to gape when I saw the Elemental Railway. There were four different lines; one ran exclusively to and from the Lezareno building, one led to the amusement park, and two led to dozens of different points around the city. Transports ran every half hour; we only had to wait six minutes before the next one arrived and we could pile in.

There was a charge for riding, though it was relatively cheap and apparently there were special passes available for people who used the railway frequently or worked for Lezareno. The carts had comfortable cushioned seats and the train itself ran directly on the water, mainly in the shallows. The resulting experience was breathtaking. We traveled along the edge of the island, catching a view of Altamira from the sea. It reminded me strongly of all those spring break pictures I had seen of Miami Beach.

Finally we came to a tall building that was set apart from the others on its own little peninsula—the company headquarters. The train came to a stop, and the conductor opened the doors so we could get off.

"Well, here we are," Zelos said when we reached the front doors. He turned to us. "But you're probably gonna have some trouble getting in, you know. This building's not exactly open to the public."

"Presea, do you still have the ID card that man gave you?" Colette asked.

The girl nodded slowly, pulling something from her pocket. "…Yes."

"Huh?" Zelos walked over, examining the card for a moment. "That card…is that the guy you saw?"

"Uh huh," Colette replied. "He gave us his card so they'd let us in. Do you know him?"

"Hmm…nope." He smiled, and I immediately got the sense that he was lying. "But hey, he must be important if that's all it takes to get us in. Come on, let's give it a shot."

As expected, it worked. The security guard took one look at the ID card and his eyes widened with recognition; he immediately granted us access to the elevator. We got in and pressed the button for the top floor. I leaned against the back wall of the car, absently wondering what Regal was doing, alone with his thoughts at our campsite outside of the city.

* * *

"Alicia…what happened to you?"

I hadn't seen Presea wearing that expression since the day I had sat beside her on her front steps, watching the others bury her father. Distraught. Lost. Lonely…I couldn't imagine what it must feel like.

Now that I was actually here, standing in front of the grave, I felt some genuine emotion coming back to me. This was reality. Up until now, Presea had probably fostered the hope that she wasn't completely alone—she had lost her father and her hometown…her sister was the last one she had left.

The Sky Terrace was absolutely gorgeous. To look over the side of the building was to behold a sight of the entirety of Altamira and the ocean beyond; since it was a clear day, I could see as far as Heimdall. But I could also see the Tower of Salvation, which brought me right back to the issue at hand.

"Is that an Exsphere?" Lloyd spoke up, gesturing to the gem embedded in the gravestone. When Presea approached it, it began to glow slightly.

"Why is there an Exsphere…?" Presea froze, her hand reached out as if to touch it. Suddenly an image began to appear in the air before the grave.

It was an image of a pretty girl with pink hair; she looked to be about my age, and she bore an unmistakable resemblance to Presea. They had the same piercing blue eyes, though Alicia's seemed a great deal warmer.

"_Presea…sis! It's you, isn't it?"_

The faint voice rang out, and half of us took a step back. The translucent figure was most definitely the one speaking.

"A-Alicia?!" Presea choked out, beginning to shake.

"_I'm so happy I could see you again before I disappear," _the girl said, but her smile was terribly sad.

"What's going on? Are…Are you still alive?"

Alicia shook her head slowly. "_I…I'm sorry. I exist only here, in the Exsphere…it killed my body and absorbed my consciousness. Soon, even my consciousness will disappear as well…"_

"No…so even you have become a victim…" Presea whispered.

"_Presea, please…I have one final request. Before I disappear completely, you must find my master—find Master Bryant." _Even as she spoke, Alicia's image was already beginning to fade.

"Wait! Bryant—the noble you went to serve?" Presea took a step forward, her voice taking on a panicked note.

"_Yes," _the girl confirmed. "_By killing me…he…"_

"Alicia! Please, wait!" Presea called, but it was too late. Alicia's voice had faded, her figure disappearing completely. But the Exsphere still held that faint glow…almost as if letting us know that she was still there.

Presea paused, staring at the ground. Her fists were clenched. "He…He killed you?" She was silent for a long moment. When she finally did look up, I could see that she was holding back tears. Whether they were from anger or grief, I couldn't tell.

"Everyone," she said quietly, "please help me find this man…Alicia's killer."

"Of course," Lloyd said solemnly. "We'll drag him back here and make him answer for what he did. You can count on it."

"We won't let him get away with killing your sister!" Genis assured her immediately.

She was silent once more. I heard her take a deep breath, seeming to collect herself. Then she nodded.

"…Thank you."

* * *

Before leaving Altamira, Raine asked Zelos to direct us to the nearest market so that we could replenish our supplies before departing. Thankfully the mundane activity of shopping was enough to lift the mood, if only a little. It was a distraction, anyway.

Due to Presea's desire to avoid the topic, somehow we managed not to bring up her past when we met back up with Regal. Instead the conversation mainly surrounded the Otherworldly Gate and what we had learned. Lloyd and Sheena had gotten the all-important information of the Gate's location, so we quickly packed everything up and set off.

Once again I ended up on a Rheaird with Lloyd, but he didn't mention our earlier exchange at all. At least he understood the importance of time and place. The trip to the Gate didn't take much longer than an hour; it was probably a little bit after noon by the time we landed on the island. With its huge rock columns reaching up towards the sky, it was kind of impossible to miss.

"Wow…" Colette murmured as we placed our Rheairds back into the Wing Pack. "It's so big!"

It was. The Gate was a formation of three enormous rock pillars arranged in a triangle, each of them at least thirty or forty feet tall. They were covered in strange markings that didn't look anything like any language I had ever seen. Surrounding the three main pillars was a wide circle of smaller ones; those were probably a foot or two taller than me at most. The incredibly old feeling of the place reminded me distinctly of Stonehenge.

The Professor didn't wait up for us. I looked away for one second, and the next time I looked over, she was already standing near the center of the structure.

"…What's got Raine so worked up?" Sheena finally asked, frowning. The rest of the group was still standing together near the edge of the ruins. "I mean, I know she loves ruins, but this seems a little different."

"I know what you mean," Genis replied with a troubled look. "She's been acting a little strange ever since we heard about this place."

"Let's go over and see what's up," Lloyd suggested.

We made our way deeper into the circle of stones. Raine was moving between the three main pillars, examining them intently. As we walked closer, we saw her finally step back and fall still, just staring at the stones.

She turned her head slightly at our approach, acknowledging us, but quickly went back to looking straight ahead.

Lloyd was the first to speak up. "Professor, what is it?"

"…It's just as I thought," she replied with a sigh. "These are the same ruins…I know this place."

"What are you talking about?" Genis asked. "We've never been here before."

"No, Genis…you and I have been here," Raine said quietly. "…This is where we were abandoned."

"…Wh-What?"

"What're you talking about? You guys are from Sylvarant." Lloyd shook his head. "Genis and I grew up together. How could you two have been here?"

"He's right, Raine. I don't remember this place at all," Genis protested.

She turned to us, looking downcast. "I happened to catch sight of this place when we rescued Colette, and it's been on my mind ever since. Then, when I heard the story about the two poles which connect the two worlds, I became certain."

The Professor turned her gaze back to the ruin. "Ever since my childhood, I've had images of this place in my mind. This is the ruin I've been searching for my entire life."

"So what do you mean? The two of you were born in Tethe'alla?" Sheena asked.

Genis shook his head. "All of my memories are of Iselia! We have to be from Sylvarant!"

"We were born and raised in the village of the elves, from which we were eventually ostracized. We were abandoned here because this was said to be the path to the legendary Sylvarant." Raine turned to look at her brother. "Genis…you were only a newborn. You were too young to remember, but I…"

She pressed a hand to her forehead, looking exhausted. "…Somehow, we eventually ended up in Sylvarant. That was when our years of traveling started…before we finally found Iselia."

Suddenly I understood the reason for her exhaustion. She was feeling the weight of those memories. Abandoned at such a young age and forced to care for a newborn child, not to mention being of a race that was discriminated heavily against…I couldn't imagine what she must have gone through in the time before she'd found Iselia. And even after finding Iselia, she and Genis had to lie about their race just to be accepted into normal society.

"I can't believe it," Genis murmured. "Raine, does that mean our parents…?"

"I don't know," she said. "They may still be alive. But perhaps…we're better off not knowing."

At this, Genis' shoulders slumped and he looked incredibly depressed. Oh, no…to have the sense that even your own _parents _hated your race enough to abandon you…he had to know that wasn't the case, right? Ugh…that poor kid.

At length, Raine sighed. "Regardless…I have the closure I was seeking, and perhaps the answer to our problem as well. This may indeed be able to take us to Sylvarant—but I'm not sure how to use it."

"That's right," Lloyd said, frowning. "Everyone knew where it was, but they just kinda made it seem like it'd zap you over. Maybe if you stand in the middle long enough?"

"She was just standing in the middle and nothing happened," Sheena pointed out.

"Um…" I opened my mouth before I could stop myself, and everyone turned to stare at me.

"Yes? What is it?" Raine asked.

"Well, one of the people we asked said it only worked on the night of the full moon," I replied.

"The full moon…huh." Lloyd looked up at the sky, but of course it was only midday; the sky was a bright shade of blue.

"…That's unfortunate," Regal murmured.

"Oh—oh no!" Genis jerked a little when it clicked for him too. "The full moon was last night, remember?!"

"I apologize," Regal murmured. "Perhaps if I hadn't held you all back, you could have learned that information earlier…"

My stomach churned and I was sure I went ghostly pale. Last night? No…how could it have been last night? First Mithos wasn't with us, and now…was it because I diverted things from their normal course by going to Ozette with Lloyd? Was it because we hadn't come here in a rush, chasing after Raine?

But if we didn't have the saving grace of being sucked into Sylvarant, then what would happen when Kuchinawa showed up?

Suddenly I found myself completely tense, looking around us carefully without trying to be too obvious. I didn't see any Papal Knights; there was nowhere they could actually hide, unless they were somehow crouched behind those shorter stone columns. But that couldn't be…there was no way they could've snuck up on us without giving away their positions. I had looked around since arriving here without seeing any movement, and Colette had never hinted that she heard anything strange like the clinking of armor. Not to mention Sheena even had Corrine out, and the summon spirit would've given us a warning well ahead of time…

Maybe in reality he would show up with a group of ninjas? No…could he amass that kind of force? Mizuho would have caught on if that were the case, right?

I felt someone elbow me, and looked over to see Zelos staring. The others were too busy assuring Regal that it wasn't his fault to notice our little exchange. The redhead raised his eyebrows in inquiry, and I just bit my lip and looked away.

This wasn't right…

"Damn," Lloyd finally said, shaking his head. "Well, either way, we can't use the Otherworldly Gate until the next full moon. We don't have that kind of time."

"And even then, we don't know for sure that it'll actually work," Sheena added with a frown.

"What do we do, then?" Genis asked.

"In the worst case scenario, we may simply have to wait," Regal said. "If I recall correctly, we still have the pact with Shadow to make. Why not take care of that in the meantime?"

"Yeah, that's a good idea," Lloyd agreed. "We'll have to make that pact no matter what, right? It doesn't matter if we do it now or later, so we might as well do it now. Maybe we'll have another idea while we're at it."

"I'm sure we'll think of something!" Colette piped up. "I mean, we have for everything so far, right?"

"Right," Sheena said with a smile. "Well, it'll probably take two days or so to get to the Temple of Darkness from here. Should we get going?"

"That would probably be for the best," Raine replied, looking up at the sky. "If we set out now, we may be able to reach one of the Houses of Guidance by nightfall."

"A real bed? I'm in," Zelos finally piped up. "Right, spitfire?"

"Ah—yeah," I replied, distracted. I was only half aware of what the others were saying, still furtively trying to glance around to assure that the area was safe.

Everyone began to walk to the edge of the island to take out the Rheairds and set off; I lagged behind, looking over my shoulder at the ruins. No Papal Knights, no Kuchinawa? It was kind of a relief, but at the same time…what was going on?

I had nervous butterflies in my stomach. Something was gonna happen, right? Maybe we were leaving too soon. Something had to happen; something was _supposed _to happen here—

"Brit? What's wrong?" That was Sheena. She was frowning at me, but it was more concern than anything else.

"Um…" I rubbed the back of my neck. "It's nothing."

"You've been strangely quiet since we arrived," Regal pointed out, tilting his head slightly. "Are you certain nothing is amiss?"

I forced a laugh. "Don't worry about it. This place just reminds me of some old ruins on Earth I've heard about. I guess I got kinda homesick; sorry if I worried you."

"Fascinating…" Raine suddenly got a scary spark in her eyes. "Your world must have a rich history. I'd love to hear about it."

"I'm kinda curious too," Lloyd added. "C'mon, you can tell us about it when we get to the House of Guidance." He got on his Rheaird, gesturing for me to follow.

I reluctantly did so, resisting the urge to look over my shoulder again. The others would really catch on to my lie if I did anything else suspicious.

We took off from the island and nothing came to stop us. There was no invisible barrier preventing us from deviating from the plot; we just left, and it was done. Just like that, everything was derailed and I had no idea what we were heading into.

…It was nerve-wracking. Sitting on the Rheaird, I clung to Lloyd and attempted to think of a way to salvage this and get things back on track. There was really nothing to be done except proceed with the pact…

I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to steady my breathing, hoping against hope that things would work out for the best. At this point, it was all I could do.

* * *

**A/N: Yay, plot derailment! It only took me forever to actually pull off!**

**Gah, this chapter was hard. I'm excited to start ignoring the game script. XD**

**Well, I have nothing else to say...review and you can come poke paw pads with Presea! 8D**

**Next time: Temple of Darkness...early?**


	57. Tomodachi

**A/N: AGH FINALLY**

**April was just...fun. D8 We'll put it that way. All my finals/final projects at the same time hnnngh. Happens every semester. Anyway, school's over for me till fall so I hauled ass and managed to get this done! Whooo!**

**Oh, and for those of you who don't know...OC Brit now has a tumblr to replace her formspring. Ask all your questions here: askocbrit. tumblr. com**

**Aaaand if you feel like it you can check out my personal tumblr: noa748. tumblr. com**

******Anyway, I've gotta work in the morning, so I won't say much else here (even though later I'm going to remember a billion things I meant to say, as per usual).**

**Enjoy!**

**(...yes, chapter title is another Graces reference hurrhurr)**

* * *

Sleep was impossible to find that night.

We did make it to the House of Guidance and some real beds, but having a roof over my head did nothing to calm my nerves. It would've almost been better if we had camped outside, because then I could've at least offered to take watch rather than waste my time tossing and turning.

It was probably close to one in the morning when I finally gave up, looking around to make sure Sheena was asleep before getting up and slipping out of our room.

The stairs leading to the ground floor were made of stone, thankfully, so I didn't have to worry about any creaks. The building was silent as I made my way down and out the front door, taking Kerberos and my bag with me as a precaution.

A few minutes later, I was sitting on a bench about thirty feet away from the entrance. The night air was a bit chilly. A single lamppost was to my right, illuminating the path, but beyond was darkness in all directions. A chorus of crickets kept me company; other than that, I was alone. The monsters in Tethe'alla were kept in check, so I didn't really have to worry. They seldom approached human establishments.

My notebook was in my lap. Over the months it had gained some obvious signs of wear and tear, the edges of the paper dulled, some pages wrinkled by water damage. The first page held my list of the group members' birthdays; the next dozen or so were covered in notes and reminders to myself, as well as the "notes" I had taken during the Professor's lectures—doodled portraits of whoever was sitting nearby at the time.

I paused for a moment, feeling my lips twitch as I found a few of Kratos that I had forgotten about. Lloyd was sleeping in half of the pictures since that's what he had been actually doing at the time; Genis was attentive, Colette was smiling, Raine was either yelling or wearing her resolute lecture-mode expression…now that I was looking, just about every group member had a spot here. Well, except for Zelos, anyway—I hadn't quite mastered him yet, because every time I tried to use him as a subject he would catch on to my staring. There was actually an entire page of half-finished, frustrated doodles devoted to him. Jeez…Kratos had caught me staring too, but back then it had been more hilarious than anything else because the thought that maybe I could creep him out was just too great.

Now I snorted lightly; a tiny, distracted smile made its way on to my face. Thinking about "back then," and even the present…it gave me a warm feeling. We'd all been through a lot, but we'd had some good times too, hadn't we? The fact that I cared about them all so much—it was why I was so distraught now. This wasn't just some distant, fictional world anymore. This was their home, and they were the closest friends I'd ever had.

That was why…

I took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. That was why I had to figure this out. For their sakes. Maybe I had screwed up the plot somewhere along the line, but it wasn't all lost. I knew the key elements of what was _supposed _to happen, how we were supposed to win. I had to make sure it happened no matter what.

Picking up a pen from my bag, I lowered my hand and began to write. I would never be able to sleep if I didn't at least sort some of this out.

_1.)_

The number glared at me. _Conditions to win. _ What were the essentials? I bit my lip and lowered the pen to the paper once more.

_1.) Summon spirit pacts (Shadow, Efreet, Sylph, Luna)._

_2.) Cure Colette (Zircon, mana leaf herb, mana fragment)._

_3.) Release Origin's seal._

_4.) Forge Ring of the Pact (acquire Aionis)._

I paused, about to write _Defeat Yggdrasill,_ but that seemed like kind of a given. That was all, wasn't it? There was a ton of other stuff that was supposed to happen, but these were the things we _needed _to do in order to come out on top. It all really came down to needing the power of the summon spirits and the Eternal Sword. With that strength as well as all of our power combined, we would be able to win.

But despite the shortness of the list, it was far from simple. There were so many other factors at play now. For one thing, I was here. Corrine was still alive, and Kuchinawa could choose to attack at any time. We weren't in Sylvarant. Mithos wasn't with us. I had exchanged too much information with Kratos, which might influence his actions. We were doing the Temple of Darkness too early—weren't we supposed to rescue Kate in Meltokio? Was she even going to be there? God, was she going to be executed later because we weren't there at the right time?

My hands were trembling as my mind raced. So many _what ifs._ It was too much. Which was worse—allowing bad things to happen to keep the plot on track, or preventing bad things and somehow causing the situation to be much worse?

_"No, it's just...well, say there's two paths. You know one leads to where you need to go, but if you take it you'll lose something very important. The other path lets you keep that important thing, but you don't know where it'll lead. Which one would you take?"_

_"Sometimes the end point isn't quite as important as the journey itself. I suppose I would ask myself if it was really worth giving up that important thing simply to have the comfort of knowing what lies ahead."_

I closed my eyes, remembering Regal's words from that day. Was it worth it? Was Kratos right in saying that the predetermined path was the most destructive one? When things could go so horribly wrong either way…

_"Then who cares about those two routes? I'd just make my own path and make it go where I want."_

The memory of Lloyd's words steadied my breathing a bit. That was right. It was time to let go of that stupid attachment to the plot and forge my own way. We were going to win. We were going to win, and I was going to save as many people as possible.

Taking a deep breath, I pressed the tip of the pen to the paper again and began writing. It looked like I had my answer for Kratos after all.

Sleep was a lost cause—instead, I spent the next hour sitting outside and filling a few pages with notes. Rather than letting the _what if _questions swirl around in my head until I went crazy, I put them all on paper and attempted to work out potential solutions, scribbling like a madwoman. There were so many awful scenarios in my head that I was almost overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information I was writing down, but it was kind of liberating to be able to do it.

Going to Sylvarant wasn't such a big deal—we'd get access to the Rheairds sooner or later. Mithos? He wasn't going to do anything crazy unless Kratos or Yuan revealed themselves to be traitors. I would have to keep a strict watch out for Kuchinawa—maybe warn Zelos about it so he could help me. If I was going to ally myself with Kratos, maybe he could provide me some outside information about what was going on as well. If we couldn't save Kate because we were too early, I was going to break out the waterworks and beg Kratos to. And as for everything else…

There were a lot of things I just couldn't predict at this point. It felt good to write this out, but the burden of it all still weighed me down. It was already in my personality to worry too much and overthink things; I would have to be careful not to let myself get too worked up. If I wanted to forge a new path, I would have to keep a level head and stop the anxiety from getting me down.

Easier said than done. Deep breaths…my heart was racing again. The page I was on was crammed with information, every line written on with tiny notes in the margins, places underlined, diagrams drawn, arrows pointing to correlating information. It was practically a representation of the clusterfuck that was my brain at the moment.

"You're still up too, huh?"

I jerked at the sudden voice, quickly shutting the notebook and tucking it under my arm. For a moment I almost reached for my sword, but then the sight of Lloyd walking up registered and I forced myself to relax. Just Lloyd…it was fine.

"Yeah…" I lessened my hold on the notebook, lowering it slowly to the bench so it wouldn't look suspicious. "Couldn't sleep."

Lloyd nodded, coming over to sit next to me. "I was up talking to Genis for a while." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I think he's finally gone to sleep, but now _I'm _the one who's wide awake."

"Genis?" I raised my eyebrows. Then I thought about it for a second and it clicked. "Oh—oh, right…it's bothering him, isn't it?"

"Their parents just left them there…" His hands clenched into fists, and he stared into his lap. "I wish I could do more to make him feel better. Professor Sage, too. They didn't deserve to be abandoned like that."

I pressed a hand to his shoulder. "…There's not much you can do about the past, but I'm sure they appreciate your support, Lloyd. The fact that you're upset for them is enough."

Hell, it was more than I had offered. I had been so consumed with my own problems today that I had completely forgotten about what might be troubling the Sage siblings. Maybe I ought to try talking to one of them…but what would I even say? Agh, it was useless. Sometimes I really wished I could be more like Lloyd.

"Maybe…" Lloyd mumbled. He leaned back against the bench, looking up at the stars. Casually, he asked, "What about you? Is something bothering you?"

"I've just got a lot on my mind, I guess," I replied slowly. It was the truth—a vague understatement, but the truth nonetheless.

"Homesick?" he asked. "You mentioned that those ruins reminded you of Earth."

If he was gonna provide me with an excuse, I'd take it. I just nodded. "This place called Stonehenge. I've never been there, but I've seen pictures. They're kind of similar."

Lloyd frowned. "I wonder if that's how you get to Earth? Maybe Earth has an Otherworldly Gate too."

Ugh, if only it were that easy. Then again, it'd still be a bitch getting home if I were teleported to Stonehenge. That'd make for an awesome sightseeing trip, though.

"I dunno if it works that way," I replied with a slight smile. "After all, the two worlds are connected. Earth isn't. It doesn't have mana or summon spirits or any of that."

He was still unconvinced. "Still, though. What about everything else you were talking about with the Professor a while back? Like how we're speaking the same language and stuff."

That made me falter a bit. "Well…I don't really know about that." The game was the connection; but what were the chances that Yggdrasill had chosen Earth of all places? It couldn't just be some cosmic coincidence.

"There'll be a way," Lloyd assured me. He pressed a warm hand to my shoulder. "We've come this far, right? We'll find a way to get you home—even if I have to find that Yggdrasill guy and beat it out of him."

He was serious. My lips turned up in a wider smile and I fiddled absently with the corners of my notebook. Homesickness hadn't been what was really bothering me, but I appreciated his effort to cheer me up. There were definitely days where I needed to hear those words.

After a moment I saw him grimace a little. "Uh…I know it's not exactly the same, but I'm kind of starting to understand what you must be going through."

"Sylvarant?" I asked, tilting my head.

He nodded. "I guess I was hoping we'd get to go back earlier. I miss Dad…and Tethe'alla is so different. And I know I can't go back, but I miss Iselia too." The teen closed his eyes, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. "A lot of stuff has really changed since we all set out on this journey. And…there's a lot of stuff that'll never really be the same, you know?"

"Oh, trust me, I know exactly what you mean," I said immediately; those words really resonated with me.

That feeling of longing, regret and missed opportunities…I remembered feeling it first when my parents split up years ago. So many things changed as the family splintered apart; we eventually patched things up, but it was never what it once was. Sometimes things were going great and then life swooped in to uproot everything, and you realized afterwards that maybe you weren't appreciating the little things as much as you should have.

Like now…maybe everything at home would be pretty much the same when I went back, but me as a person? I was never going to be quite the same. I could never go back to being a regular high school graduate, the naïve teenager who still went to the mall with her friends on the weekends and played video games in her spare time.

I breathed a sigh. "I think it's part of growing up…and growing up sucks."

He nodded. "Sometimes, yeah…but you know what? If I hadn't gone on this journey, I never would've met you or the others—that's how I keep thinking about it. And besides, what's so great about the old me? I was an idiot back then."

That startled me into a laugh. "Me too." And that spawned a new question in my mind—if I could take it all back, would I? Would I stop Yggdrasill from involving me in the first place and preserve my old way of life?

…With the knowledge I had now, I just…no. I couldn't. The weight of foreknowledge was sometimes an overwhelming burden, but my experiences here had changed my perspective. I wanted to keep trying—trying to help the people I cared about. The people who had helped me through some of the most difficult times in my life.

"I guess there's really no point in having regrets," I said, leaning back as well. "I'm glad I met you, Lloyd. You and everyone else. That's why I…"

For a moment I trailed off, staring up at the sky and attempting to gather my thoughts. Now was the time, wasn't it? He hadn't brought it up, but I knew it was on his mind. The question would inevitably be asked again, and next time Regal wouldn't be there to interrupt.

"Why you what?" Lloyd glanced over at me; when he saw my expression, his curiosity changed to a knowing look.

"…It's why I've been lying," I whispered, clutching my notebook tightly. "I know that sounds awful, but…" A deep breath, released slowly. "You were right. I never did tell you the full truth. It's just, if I did…" I didn't know how to go about this. It was hard to gather my thoughts when every part of my mind was telling me to shut up; instead I just spoke from the heart, even though my words were stilted and awkward because I didn't know what to say.

He turned his gaze skyward again, frowning. "You know things that you shouldn't. I've been talking to Colette and Genis and they see it, too."

I paused. "Colette and Genis?"

"Genis said you attacked Rodyle without any sort of warning," Lloyd explained quietly. "Maybe he was acting suspicious, but it's not like you to try to kill someone just for that. Colette says you knew his name, too—before we even found out what it was. It was back in Ozette, when we first found Presea's father. She said you were trying to tell her something, something he was going to do when we came back with Presea's Key Crest…but I interrupted you, and you wouldn't talk about it after that."

My blood froze. I remembered trying to warn her back then—I had dropped Rodyle's name? Damn…of course she'd remember that. Especially considering that something very significant _had _happened when we returned to Ozette.

"You knew Rodyle was a Desian from the beginning," Lloyd continued. "Oh, and then there was that time we were caught by the Renegades. Colette says you convinced the guards _you _were the Chosen, even revealed that you knew about the Renegades. You made a story up later that she believed—until we found out who the Renegades _really _were. Do you know why she's kept quiet this whole time?"

When I was quiet in response, he continued. "She _trusts _you, that's why. That's what friends do. They trust each other."

His words left me speechless. So many things I had said and then forgotten, assuming that since I hadn't been confronted, the others had forgotten too. But Colette…had she been mulling these things over this whole time? Despite all of my lies, she still earnestly tried to help me…and Genis, too. I found myself remembering the way Genis had been staring at me after the incident with Rodyle, how he'd spent the next day walking ahead of the group with Lloyd as the two discussed things in hushed voices.

"You hated Cruxis from the start," the teen said. "When I told Remiel about you back at the Tower of Mana, you completely blew up. And when I asked you about it later, you said it had something to do with the stuff you couldn't tell me. Your story about Earth doesn't explain the way you acted back then at all. It's like…you knew what Cruxis was really like ahead of time, too. I guess it's not that surprising, considering you knew about the Renegades too, but…" He ran a hand through his hair, shaking his head.

"Lloyd…" I murmured.

He turned to look me in the eyes. "I want to know what this is all about. None of this makes sense. If you're really from Earth, how could you have known those things? You can tell me—you trust me, don't you?"

"It's not that I don't trust you!" I insisted, turning to face him fully, forcing myself not to look away. "It's…Lloyd…dammit, this is selfish as hell, but I _really _need you to place your faith in me for this one."

I took a deep breath, releasing it slowly. "I know it looks bad. But this isn't the same as when I wouldn't tell you about Earth. I know that if I told you, you'd believe me…everyone in the group would believe me." A pause. "…But if I told you, it would put us in a serious amount of danger."

His eyes widened. "What?"

"I'm not exaggerating," I replied. "This is something I have to keep to myself, at least while we're still under close scrutiny from Cruxis. And you can see I've been doing a shitty enough job of it—what if we all had to keep the secret?" Finally I turned away, worriedly beginning to wring my wrists. "I care about all of you. That's why I have to bear this burden on my own for now."

"Bear the burden on your—you sound like Colette!" Lloyd growled.

I waved my hands defensively. "I'm not thinking of sacrificing myself or anything, if that's what you—"

"It's the same thing!" He interrupted, his voice rising in volume. "You're still making yourself suffer to 'protect' us!"

"Lloyd," I hissed, reaching out to grip his shoulders tightly.

He fell silent, calming down a bit, but his expression was still full of anger and steadfast determination.

"Please. _Please," _I begged. "I need you to trust me on this. I might change my mind later but right now, I _can't _spill the beans. Okay? I promise I'm going to explain everything soon, but not now. You'll understand why when I tell you—you and the others."

"Putting it off again…" Lloyd frowned, staring me down.

But then, after what seemed like an impossibly long few seconds, he slowly nodded and his shoulders slumped.

"…All right. I don't know what you're hiding, but we've been through so much—I trust you. I know that you have a good reason for not telling me."

A rush of relief ran through me and I could've cried right then. "Lloyd, thank you—"

"But you have to keep your promise," he cut me off, giving me another one of his disturbingly Kratos-like looks. "And this time, I'm setting the deadline."

I felt myself pale a few shades. "Um…when?"

"As soon as we make the last pact," he replied. "That should be enough time, right? If it's not, figure out how to make it work. After we separate the worlds we'll have to fight Cruxis, and I don't want there to be any secrets then."

"Oh…okay…" I said slowly, my stomach churning. The last pact? The Tower of Mana…Jesus Christ. I was already worried enough about that.

I could tell from the look in Lloyd's eyes that there would be no getting out of this. He trusted me right now, even after everything, and that was already way more than I deserved. If I wanted to maintain our friendship, I had to do this. Ugh, and I had been really hoping that I could put off telling everyone until after the worlds had been reunited…

"Fine," I said. "I promise."

He finally relaxed then, giving me a tired smile. "Right. I won't say anything more about it until then."

We were quiet for a minute then, and despite what I had agreed to I felt a bit of a weight lifted off my shoulders. At least now I knew when the shit was going to hit the fan, rather than it being a looming uncertainty hanging over my head like a dark cloud. Hopefully I would have enough time to figure things out between now and then. If not, well…it wouldn't be the first time things blew up in my face.

A few minutes passed, and I found myself suddenly exhausted. I turned my head to see that Lloyd was beginning to nod off as well.

"Mm…" He pressed a hand to his forehead. "I think I'll be able to sleep now. Can we skip training? It's already practically time to get up…"

"I don't think we've been out here _that _long," I said, laughing quietly. But I definitely liked his idea—at any rate, we'd be getting up in three or four hours if we did choose to train. "Still, I agree…I'm ready to crash."

We drowsily got up from the bench, heading back down the path to the House of Guidance and quietly stepping in through the front door. Everything was still dark and silent when we made our way inside. The interior was comfortable and warm, a welcome change after the chilly night air. Now I was practically ready to fall asleep on my feet.

Lloyd yawned widely, and I yawned in response. We nodded to each other in a short goodnight before making our way in opposite directions; he was sleeping in a room with Genis on the ground floor, while I was upstairs.

I trudged up the stairs, my muddled thoughts trained solely on the idea of a bed and snuggling under the covers. There was a dim lamp lit at the end of the hallway that illuminated everything just enough for me to see the outline of the door to my room. I felt for the doorframe, finally finding the knob and fumbling with it for a moment before creaking the door open slowly. The room inside was almost completely dark; the curtains on the window were drawn and precious little moonlight could make its way through.

The silence and the darkness drew me in completely. Not even bothering to close the door behind me all the way, I set my things down, draping my coat haphazardly over a nearby chair.

The rest was really a blur. All I really remembered was stumbling over to a bed and crawling in beneath the blanket, falling asleep before my head even hit the pillow. My last coherent thought was that it was delightfully warm under the covers.

_"AGH! GET OUT, YOU PERVERT!"_

The peaceful darkness of sleep lasted about five seconds before I was launched out of bed by a powerful kick, landing on the floor with a loud thump. The light in the room was turned on and I spent a few seconds flailing blindly like an overturned turtle, attempting to shield my eyes.

"Unh, owowowow…" I hissed. My back felt like a big bruise. What was going on?

My eyes finally adjusted and I saw Sheena towering over me in a short lavender nightgown, her hands planted on her hips. She was scowling, her face red; when she seemed to register who I was, her face grew even redder.

"What the _hell _do you think you're doing?!"

"Wha…huh…?" I stared at her and then at the bed I had just flown out of, still half asleep. Where did she get all this energy in the middle of the night? Couldn't we just go back to bed? Why—

Oh, wait a minute, was that _her—_Oh, Jesus…

I held up my hands in surrender, wide-eyed. "I didn't mean to! I swear!"

"My bed's on the left!" She fumed. "Your bed's on the right! It's not that hard to remember!"

The sound of someone awkwardly clearing their throat caused me to glance over in the direction of the door. Regal was the culprit; he was standing there beside Zelos, looking very uncomfortable.

"Er, we heard a yell…is everything all right?"

"How do you _not _notice somebody's already in the bed when you get in?!" Sheena growled, too focused on me to realize what a spectacle this was becoming.

"It's not—nnh, I was really tired!" I protested, feeling blood rush to my cheeks.

Zelos was leaning against the doorframe, hugging his sides with one hand pressed over his mouth. His face was actually a little red as well from the effort he was putting forth to stifle his laughter.

"Ah…" Regal hesitantly tried again.

Sheena's head snapped in his direction and she finally seemed to really register that two men were standing in our doorway. She yanked the hem of her nightgown down, pinning both of them with an angry glare.

_"Get. Out."_

Zelos clearly recognized the deadly tone in her voice. His laughter died momentarily and he watched her with interest, tilting his head. "Oh, man. I think she might actually explode this time."

_"OUT!"_

The two men were gone from the doorway in an instant. Sheena turned to me, her scowl more intimidating than ever. Her hair was down, in complete disarray from sleep, and her cheeks were still flushed. I privately wished I could be that attractive just by rolling out of bed. Then I realized that this was probably the worst possible scene Zelos could have walked into—Sheena looked like she had just finished doing the dirty.

That sudden thought caused me to break out into an uncontrollable fit of giggles. Apparently this was the wrong move, because suddenly Sheena was picking me up by the back of my tank top like a stray cat and then the door to our room was slamming behind me. I was still giggling as the lock clicked into place. It looked like the ninja had had enough craziness for one night.

Our little altercation had woken up a few of the priests, who were approaching me now to check up and make sure everything was okay. My amusement wore off and I apologized, promising we would be quieter in the future. They returned to bed, leaving me alone in the hallway.

Well, I was far too exhausted at this point to waste time clawing at Sheena's door and begging to be let back in. It looked like I would have to find somewhere else to sleep—which wouldn't be too difficult, since right now I could easily pass out on the floor.

"She actually kicked you out?" That was Zelos, poking his head out from the door to his and Regal's room. He mulled this over for a moment, and then grinned widely. "You're bold—I like it. Keep taking the initiative, hunny. She just doesn't realize how much she wants you yet."

"Oh, shut up," I muttered, rolling my eyes. It was too late—or early, whatever—for this.

"Anyway…" He offered a sly smile. "So you're locked out, huh? For the record, my bed fits two people and I'm _very _accommodating."

I pressed a hand to my forehead, suppressing a groan. The worst part was, I was so exhausted and groggy that the thought of snuggling up with Zelos and going to sleep was actually kind of tempting. But Zelos didn't strike me as much of a snuggler. Or much of a sleeper. Or—

"No," I said before my thoughts ran away from me.

"You hesitated," Zelos pointed out with a growing smirk. "You _totally _hesitated just then."

"Good night, Zelos." The few hours I had left to sleep were dwindling away, and I was wasting time. I turned and began to walk in the direction of the stairs.

"Hunny? Hey, but seriously, where are you gonna sleep? Hunnyyyy~?"

I ignored him because that was the only way he was going to shut up. Thankfully I really wasn't without a place to sleep; I already had a destination in mind. Zelos' voice faded as I made my way down the stairs, heading for the House's common room.

The room was warm and empty and there was a fire lit in the hearth. I quickly found a spot, curled up, and was out in a matter of seconds.

* * *

"Brittany?"

I shifted a little in response to the voice, becoming aware of how bright it was in the room. For a moment I was unresponsive; I was still kind of tired and I was hoping that whoever it was would just go away.

A poke. "Hey, I know you're awake."

Of course, it had to be Lloyd. Usually I was the one waking him up. When it was the other way around, though, he could be pretty persistent. Still I stuck to my strategy of ignoring him.

Poke poke poke.

I groaned lightly, pressing my face into one of the cushions I was lying on and covering my head with my arms.

There was a sudden weight on my back and I sank further into the couch; I realized that Lloyd had actually sat on me. Now I was distinctly uncomfortable and wide awake. Also, this couch was actually kind of old and not as cushy as the bed in my room. I was a little sore from sleeping in a curled up position.

"Nngh, Lloyd!" I whined, waving an arm behind me to fend off his pokes. "Cut it out!"

"Maybe you should get up, then," he said, and I could hear the grin in his voice.

"Says the jerk who's sitting on my back," I muttered, squirming. He snorted and got up without any warning, and I rolled right on to the floor.

Someone had draped a blanket over me at some point in the night, and now that I was lying on my back on the cold wood floor, I found myself missing it sorely.

"Awake now," I grumbled, staring at the ceiling. Lloyd stood over me, a victorious grin on his face. Somewhere I could hear Colette giggling.

"This is weird—you're always up before Raine, ever since we came to Tethe'alla." That was Genis; he and Colette were walking into the room.

"Yeah!" Lloyd looked genuinely happy at this development. "You actually slept in!"

"Huh…" Still lying on the floor, I raised my eyebrows with surprise. "I guess I did…I was pretty tired." That was quite a development, though. I had been starting to think I would be stuck with my internal alarm clock forever; the fear and the events from the Tower of Salvation had messed me up for a while.

Even Lloyd could see that this was a step forward for me. He knew me getting up at five every day had never been an entirely voluntary thing. Part of me wondered if this sudden change meant something—maybe I was just dealing with the stress better nowadays. Or maybe today was just a fluke.

"Why were you sleeping on the couch, anyway?" Genis asked.

I laughed a little. "Wifey got mad and banned me from the bedroom."

"…Wifey?" The mage paused, and after a moment tilted his head with a frown. "Does this have something to do with all the yelling I heard last night? Lloyd was sleeping like a log, but I swear I heard something—"

"Oh!" Colette smiled happily. "I heard all of it. Brittany accidentally crawled into Sheena's bed and Sheena started yelling, and then Zelos was laughing a lot and Sheena got really mad and kicked everyone out."

"Jeez…I'm starting to wonder if you do this stuff on purpose." Genis shook his head, offering a dramatic sigh and a shrug that suggested I was beyond help.

"Hey!" I whined.

"Get off your butt," Lloyd cut in, laughing. "Regal's making pancakes, dork. You're gonna miss out if you don't hurry up."

The second I heard the word _pancakes, _I was up and out of the room in a flash, intent on hovering eagerly over Regal's shoulder until I could sample his heavenly food. Eventually the others followed after me.

Breakfast that morning went well; despite my lack of sleep the night before, I was in relatively good spirits. Lloyd was in a good enough mood, and that seemed to be cheering everyone else up too. Sheena seemed content to pretend last night had never happened. Zelos was of a different mind, but most of us were blissfully pretending not to hear his remarks.

So we sat around the table and had some of the fluffiest most amazing pancakes ever, and I took a long moment to appreciate how well we'd been eating since arriving in Tethe'alla. Sylvarant was going to be quite a change, whenever we did end up going. For now, I was going to try and be thankful for the little things.

After eating, Sheena brought out a map and traced out the route we were taking for the day. I noted that the Temple of Darkness was to the southwest of here; it was pretty much on the way to Meltokio, only being a little bit out of the way, so that wasn't so bad.

And about a half hour later, we packed up and set out. Judging from our current route, we were going to arrive at the temple by nightfall. Another day of flying.

* * *

It was pouring.

Honestly, I had no right to complain; we'd had a pretty dry summer, with the exception of a gloomy week or two in June. Fall so far in most parts of Tethe'alla had proven to be warmer than I was used to. Today, though, it was cold, and the rain was coming down in sheets. We had set out from the Temple of Darkness this morning and had to stop when the rain became too much. All of us were soaked and miserable.

After arriving at the Temple of Darkness last night, Raine had suggested we take shelter inside—only to find that it was, in fact, quite dark in there. It was a small relief to find that things went about as expected after that. The darkness inside the temple was so deep that it was practically tangible; it drove out normal sources of light. A fireball from the Sorcerer's Ring had no effect, though we could all feel the heat from the magic. It wasn't long before Sheena made the suggestion to go to the Elemental Research Laboratory, and a new course was set.

It hadn't been raining through this morning's training or during breakfast, but had started about an hour into our flight. I hadn't really expected it to become this unbearable. We had only decided to stop since there was no end in sight to the dark grey clouds ahead. It only seemed to get worse as we flew on.

We spent about twenty minutes searching for shelter, eventually finding a cave in the mountainside that provided cover from the wind and rain.

"Wait, let me get this straight. All you have to do is say 'trick or treat' and they give you candy?"

Lloyd was grinning, leaning forward eagerly. It was the afternoon of October 31st, so I had been passing the time by telling everyone about Halloween; unsurprisingly, the dual swordsman loved the idea. He really was like a little kid sometimes.

"You have to be wearing a costume too, remember?" I replied, amused.

"That sounds like so much fun!" Colette exclaimed.

"You can dress up as anything?" Genis asked.

"For the most part." I smiled. "You can be something scary, something cute, your favorite character from a book, whatever. Stores sell all kinds of costumes around Halloween time."

We were all sitting around the middle of the cave, waiting for the bad weather to pass. Genis and Zelos had worked together to light a fire; it had to be close to the entrance so the smoke would filter out, but it was still keeping us warmer than we would've been otherwise. I was still pretty jealous of Lloyd, Genis and Colette, who seemed completely at ease with huddling for warmth. I was considering scooting closer to Sheena but I wasn't sure if she'd kick me or not.

Raine arched an eyebrow, looking up from the (somewhat damp) book she was reading. "Isn't it a bit too much candy to be giving to children?"

"Yes, I'd imagine many stomachaches resulted," Regal added with a chuckle.

"Oh god, I used to eat so much candy," I laughed, focusing once more on the conversation. "I know some parents that made their kids ration it out, but mine…not so much. And there was always that one party pooper adult that would give you an apple. We'd always skip his house."

"Earth has some strange holidays," Sheena commented, her lips quirking.

"I think it sounds awesome! I dunno what I'd dress up as, though," Lloyd said.

"…Katz," Presea replied quietly.

Regal offered her a curious look. "The exploration guild?"

Her head bobbed up and down. "They're cute."

"I—I think you'd look cute dressed up like that, P-Presea…"

"Thank you, Genis."

"What about you, hunny?" Zelos tilted his head a bit, smirking. "What kind of costume did you wear?"

I snorted. "When I was a kid I used to dress up as mermaids and princesses and that sort of thing. There are costume parties once you're older, but I never really go to those. They're just an excuse for girls to get drunk and dress like…well, you'd like those parties, Zelos."

A wink. "Not if you weren't there, beautiful."

"Give me a break…" Genis muttered.

"Hey, twerp!" Zelos scooted right over to Genis, slinging an arm around the mage's shoulders and pulling him in for a noogie. "Tell us again how cute our little rosebud is!"

"Agh! Cut that out, you—! _Fireball!_"

"Aaaah! Not the face!"

I pressed a hand to my face, shaking my head and suppressing laughter as Raine got up to intervene. The others, used to this behavior by now, barely reacted; Colette and Regal were even carrying on a quiet conversation as if nothing was happening in the background.

I watched as the blonde stood up, walking over to the entrance to the cave where she had set a pot earlier; it was now full of rainwater. Ah, that was right; Regal had been planning on making some tea with some herbs we had gotten from the cook at the House of Guidance. That would probably serve to warm us up.

…Well, everyone was pretty distracted, and the tea wouldn't be ready for a bit. I started to shuffle closer to Sheena as discreetly as possible.

"Can I help you?"

Damn. Caught in the act. I offered her a sidelong glance, a bit sheepish; she was staring at me with an eyebrow raised.

"I'm cold," I told her, attempting to look pathetic.

She rolled her eyes and scooted closer to me so that our sides were touching. "Better?"

"Heh…yeah," I replied. Wow, that had been easier than I'd expected.

"Sorry," she replied with a slight huff, her cheeks growing a little pink. "I've never been much of a…physical contact sort of person—ugh, that sounds weird, doesn't it?"

"No, I know what you mean," I said. "My sister's the same way. Not too big on hugs or physical affection unless she's super close to someone. Some people dole them out left and right, and some people just aren't a big fan of it."

She nodded, smiling a little. "…Yeah. N-not that I mind or anything if it's you!" Her smile fell and she pressed a palm to her forehead, heaving a frustrated sigh. "Look, I just…we're close enough friends, right? I should've just laughed it off the other night, not kicked you out. I'm sorry."

I found myself laughing. So that was what was bothering her? "It's fine. I mean, it was the middle of the night and you didn't even know it was me. You never can be too careful when there's a philanderer in our midst."

Sheena joined me, and we shared a laugh at Zelos' expense. Said redhead was still trying to avoid Raine's wrath, so all was well for the time being.

Outside, the rain continued to fall.

* * *

Thanks to the weather delay, we didn't make it to Meltokio until early the next morning. We managed to get in through the sewers without too much trouble (other than the fact that it was about as awful as I remembered), and we made our way into the city either unnoticed or willfully ignored by the general populace. Zelos was recognizable from a mile away; many of the residents of the city were almost gleeful to take part in the conspiracy of protecting the fugitive Chosen. Regardless, we played it safe and took back alleys when we could, heading for the Elemental Research Laboratory.

I was very curious to see how this was going to go. Were we going to have to fight in the Coliseum? Was Kate even here? Though part of me wanted to worry, I tried hard not to. I was just going to have to watch things play out first.

We had finally made our way to the eastern end of Meltokio, and I could see the towering structure of the Research Laboratory in the distance. At first I was taken aback, because it was a hell of a lot bigger than I'd expected. But I shouldn't have been surprised—_everything _in Meltokio always ended up being bigger than I expected.

It was a grey building that reminded me a lot of the academy in Sybak, not adorned with any special statues or decorations like so many of the other buildings here. The laboratory was actually closer to a slummier part of the city; that matched up with what I remembered, but it just didn't seem right in real life. Back home important research institutes like this would never be located so close to shady neighborhoods; why wasn't this place up on the second level of the city where it was nicer?

…Because the brilliant researchers were half-elves, of course. And now my mind had come full-circle back to half-elves and the Kate dilemma. Meltokio was lovely when you were a visitor with connections to the Chosen, but now that I was honestly thinking about it, I'd probably hate living here.

Not that the rest of Tethe'alla (or Sylvarant, for that matter) was any better. I was so sick of the discrimination and intolerance prevalent in these worlds; sometimes it just made me want to puke.

But really…maybe I needed to get off my high horse. Meltokio was just a wealthy city with a higher standard of living and probably a lot of ignorant residents. Weren't the wealthy nations of Earth the same? Didn't many of us go about our daily lives oblivious to the suffering that went on in the world's developing countries? It wasn't like these issues had been eradicated on Earth, either.

I sighed. Food for thought…maybe my work wouldn't be finished even when I got back home.

"You haven't seen the Elemental Research Laboratory yet, have you?"

That was Sheena. She was looking over at me with a smile.

Attempting to shrug off my earlier train of thought, I smiled back. "Ah, I don't think so, no. Last time you went, I was with the Professor and Zelos checking out the Archives."

She nodded. "Ah, right. Well, I know the building's kind of dreary looking, but it's really not so bad. Corrine's really not looking forward to the visit, though…"

"You said Corrine was born there, right?" I asked for the sake of making conversation. "I guess I can see why an artificially created summon spirit wouldn't like it. There must've been a lot of tests and confinement."

Sheena sighed. "Yeah. Every time I go back, I have to reassure him that nothing like that is going to happen again. The researchers really aren't bad people, though. They genuinely care about Corrine, it's just—"

"You!"

Lloyd's voice cut Sheena off, and the two of us looked up with surprise. The rest of the group had come to a halt as well; standing ahead of us was none other than the familiar auburn-haired seraph. He was even clad in the purple garb from our Sylvarant days. Oh no, I was getting kind of nostalgic now.

"Kratos," Lloyd continued, immediately hostile, "what are you doing here?"

The seraph ignored him, walking right past until he reached Presea. I noticed Genis clutch his kendama protectively; Regal tensed and took a slow step forward, his powerful form a silent warning. While many would run and hide at a glare from Regal, Kratos was completely unfazed. He met Presea's eyes.

"I've heard that sacred wood only grows in the area near Ozette. Is that correct?"

The girl blinked, clearly taken aback. "Ah…y-yes…"

Kratos' eyes narrowed. "Then does that mean that sacred wood no longer exists?"

"…The wood I cut is stored in the church," Presea replied quietly.

"I see…so that is truly all that is left. It seems I have no choice." He frowned and then immediately began to continue on his way.

"Wait! What does Cruxis want with sacred wood?" Lloyd spoke up again, moving forward to cut Kratos off and stand in his way.

The taller man was impassive. "Because it is necessary. What other reason would there be?"

"What kind of an answer is that?" Lloyd growled. "Why would it be necessary?"

"I don't feel the need to tell you that right now," Kratos replied, pushing his way past.

It was at that point that Kratos went on to warn Lloyd and the rest of the group about the dangers of making the pacts, but their reactions were about what I'd expected—and from the seraph's expression, I could tell that he'd expected it as well.

Through the entire exchange, I couldn't really hide my shock at seeing him here; this was way early for him. What were the chances of Kratos crossing paths with us like this when we were here so far ahead of time? The idea that Kratos might be altering his own movements as well troubled me.

"Hmph…be patient, Lloyd."

I focused my attention just in time to watch the seraph walk past. He didn't acknowledge me at all or even so much as look in my direction; he just brushed past me, heading onward down the street and vanishing into the crowds. Great…there he went, leaving zero answers in his wake. Now I was gonna be turning this over in my head for the next five hours. Bastard.

"…He's gone," Lloyd said, shaking his head with frustration. "'Be patient'? What's that supposed to mean?"

"Hmm…" Raine frowned. "His actions are suspicious, but discussing this will have to wait. We should take care of our business at the Research Laboratory before worrying about anything else."

"Yeah. In any case, we can't stay out in the open," Sheena said. "The front entrance to the building is just ahead. Let's get inside."

"Right…" The dual swordsman nodded slowly.

As everyone else reached an agreement and we continued on our way to the laboratory, I saw Lloyd send a troubled glance my way. It wasn't such a surprise; our interactions with Kratos always really bothered him. It was always anger on the surface when he was hurting within.

Moving to keep pace with him, I reached up and clapped him on the shoulder in a supportive gesture. Then we were walking through the doors of the lab, and I turned my mind back to the trials ahead.

Standing near the front desk were two half-elves in white lab coats, conversing quietly with a man dressed in the garb of a Mizuho ninja. The three of them looked up when we walked in; something clicked in my mind.

That man was Kuchinawa.

Ah, crap.

* * *

**A/N: I feel like this was a really, really uneventful chapter. Like, I kept trying to insert plot but then NOBODY WOULD SHUT UP. I blame Lloyd. **

**And then I leave you with this...yeah, I'm awful, I know. XD Meltokio's going to be interesting.**

**Reviews, as always, are very much loved. :D**

**Next time: Kuchinawa, Kate, Kratos, other things that start with k!**


	58. To Have Faith

**A/N: NNNNNNNNNNG**

**That is all I have to say on the matter.**

**I have not had time to proofread half of this chapter, my brain is mush right now.**

**ENJOY EVERYBODYYYY**

* * *

Naturally, I was the only one shitting my pants at the sight of the ninja. The rest of the group was a little on edge from seeing Kratos, but still relatively okay otherwise.

"Kuchinawa!"

Sheena smiled at the sight of her old friend, moving to join the small group, and the four of them conversed for a minute or so.

My mind raced and I tried my hardest to keep my gaze from wandering towards the traitor ninja. I didn't want him to take note of my demeanor and become suspicious.

Shit, shit. What could Kuchinawa be up to? I scanned the room, but couldn't see any sign of trouble. There were no hiding places for ninjas, never mind the Papal Knights and their bulky armor. Unless there were a bunch of them lying in wait downstairs? I had to hope not.

One of the scientists turned to the other and shook his head, his eyes narrowing. Sheena took a step back in surprise, while Kuchinawa crossed his arms and looked grave.

"What's wrong?" Genis asked.

It was then that Sheena turned to us. "It's Kate. Because she helped us, she's been thrown in prison…they've set a date for her to be executed!"

"What?!" Lloyd was quick to speak up, snapping out of the reverie Kratos had caused.

"It's true," one of the half-elves confirmed. "I'm sorry, but we can't help you with Kate's life in danger like this…"

"Then we'll just have to rescue her." Of course, our dual swordsman didn't disappoint; he had that determined look in his eyes that suggested he'd save her even if it meant barging into the castle all over again.

"Yes, but how?" Raine frowned thoughtfully. "Infiltrating the prison without getting thrown in there ourselves isn't going to be an easy feat."

"There is the Coliseum," Regal remarked, causing her to look up.

"Coliseum?"

He nodded. "It was originally constructed to pit prisoners against wild beasts. There is a passage within the prison that allows the transfer of prisoners to the Coliseum."

"Ah, that's right," Zelos commented. "You must've seen it before. So if we participate in some of the matches, we could probably find an opening to sneak down there and rescue her."

"That's a great idea!" Colette exclaimed.

"Yes, but risky," the Professor murmured. "Whoever enters will be under close scrutiny from the public. Things could go wrong very easily."

"We have to at least try," Sheena spoke up. "Kate took a huge risk for our sakes, and now she's paying for it. She deserves this much from us."

It was now that Kuchinawa stepped forward. "If you feel that way, Sheena, then leave it to us."

"Huh?" She looked up, surprised.

"I was originally sent here under instructions from the Vice-Chief to aid you in any way I can," he explained. "My team and I were investigating the Blue Candle for you, as we noticed you were forming pacts and would eventually be headed for the Temple of Darkness. Since you'll need to rescue this Kate woman before the researchers here will give you the Blue Candle, then I suppose it's a necessary diversion. We'd be happy to help."

"Kuchinawa, thank you!" Sheena grinned and then turned to us. "With Kuchinawa on our side, this should be a piece of cake."

"Mizuho was a big help back at the Renegade base," Lloyd said, smiling. "Thanks. It's a relief to know you guys will be watching our backs."

Meanwhile, I was still trying not to squirm. A relief? Ugh, it was the complete opposite! He was planning something, it was obvious!

Kuchinawa nodded. "I'd prefer to work with Sheena, if that's all right. We're used to coordinating our efforts." He turned to the other ninja. "Sheena. We'll clear the way for you if you enter the match. Distracting the guards should be simple enough."

"Okay," Sheena replied, nodding back.

"Are you sure it's all right?" Lloyd asked with a frown.

"Don't worry, I can handle it," she said confidently, and then smiled over at me. "You too, Brittany. Quit it—I'll be fine, all right?"

"Uh—yeah," I said, forcing a smile. Pretty much all of the blood had drained from my face. I resumed staring at a spot above Sheena's head, trying to keep my cool. How could I stop this? How could I say anything without immediately becoming suspicious?

"If that's the case…" One of the researchers spoke up. "We'll have the Blue Candle ready for when you rescue her. But it has to be imbued with mana before it can be used, so we won't be able to have it prepared until late tonight at the earliest."

"Coliseum matches only run until early evening," Regal said, turning to the rest of us. "I propose we aim for tomorrow morning, then. That should give us enough time to work out the details of our plan as well."

"Yes, that should be fine," Raine agreed.

"Tomorrow…" Presea murmured.

"Well, looks like we're crashing at my place again," Zelos said with a smirk. "Should we get going? It's a better place to talk, anyway."

"Yeah, we'd better go," Lloyd said. He looked over to the researchers. "We'll be back tomorrow morning. But next time, Kate will be with us. That's a promise."

Everyone agreed on heading back to Zelos' mansion, and so we left the Research Laboratory, heading back out into the Meltokio morning sun. The skies had cleared as we arrived here and now it was a ridiculously gorgeous fall day, which was somehow even more menacing than if we still had ominous clouds hanging over us. It meant that everyone was feeling optimistic, not even thinking twice about Kuchinawa's offer.

Nobody was going to see it coming.

* * *

Since we had the rest of the day to ourselves, it didn't take long before Raine sent a few of us on shopping duty. Lloyd went out to restock our gels and potions with Regal, while Colette and Genis went to replenish our food rations. Zelos offered to look into upgrading our gear a bit, since Raine in particular was in need of a new staff. I had done my best to hijack Sheena for the day, but my efforts had been futile; she insisted on meeting with Kuchinawa and discussing the plan for tomorrow.

So now it was just Raine, Presea and I. The Professor was perusing a small library Zelos had in the west wing of his mansion; I had seen Presea head that way as well after exploring the place a bit. I had been invited to join them, but I declined, instead choosing to hide out in my room and brood. I needed to take in these developments and figure out what I was going to do about them.

The huge, extravagant bed and the lavishly decorated room seemed stuffy somehow, though. I had stayed in this room last time I was here, back when we had come to Meltokio to check the Archives. All I could think of sitting on this bed was how I had just lain here miserably for hours until Lloyd had barged in and talked some sense into me. Thinking about my mood at that time was depressing.

I moved out on to the room's balcony, trying to get some air. The balcony faced the mansion's rear courtyard; currently the staff was out and about, tending the gardens. I watched them for a while, trying to let my mind drift. Part of me wished I could go out and help them, like I used to help my mom with her garden years ago. It was tiring work, but therapeutic in a way.

The nostalgia of watching them only went so far. It definitely reminded me of Mom, but none of the plants here were native to home. There were precious few blooms that I actually recognized. Hmm, maybe as a coming home gift, I could bring some of these flowers back to her.

Coming home…part of me wondered when that would actually be. It was November first and I had been here since…when, May? And we still had so much left to do. My mother probably wouldn't even recognize me anymore, I had changed so much.

Oh, great, that was depressing to think about too. Time to go back inside—

…Hold on. It was November first.

Zelos' birthday. Two days from now. _Zelos' birthday. _

Aaaaagh! Why the hell did it have to sneak up on me like that?! Why hadn't Zelos said anything? Why did the timing have to be so freaking awful? Dammit!

Okay, okay. I couldn't just sit around and worry myself sick over the Kate dilemma. I needed to focus my mind on something else, and this was a pretty pressing issue too. Time to rearrange my priorities.

Raine would never approve of me going out alone, but I wanted some time to myself…not to mention I really wanted to get Zelos something good, and I didn't want to feel pressured with other people waiting around for me. Well, I had gone out with the others a few times before…this couldn't be too hard, right?

I took off my coat and gloves since they were too recognizable, leaving them on my bed. Then I began searching around for something to cover up with. The closet was mostly empty aside from a few clothing articles that had probably been left behind by one of Zelos' female guests; those wouldn't really help me much. Determined, I moved out into the hallway and began to head downstairs.

The mansion's foyer was still empty. The maids seemed to be elsewhere, and Raine and Presea were probably still looking around the library. It looked like the coast was clear.

There. I knew I had seen a coat rack near the door! It was a pretty large one, cluttered with dozens of articles of outerwear. They all looked a bit too pricey to belong to the staff, though. More things left behind by guests?

My hands moved to pull a dark grey, velvety cloak off the rack. This would be perfect—nobody would recognize me if I just kept the hood up, and it was plain enough to be relatively inconspicuous in the crowds.

I looked around one last time and determined that nobody was around, then quickly tucked the cloak under one arm and made a break for one of the mansion's back exits. After heading through the door, I stood under the shade of a tree and donned the cloak. It was kind of big, but I managed to make it work. The hood was nice and roomy and it was overall really comfortable.

…Except it smelled like Zelos' cologne and that was _really _distracting.

Well, now I knew who this belonged to. On the bright side, at least now I definitely wasn't going to forget the reason I set out.

Moving quickly, I concealed Kerberos under the cloak, fastening the sheath's strap over my belt. Then I left the mansion's grounds and made my way out of the upper class district. Things got easier after that; once I passed through the castle square and moved down the stairs into the middle class area, the crowds grew and I practically ceased to exist in the public eye. My first destination was the line of vendors and shop stalls that were set up near the park. Hopefully prices would be somewhat reasonable there.

Thankfully I managed to find my way to the shops without too much trouble. Meltokio was much, much bigger than it had been in the game, but the same general street layout applied—the streets were just a hell of a lot longer. Eventually I made it to the vendors; the colorful banners advertising different shops caught my eye and led me in the right direction.

It was only early afternoon, so all of the stores were open. I passed by a few vendors, eyeing some of the trinkets and clothing articles they were selling.

Clothing…no, Zelos didn't need any of that. He had tons of the stuff, and anything that I could actually afford would just look like peasant's garb on him. Not to mention I had no idea what Zelos' taste in clothing was like—I only knew the outfit he wore now and what I had seen in the game.

So clothing was a no go. Gear? No, he was already checking out gear right now, and if he needed anything new he'd just buy it for himself. The same thing went for supplies in general…and I didn't want to get him some silly little knickknack that he wouldn't use. Gaaaah, guys were always so hard to shop for!

Next thing I knew, I found myself wandering into an accessories shop. I tended to avoid these because they were loaded with tons of cool things that I couldn't afford, and I always ended up looking around forever and not buying anything. At least I did know what Zelos carried as far as equipment went; maybe I could get him something practical. It wouldn't be much, but hopefully better than nothing.

I stood over by one shelf, eyeing the wares. There were plenty of standard charms here that prevented most ailments, as well as different seals and rings. These were the most basic charms that most people recognized on sight; they were labeled, but no explanation as to their use was provided. I was thankfully pretty well versed in these things by now, though. None of the items on the shelf caught my eye; I moved on to the next one, and had similar luck.

Dammit…at this rate I was just going to be the most horrible friend in existence. Maybe what I needed to do was crawl under a rock now to save myself the time.

Then I saw it—it was sitting on a small shelf near the shop's front counter. It was a small charm created with some sort of metal; the design on it resembled a Star of David. Fed through it was a simple rawhide strap, suggesting that it could be worn as a pendant or tied to equipment.

A Mystic Symbol. It was an accessory that aided concentration and decreased the casting time for spells.

Of course! Zelos was a magic user but he was also a melee fighter, and it was clearly an effort for him to constantly switch back and forth over the course of battle. He was so graceful with a blade, constantly moving from one attack to the next—it was probably a huge drag for him to have to duck out and cast a spell. This thing would smoothen the transition between fighting and casting, and probably make his techniques more fluid. I mean, he probably couldn't bang out spells as fast as Kratos, but he'd be one step closer to that.

My mind was made up. I needed it. Right now.

I walked up to the shelf and gently picked it up, examining it for a moment and biting my lip. Though it was very warm inside the shop, the metal of the symbol was cool. It made my fingers tingle a little. Neat…what was this even made of?

"How much?" I asked, turning to the shopkeeper. There was no visible price tag on the item.

He stood behind the counter, a gangly man wearing a bored expression. When I spoke, he perked up a bit, looking me up and down.

"Twenty thousand."

My mouth dropped open. _"What."_

"You heard me correctly, ma'am. Four zeroes." The man's smile had a sly quality that I didn't like. I was beginning to suspect he was some distant relative of that asshole junk shop owner back in Sybak. Dammit!

"For this thing?" I held it up, scowling a bit. "Doesn't look like it's made of gold to me."

The shopkeeper smirked. "I assure you it's highly rare and valuable, ma'am. You'll be the envy of all your ladyfriends."

Now I just gave him a deadpan look. What the hell was _that _supposed to—oh. I was still wearing Zelos' cloak. Zelos' super expensive looking, velvety cloak. Did this guy think I was a noble? I hadn't realized that wearing this thing was just going to cause shopkeepers to vastly overestimate the size of my wallet.

Then a second thought occurred to me—did he even know what this was used for? There was no label and no price tag, and it was kind of just sitting by itself on a shelf. It affected a person's casting ability—that meant it was generally an accessory used exclusively by those with elven blood, probably crafted by elves. Humans had no use for it. A mystic symbol might be super valuable in Heimdall, but in Meltokio it was worthless. After all, the half elves here would never mention the item's value, since they probably got way overcharged for everything already.

"Look, there's no way this thing is worth twenty thousand Gald," I said with a frown. "It looks neat, but what does it even do?"

The shopkeeper grew a bit flustered at my attitude, and his eyes narrowed. "If you don't know, then you shouldn't be buying it. Maybe next time you should stay home where you're actually useful and let your husband do the shopping, ma'am."

My eyebrows flew up. Oh, he did _not _just go there. I was so going to just punch him in the dick and steal the damn thing. I was doing it. I was doing it, just fucking watch me.

"That's a terrible way to speak to a lady."

The sudden voice coming from behind me caused me to immediately perk up, suppressing a smile. I saw the shopkeeper pale a few shades and felt giddy. Perfect timing!

I stepped back a pace and hid partially behind the new arrival, reaching up to press a hand to his muscled arm.

"Regal! I'm so glad you're here! This man has been giving me a hard time."

Regal gave me a faintly questioning look at my sudden personality change, but then he seemed to get it and turned his gaze back to the man behind the counter.

The shopkeeper was looking quite nervous by now. "Who—? Is that man a convict?!"

I smiled. "This is Regal! Sometimes he does work for us on the estate, you know, as like community service for his prison term. He's also my personal bodyguard!"

"A-ah. Is that so."

Even though he really wasn't trying, Regal still succeeded in looking extremely intimidating by just standing there with a neutral expression on his face. I was beginning to wonder if it would be enough, and then he did something completely awesome.

"I would hate to hear that my charge is being offered unfair prices based on her gender and status. After all, a person conducting that sort of illegal business could easily end up sharing a cell with me."

"Ah—dammit—" the man sputtered. "F-fifteen thousand!"

"That's still really expensive…" I pouted.

"Fourteen thousand!"

"Do you think I'm made of money?" I whined.

The man stared between Regal and I for a second, caught between a mix of fury and horror. Then he just shook his head, scowling angrily.

"Fine, j-just take the damn thing, you harpy! It's just a useless piece of trash I found anyway!"

I cradled the symbol in my hands, staring down at it and then back up at him in surprise. "Are you sure?"

In response, the shopkeeper threw up his arms in exasperation and then stormed out into a back room. It was actually kind of comical. Next to me, Regal raised his eyebrows in bemusement.

"…That wasn't entirely my intent," the older man murmured.

"Yeah, he was a douche, but I feel kinda bad," I muttered back. "I mean, these aren't actually worthless…"

Reaching into my pocket, I extracted my Gald pouch and stared at the coins inside of it. All in all, I had managed to scrounge together about two thousand over the past couple of weeks. Whoops, that was all I had? Even the most basic poison charms were worth more than that…

Ah, well. The guy had wanted me to take it for free anyway. I just shrugged and dumped the contents of the pouch on the desk, hoping it would somewhat make up for that little scene. At least the accessory was going towards a good cause! Zelos was going to help save the world, so he needed the best equipment possible, right? Right.

"Uh…what's going on?" Lloyd had arrived, poking his head through the doorway. "You're taking a long time, Regal—oh, hey Brit! What're you doing here?"

I smiled sheepishly, drawing the hood of my cloak up. "Let's get out of here first."

We made our way out of the shop, moving through the midday crowd in the direction of the park. There were a few more stalls down this way; I assumed Lloyd and Regal hadn't quite finished their portion of the shopping yet.

"So what is that thing?" Lloyd was gesturing towards my purchase, watching as I shoved it into my bag.

"I once saw a half-elf traveler carrying one," Regal remarked, "though this is the first one I've seen in a shop. I'm curious as well."

"It's called a Mystic Symbol," I replied happily. "It speeds up a magic user's casting rate. Most humans wouldn't have a use for this, so it's not really surprising that even the shopkeeper didn't know what it was."

The crowd was thinner in this part of the city; we slowed our steps, moving towards an open area where we could talk.

"I see," Regal said with a nod. "I'm impressed you knew of it. You've seen one before?"

I hesitated, shaking my head. "Um, no. I—I just remember reading about it somewhere."

Lloyd paused just long enough to give me a _you are so lying _look, but he didn't verbally call me out on it. Instead he just tilted his head, shifting the bag of supplies he was carrying from one arm to the other.

"You can't use magic, though. Who's it for?"

"Zelos," I replied, rubbing the back of my neck. "His birthday's the day after tomorrow."

The teen visibly jerked, his back going ramrod straight. _"What?! _It's—whoa, November third! It's already the first? Oh, man, I totally forgot! Why didn't you say anything?!"

My eyebrows flew up; I hadn't expected this reaction, but come to think of it, it wasn't all that surprising. I had personally been keeping track of the dates, but I hadn't thought to warn the others. Now I felt kind of bad about it…maybe I should've reminded Lloyd back in Flanoir.

"I kind of just remembered earlier," I replied, sheepish. "Otherwise I wouldn't be desperately searching for a present this late."

"Dammit," Lloyd muttered, staring at the ground for a second. "Two days…maybe I can carve something? Agh, I dunno…" His head snapped up. "Regal! We have to do something!"

Regal's lips curled up in an amused smile. "A gift for the Chosen? If you want to look around, we do have an hour before lunch."

"Right." A determined glint shined in the swordsman's eyes. "I'll have to think up something cooler this time…even cooler than Tiger Festival."

"Tiger…Festival…?" Suddenly Regal was lost.

My hand flew up to cover my mouth in a futile attempt to stifle my laughter. That resolute expression on his face was just perfect. "If you set the bar that low, Lloyd, you'll just be cramping his style."

He made a face. "What? I'm cool!"

"Giiiiiiant dork."

"Hey, remember that time you faceplanted in front of Gnome?"

"Remember how wearing suspenders is basically the most uncool thing ever?"

"Shut it! You've always been jealous of my suspenders!"

"I'm kidding. I love your suspenders. It's that stranglescarf you always wear threaded through your collar that's the problem. Lloyd, we need to have a talk about that. Llloooooyyd."

"Stranglescarf? You're so weird, stop tugging on it!"

"Ahem…"

We both looked up at the sound of Regal suddenly clearing his throat. He had been watching our antics with his eyebrows slightly raised. Now he just offered us a humoring smile; the guy was probably getting used to our ridiculousness by now.

"Should we get going?" He asked, though it was probably more of a suggestion for us to stop bickering like a couple of two-year-olds in the middle of the street.

Lloyd was apparently oblivious to these cues, but the subject change did get him to remember his original intentions. He jerked a little, eyes widening.

"Oh! Right! We're wasting time. Let's go." Then the teen turned to me. "Are you coming?"

I shook my head. "Nah, I have to get back to Zelos' place before the Professor realizes I snuck out."

"Whoa, good luck with that," the teen said, looking a little worried. "Don't get caught."

"Don't worry, I'll be fine," I replied with a dismissive hand wave. After all, I had conquered my main problem—getting Zelos a present—so I was a little too relieved about that to care about anything else. I could always sneak in through that side entrance again and keep my hood up or something. Maybe she was still in the library anyway!

"Be careful on your way back," Regal advised, his voice gentle with a stern undertone. Was he worried about me being out alone?

"I will." I nodded, trying to school my expression into something more serious for his benefit. "Anyway, I guess I'll see you guys at lunch, then. Let me know how you make out."

"Yeah, see you!"

The two headed off into the crowd behind me, moving further in the direction of the park where the last of the shops were. My destination was in the opposite direction. Well, I had a bit of walking to do before I'd be back in the nobles' district. Time to get going.

It looked like Lloyd and Regal had found everything they needed as far as supplies went…part of me wondered how Genis and Colette were doing. Were they around here? I couldn't really remember where a lot of stuff was; this place was just so big.

And Sheena…ugh, I really didn't like how this whole thing with Kuchinawa was going. And I was alone right now with no one watching, so in theory I might be able to do some kind of personal investigation into what they were up to, but who was I even kidding? There was no way I could sneak up on a freaking _ninja._ If he suspected I was on to him he'd probably slit my throat in an alley somewhere and that would be the end of that.

Finally coming in sight of the stairs in the center of the city, I heaved a long sigh. Yeah, I couldn't hope to match a ninja. Half the time I was too lacking in skills to be of any use at all, really. My foreknowledge was practically one big joke.

"I know that sigh."

My spine stiffened and I paused mid-stride.

A hand yanked my hood back, and suddenly Zelos had forced himself into my line of vision.

"Yep, I thought it was you. There aren't a lot of other people who'd have the nerve to walk out with one of my cloaks."

Aw, crap! Caught in the act! I really hadn't planned for this—dammit, Zelos was always _everywhere _in this damn city! It was impossible not to run into him!

"You've got like twenty cloaks," I said with a roll of my eyes, trying to hide the fact that I was a little embarrassed. "I bet you wouldn't even notice it was missing."

"On the contrary, hunny, I have _five," _Zelos replied. "You know, you have a nasty habit of stealing things. First my money, then my clothes…what's next, my heart?"

"You've discovered my master plan," I answered dryly, blushing a little.

Zelos snorted, falling back to keep pace with me. It was now that I noticed he was actually wearing a cloak of his own; his hair was tied back and when he tugged the hood of the cloak back up, it was concealed completely. I followed suit, hiding my own face.

"Why the secrecy, anyway?" I asked. "It's kind of been established that nobody here really wants to sell you out, right? I took this as a precaution since I snuck out alone, but you…"

He shrugged, his voice taking on an uncharacteristically serious tone. "Not really in the mood to get recognized right now. Too much of a hassle."

My brow furrowed. "A hassle? What do you mean?"

Waving a hand dismissively, he sighed. "Oh, you know. Even the greatest of guys needs a break every now and then."

"Uh…huh," I replied, skeptical. There was something more to it, but I could tell he wasn't really in the mood to be pressed. It wasn't the time or place, anyway. He was probably going to change the subject soon like he always did.

"So, spitfire, what have _we _been up to?" Aaaand there he went. "Sneaking out, eh? You've got me curious."

I averted my gaze. "Um…just taking a look around."

"Yeah?" He raised his eyebrows. "Gonna fill me in? Actually, you've been acting pretty weird the past few days in general."

Oh—I had just been trying to avoid spoiling his birthday present, but this worked too. I had been expecting this conversation. Ever since I had spilled the beans about my foreknowledge to Zelos, he had been pretty in tune with my feelings—he could watch my reactions and put the pieces together a lot more easily now. I felt kind of bad, because my mini freakouts were probably pretty concerning when he didn't know what might be going wrong or how bad it actually was.

"Mmm." I rubbed my forehead wearily. "Plot shit, y'know. Something went wrong somewhere."

"The Otherworldly Gate?" he prompted.

I nodded. "We were supposed to actually go to Sylvarant. But Lloyd and I went on an expedition to Ozette and that apparently threw everything off, and we missed the full moon."

"Seriously?" He frowned. "Everything's gone right until now and suddenly something like this messes it all up?"

"Seems like it," I said with a shrug, lowering my voice. "Also Mithos was supposed to be with us too. Kuchinawa was supposed to betray us, and I don't even know what's going on."

"Hold on, hold on. _What?"_

His concern was a relief. Everything had been building up over the past few days and now I could finally let it out, speaking in hushed tones. We were just a couple of cloaked figures on the street, exchanging whispers that probably sounded like conspiracy theories. I told him the truth about Kuchinawa and what was really going on, how strongly he resented Sheena for what had happened with Volt and how he wanted revenge. Why not? Everyone else was going to find out tomorrow when he completely screwed us over.

"He's in line with the Pope, huh…" Zelos scowled. "And he was supposed to betray us back there? So that means we're in serious trouble tomorrow. This is not good."

"You're telling me," I grumbled. "And there's no way to warn the others without blowing my cover. And if I tell them the truth about me, someone will eventually let it slip in front of Mithos. It's a lose-lose situation. I'm really worried about Sheena."

"Damn…" He put a hand to his chin, looking thoughtful. "And she'll be entering the match tomorrow alone, too. Maybe if I pull some strings and get us front row seats in the audience…"

"You can do that?"

The redhead smirked. "Well, yeah. The main problem is figuring out how to get away from the others. They'll probably end up stuck somewhere surrounded by Papal Knights."

"Meaning we'll have to save Sheena and then go save Kate and then go save them…" I groaned.

"Yeah, things will probably get pretty hairy," he mused. "You know, I didn't think knowing your secret would end up being so much work. Talk about a total drag."

"Well, we could always do nothing and let the shit hit the fan," I huffed. "I've done that quite a few times, it's pretty fun."

An arm suddenly looped around my waist, yanking me to his side. "Aw, c'mon, hunny! I was just joking! I'll team up with you and save the day any time you want. Just promise you won't jump in front of any lightning bolts or fall off any more cliffs."

"Symphonia Dream Team," I replied, doing a halfhearted fist pump. "…But thanks, Zelos. It really sucked going it alone all this time…I appreciate the support."

We had ascended the central staircase and finally arrived in the nobles' district, and the time had flown by faster than expected. Zelos' mansion loomed in the distance, growing closer and closer now.

Zelos was quiet for a moment. The hood shaded his face too much for me to really read his expression, but I continued to look over curiously.

"…Ever consider that maybe I'm just doing this for me? To learn the future and use it for my own benefit?"

I quickly glared at him. "We're not playing the 'good Zelos, bad Zelos' game today. No I haven't thought of that, just shut up and bask in the glory that is the Dream Team."

He stared at me for a few seconds before looking away and smirking. "Heh. Sorry. I still can't figure out if this is part of one enormous guilt trip or if you really are just ridiculously trusting, you know?"

"If you were actually going to screw me over, you wouldn't be worrying about it so much," I pointed out.

"Maybe," he answered quietly.

Of course. It still had to look crazy from his perspective, I understood that. I didn't get half of my own reasoning; I was taking a huge risk and I knew it. But I really didn't care. The more I heard him try to convince me he wasn't worth it, the more determined, stubborn and sure of myself I became. If he betrayed me, I would be devastated—but he _wouldn't_, because I could see that he genuinely cared too much to do that.

If he didn't care, he wouldn't have saved me back at the Renegade base. He wouldn't have come to help bury the people of Ozette. He wouldn't have offered to help me save everyone tomorrow.

"Here's an idea," I said, stopping and turning to him. "Why don't you try trusting me?"

"Huh?"

"Trust that I don't have some ulterior motive of my own," I told him. "Trust that I'm not naïve, and just stop questioning it."

He watched me, his blue eyes widening a bit in surprise. I forced a smile even though inside my stomach churned a bit; asking Zelos to honestly do that was a bit of a stretch. It was something I really wanted, but he had probably had his trust betrayed too many times to count, right?

"…All right."

All I could do in response was blink. Had he just—?

"I guess I owe you that much by now," he continued, smiling slightly. "Still don't get it, but maybe it'll just be easier for both of us if I believe you." Then his expression brightened considerably. "Okay, spitfire, I'll trust you. This calls for a pact!"

I tilted my head. "A pact?"

"Sure." He grinned. "See, all you have to do is make a vow. Then we seal it with a kiss—"

"One of these days I'm going to seal your lips with duct tape," I interrupted, rolling my eyes and walking past him. "See you inside, Zelos."

"Hunnyyyy! Come on, I wasn't finished!"

I ignored him, continuing in the direction of the mansion's side entrance. It seemed like the right comeback whenever he made a stupid advance to completely destroy a serious moment. Also, I was blushing quite a bit and trying to stifle my laughter at the same time, so it was probably a good time to escape anyway.

Unfortunately, I ran from one problem right into another. The moment I tried to tiptoe inside, I noticed the Professor waiting for me at the end of the hallway.

Caught in the act…

* * *

So, I was grounded.

Well, okay, maybe 'grounded' was kind of a juvenile term for it, but that was essentially what it was. The Professor had noticed I was missing shortly before I came back, so trying to sneak in had been useless. She reamed me out for running off alone and then literally sent me to my room.

Right now I was bored out of my mind, lying on the bed. Lloyd had brought me lunch shortly after my confinement started, giving me a sympathetic look all the while. And just a few hours ago, Regal had come up to bring me dinner and talk for a bit. I suspected he was returning the favor from when I had kept him company outside of Altamira, and I was grateful.

Thankfully he had talked Raine down a bit and explained why I had gone out, but she was still pretty miffed at me, so he had advised I just lay low for the rest of the night. He didn't disagree with her, though; I could understand why. It had been kind of a reckless thing to do, and they didn't have the full story of how stressful this morning had been and all the different issues going through my head. Not to mention I was a walking magnet for trouble.

I heaved a sigh. It wasn't _awful _being stuck in my room—I had gotten some much-needed sleep—but still. Now it was probably close to midnight and I was wide awake because I had just been sitting around doing nothing for so long. If this kept up for much longer, I was going to start getting anxious over what was going to go down tomorrow.

Lying still in bed wasn't making me any more tired. Maybe I'd be better off if I got up and cleaned my sword for a bit or something.

_Brittany._

I abruptly sat up, looking around with a frown. Had I just heard that? It had been faint, but it sounded like someone had said my name…

The room had darkened for a split second as a shadow passed over the glass paneled balcony doors, blocking out the moonlight streaming through. Grabbing my sword, I stood up and started warily approaching the doors. There didn't seem to be anyone standing out there.

…There.

A single blue feather was resting on the railing. I moved out on to the balcony, picking it up and frowning at it. Then my gaze moved past it to the ground below, searching. After a few seconds my eyes homed in on a shadow standing beneath one of the nearby trees in the garden.

"Wherefore art thou Kratos?" I muttered under my breath.

So I did have a visitor. My heart rate picked up a little and I looked behind me, paranoid. No…everyone else was asleep, including the staff. He wouldn't have come here if he wasn't completely sure of that fact.

He was waiting. I bit my lip, glancing around me. How to get down there without waking anyone up? Couldn't go through the inside way, it was too risky and I wasn't sure if I could find my way to the courtyard in the dark. But then...

Ah. There was a trellis covered in vines positioned right beside the balcony. I walked over to it, gripping the wood and tugging on it firmly. It held.

Well, I was only on the second floor…it wasn't _that _high up. I hoisted myself over the railing, cautiously finding a foothold. Then I gradually put my weight on to the structure, holding on to the railing with one hand just in case. It was steady.

Feeling more confident, I managed to climb down most of the way, dropping the last few feet and landing safely on the grass. Upon turning around I could see that the coast was still clear. Now I approached the figure and joined him in the shadows where we wouldn't be seen. My body thrummed with anxiety.

"Um, hey," I said quietly. "This is kind of weird. Sneaking out of my room in the middle of the night? I feel like we're a couple of lovestruck teenagers, only you're old enough to be my ancient ancestor."

Kratos gave me a flat look. "Brittany."

"Right, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," I said, holding my hands up defensively. "Serious time starts now. I'm just kind of nervous, I guess. What's going on?"

He sighed. "Have you forgotten? There is a decision that must be made. I've come for your answer."

Oh. The dilemma concerning the mana links. Of course, this conversation had been inevitable. I just hadn't been expecting it to come now of all times—not after everything this morning. But Kratos was serious; the look in his eyes told me he wasn't going to be giving me any more time to think it over. We didn't have that kind of time, did we?

_Work with me or work against me. The choice is yours._

Steeling my resolve, I met his gaze.

"I'll help you."

Kratos inclined his head slightly, watching me. "This will almost certainly put you in a precarious position when the others inevitably learn of it. Are you absolutely sure?"

I nodded. "I…I think you're right. I can't stand aside and do nothing while Palmacosta gets destroyed."

His eyes immediately narrowed. "Palmacosta?"

Whoops. I realized with a slight jolt that I hadn't specifically told him what was going to happen as a result of everything; I had pretty much dropped that bomb out of nowhere.

"Brittany," he said, catching my attention again. "What is going to happen as a result of severing the mana links?"

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Well, here I was—the point of no return. Telling Kratos meant guaranteeing another change and throwing things further off course. He might even decide a course of action that I very strongly disagreed with, and I would be powerless to stop him. Telling him meant placing more of my trust in him. I could practically hear Zelos screaming "STOP, YOU IDIOT" in the back of my head.

Time to take the plunge.

"As you said the last time we spoke, the mana links contain the Great Seed's power," I said. "If we make pacts with all of the summon spirits, the protection around the seed will completely disappear. The Renegades will then blast it with mana in an attempt to get it to germinate."

"I see," he murmured, his body already tense. "And?"

"The seed will germinate, but not in the right way. It'll go out of control and grow at an extremely fast rate," I explained. "The roots alone will ravage Sylvarant, and there will be severe earthquakes. I'm pretty sure it destroys the Tower of Mana and the other seal locations, and Palmacosta pretty much ends up sinking into the ocean. A lot of people die. Colette will be blamed for it because she didn't regenerate the world."

"So the situation truly is as dire as I thought." Kratos frowned gravely. "You said there was a solution."

I nodded. "The Great Seed was drawn to the mana of the declining world's summon spirits. The only way to neutralize the seed is to use the Mana Cannon and fire a concentrated blast of mana from Tethe'alla's summon spirits at it. You even come along for the ride. But yeah, the seed ends up being subdued and we go back to being enemies and move on with our lives."

He shook his head. "The cost is too great. It can't be allowed to happen."

"I know. But we need all the summon spirits to make the pact with Origin and defeat Yggdrasill. And aside from that, the protection around the Great Seed's gonna have to come down sooner or later if we want to germinate it the right way."

I heaved a sigh. "I guess that's why I've been following the predetermined path; I can't see any way around it. But now things are getting skewed, and stuff is already happening in the wrong order or not at all. I don't even know if events will even follow their natural course if I let them be now."

"Then you have nothing to lose by taking action," Kratos said, crossing his arms. "Your insight helps. I'm going to look into this further and run some calculations. In the meantime…if you see an opportunity to stall the others, please take advantage of it."

"Stalling, huh…" My lips turned down in a thoughtful frown. "I'll try to think of something. Maybe Zelos can help…"

"Zelos?" Suddenly Kratos was looking quite alarmed.

"Um, I kind of told him," I replied, backing away a step and holding up my hands. "But it's okay! We can trust him."

"Zelos Wilder is a dangerous variable," the seraph said in an icy tone. "He holds no allegiances. He will serve whichever side suits him in the moment. _You knew this, _did you not?

"I know he's a triple agent, if that's what you're asking," I said, trying not to let my voice waver.

"Why, then?"

His scrutiny was making me immensely uncomfortable. How the hell could he expect me to explain my complicated feelings for Zelos? How could I relay to Kratos the things I had seen, the hints of his goodness and compassion showing through? It was a difficult situation that would just come out all wrong if I tried to put it into words.

"…Because I know him," I finally said. "I knew of him before I even met him, so I was able to see through that stupid façade of his and get to know the real Zelos. He's just a guy that's been dealt a shitty lot in life and has a shitty way of handling it. Yeah, he's made bad decisions, but he's not a bad _person._" I hesitated for a moment and then added, "Plus if nobody in the group ever trusts him, he'll betray us and get himself killed on purpose."

I turned away, clenching my fists. "'Because…my life was a mistake.' That's what he says. Can you believe that? So you can look at me like I'm crazy, but I'm not changing my mind on this. He's my best friend and I believe in him, dammit."

"Hmph. I suppose it's too late if you've already told him," Kratos remarked. "Do what you will, then. But there is one thing I will not abide—you will not tell him about what we are planning."

"What? But—"

"His involvement isn't necessary," the seraph said firmly, eyes narrowed. "It's a risk I'm not willing to take. Your story suggests that the Renegades are going to play a part in the Great Seed's rampage—they will not listen to reason. If the Chosen leaks information to them, our efforts will be rendered meaningless. _Do not tell him._"

Ugh! How could he—right after I'd gotten Zelos to say he trusted me! Now Kratos was asking me to start keeping more secrets?! Fuuuuck!

"You are such a fucking bastard," I hissed, my voice cracking. "Do you have any idea—this is so _hard! _I'm juggling so many secrets it feels like my head's going to explode! I can never _get close _to anyone because they all sense that I'm hiding something! Nobody can ever trust me, ever! I just—I just hate this."

I stared down at the ground, suddenly fighting tears. All of the stress and anxiety had come back to me at once, triggered by that simple demand. It had been such a relief to be completely honest with Zelos…for once, the relationship had felt genuine. And now I would have to go back to dodging questions and dreading the day he figured out what I was up to…

"…Brittany."

Gritting my teeth, I forced myself to look up at him again. My eyes were wet but the tears hadn't fallen.

Kratos' expression had softened. It was a shock—the first time in a while he had actually looked like he cared. We had been on better terms since I had come clean, but ever since his betrayal there had been a sort of chilliness about his demeanor that never seemed to go away. A reminder that he was still working for the enemy.

"You bear a heavy burden; don't think I have no appreciation for that." He ran a hand through his hair, suddenly looking tired. "Forgive me. But we have to continue on, despite the difficulty of your position."

"I…I know," I said quietly. "I just…sometimes I feel like it's useless, like I'm swimming against the current. Everything's so messed up."

"You're making more of a difference than you think," Kratos told me. "Don't lose faith just yet. Tell me—will I be able to count on you?"

Swallowing, I forced myself to nod. "…Yeah…I understand."

"Good," he said, reaching into his pocket and extracting something. "It won't be long before someone notices we're out here. I'm going to take my leave." He held the item out to me—it was a tiny device with a speaker and two buttons on it. "Use this to contact me if the need arises. Meeting in person is growing far too risky."

"Okay," I said, taking the communicator. There was a small clip on the back of it that could be used to attach it to clothes; I made a mental note to clip it to the inside pocket of my coat. "So I guess this is goodbye for a while, then."

He nodded, turning away. "I will let you know what I learn of the situation with the Great Seed. Goodbye until then."

"…Bye, then," I replied.

The seraph melted into the shadows, vanishing from sight. I heaved a weary sigh and turned away as well, heading back to the trellis so I could climb up to my room and hopefully get some sleep. There would be more struggles to overcome tomorrow.

* * *

"Hey."

No…No, still dark out, there was no _way _it was time to get up already.

"Wake up, sunshine. We've got a situation on our hands."

"Nngh…get off my bed, Zelos."

"The Renegades are here."

I shot up so fast I nearly bumped foreheads with Zelos, my heart jumping out of my throat. _"What?"_

He laughed. "Yeah, that's what I said, too."

* * *

**A/N: OH LOOK ANOTHER CLIFFHANGER I AM SUCH A LITTLE SHIT I KNOW**

**This chapter is still like...not as eventful as I wanted to be. I mean shit's going to go down next chapter, the Renegades showing up is kind of the beginning of shit going down, but I only just barely got to that. a;dskghs;g so sorry if like...this is kind of disappointing for how long I made you wait? tbh I really spent the past month dicking around and discovering Homestuck and wrote 99% of this chapter in the past three days. THERE'S SOMETHING WRONG WITH ME.**

**Anyway...XD I really, really appreciate reviews, so lay 'em on me!**

**Next time: O HAI YUAN**


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